← Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
How Top Luxury Agents Are Adapting in 2026 : AI and Changing Search Behavior
00:48:33
In this episode, we explore how top luxury agents are adapting in 2026 as artificial intelligence reshapes search behavior, discovery, and trust. From how buyers now find information to why authenticity matters more than algorithms, this conversation breaks down what agents must understand to remain visible, relevant, and competitive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
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- [00:00]
A
My colleagues, what they plan to do is using AI to really help enhance the workflow so they can spend more time on the authentic face to face interaction. Right, the stuff that we can only do while AI works in the background kind of condensing workflow to where you have more time to spend with your clients and with prospecting.
- [00:24]
B
Today's podcast is brought to you by Interlux Auctions. Your solution to guarantee competitive offers on your luxury listings with no compromise to commission. Visit InterLuxe.com today to find out more. That's I N T R l u x e.com. Welcome to A State of Mind, a podcast series all about motivating, inspiring and educating you in the art of selling luxury real estate. The podcast is brought to you by the Institute for Luxury Home Marketing. Tammi I'm Tammy Sims, lead trainer for the Institute and a full time real estate professional in St. Petersburg, Florida for more than two decades. In this episode we're going to chat about what top luxury agents are doing differently in 2026. Joining me is my co host Jack Miller, a 25 plus year veteran luxury agent with Onward Real Estate in the greater Nashville, Tennessee market. And so Jack, it's great to see you and great to kick off the new year with you.
- [01:30]
A
Good to see you Tammy. For sure.
- [01:33]
B
It's interesting the past few months there's been a lot of focus on business planning for the new year and that's really pretty nuts and bolts. What's working, how's our budget, what are our goals, that sort of thing. But with the idea of our topic today, right, what's, what are going to be some new angles. And I think that it, it takes me back to just paying attention to what's going on around us. Right. We are good at what we do, we operate like a well oiled machine. But every once in a while we have to kind of step back and look around. And one of the things that's really been brought to my attention recently is understanding that how people are searching both for properties and for real estate representation has changed. And a lot of that has to do with AI, which we've talked about again from the nuts and bolts perspective. But I'm thinking about how we might need to modify based on that. And it made me think of back in 1987, I want to say is when my mom got her first website and everybody was saying oh my goodness, you know, what are, what are you doing that for? And I know our audience has heard me talk about that before, but it was a game changer. In the way that, that people searched for real estate. Right.
- [03:11]
A
We were 87 was really, really early because I also remember in the 90s that there were a lot of folks in business wondering if this whole Internet web page, you know, marketing approach was worth the time or energy wouldn't stick around. I remember, I remember hearing that I worked for a design firm at one point in the early 90s, and they designed booths like for trade shows. But they started, we started doing webpage. Our designers started doing web pages as well. And our owner was not on board. He thought it was a waste of time and this is not going to stick around. So it's very interesting that your mother was doing it so early. That was, that was really on the forefront.
- [03:51]
B
That's right. Now at that time, it was a standalone single page with wicked dial up. It'd take you an hour to load the page. And it was a picture of her on her brick phone. Right. But as things progressed and as that did indeed change the way that people had access to information, I remember having to pay attention to Search Engine optimization Kitchen.
- [04:14]
A
That's right.
- [04:15]
B
Right. And, and it probably didn't even flush out for, you know, until the early 2000s and that sort of thing. But I remember once we sold a property that had an avocado tree in the backyard to someone who found it because they were searching for information about avocado trees.
- [04:37]
A
They found the property that way.
- [04:38]
B
They found the property. They accidentally stumbled upon the property because they were searching for information about avocado trees and here listing in St. Petersburg, Florida. And, and, and remarkably, it ended up in a sale. But I, I remember that and throughout the years we've, we've done, you know, pay to play for search engine optimization, you know, Google results, that sort of thing. But now we're in a zone where, where people are really utilizing AI. So instead of necessarily going to Zillow or realtor.com they're inputting into Chat GPT. Find me a home that's within this distance of this asset that has these features.
- [05:23]
A
Yeah.
- [05:25]
B
And that means we need to rethink how we're describing our properties.
- [05:29]
A
So what do you do? What are you doing differently, Tammy? Or what are you planning differently this year in terms of the way you position your properties? What does that look like?
- [05:37]
B
Well, I think the aha for me was really about what you need to articulate in your descriptions. Because for a long time now I've been preaching if you've got bullet points that talk about the bedrooms and the baths and the square Footage. Why in the world are you taking valuable copy space to reiterate that here's a reason. And now there's a shift because if they're not using a search vehicle where they're inputting that information to narrow down, the AI tools are filtering it from the comments.
- [06:16]
A
Yeah. Yeah.
- [06:17]
B
So I'm gonna, I'm gonna start spending a little more time articulating those things. But it's also a brilliant opportunity for us to, to in some cases transcend what our checkboxes are. Right. Like so, for example, if it's four bedrooms plus an office. Right. You can't necessarily search that way with, with some of the, the, the, the.
- [06:40]
A
The drop down menus and. Right, right. Yeah.
- [06:43]
B
But if you articulate it in the, in the comments, there's a good chance that it'll get picked up in that way. And certainly focusing on the assets around. Right. You know, I'm in a great downtown with great restaurants and museums and nightlife and that sort of thing. And instead of just talking about those in general terms, I'm going to start articulating the Museum of Fine Arts, the James Museum of Western and Wildlife Art, specific restaurants that have, that have good draw. And so I'm going to be taking up an awful lot more space in the mls. But.
- [07:19]
A
Well, let me ask you a question about that. So. And I've realized that we're on different MLS platforms and the same with our listeners, but on our mls, when we input media, we have the opportunity, as I'm sure you do, to write comments. There's a lot of extra narrative space under the media to write comments under each photo. So do you think that information under the photos will get picked up just like the information in your primary narrative that you would see in the general remarks on the MLS platform? Or how do you think that translates?
- [07:54]
B
You know, that's a great question and I don't know the answer to that. So I think one of the things that is on my list to do in 2026 is to learn more about that part. Part of this. One of our avid listeners who's going to know who she is when she, when she listens to this and she'll probably text me from her car. Really kind of opened my eyes to. There's an awful lot more that we need to know about how these search functions are working.
- [08:20]
A
Yeah.
- [08:20]
B
That things aren't pulling from bullet points and I don't know if they're pulling from the captions under the photos. Remember in the website world we used to use meta Tags and that sort of thing that fed into the search box, I don't know. So I think it's on my list to actually get more educated about what really is showing up in those AI generated searches that, you know, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Right. We follow all the rules for all the platforms that we're on, but we need to pay attention to other ways that we might reach an audience.
- [08:57]
A
It's really interesting. AI will be the subject of conversation more and more in conferences coming up and even conversations with our colleagues in our offices. It's interesting because in the town where we are in Nashville, AI has become sort of a bad word or bad phrase because the creatives, you know, here in Nashville, the songwriters, singers, and people who are in the entertainment industry are really frowning upon the way folks are using AI to create music where the singer is not a real person.
- [09:31]
B
That's right.
- [09:31]
A
And they're using, you know, they're using samples of voices and tones or whatever to put together songs. And even, sometimes even the lyrics are being written by AI and they're creating actual performers with names they're creating for this non entity that are AI performers. So in Nashville, AI is being really frowned upon from the creative side. But interestingly enough, we're hearing more and more on the real estate side. And I know you and I've even talked about this in the past. I think I gave this example one time where we had an agent in our company that was using AI to write scripts and to write narratives for the descriptions of the properties. And the first one I saw, I picked it out immediately because it was awful. It was full of cliche, it was terrible. And so one of the things you and I talked about was it's really important to not just let it go and run with it, but to actually go back through and say, okay, let's massage this and give it back the human touch once again to make sure it truly represents the property. And it also sounds like us and it sounds genuine, like it's the way you would talk to someone else about the property. So we've talked about that before. But AI is being used a lot of other ways too. I mean, I heard, I put a question out on our private broker site to say, hey, what are you going to be doing differently in 2026? To see what some of our agents were saying. And the most common response was about using or utilizing AI in their real estate business. But it wasn't the ways I expected. I know for me personally and I'll just scratch the surface. One of the things I've been doing and only for a short period of time, honestly just, just this past year in 2025, I was using AI quite frequently for imagery, so for staging or creating. When people would say I don't see how you would put a pool on this lot. I'd let, I'd let chat GPT just design a pool according to my specifications on a lot that already existed in a photograph to help paint the picture for my clients or prospective buyers or whatever. And so it's very helpful in that regard or staging rooms. There's a myriad ways you can use it. But what I'm hearing from some of my colleagues, what they plan to do with AI, which is completely, you know, beyond that is using AI to really help enhance the workflow so they can spend more time on the authentic face to face interaction.
- [11:55]
B
Right.
- [11:56]
A
The stuff that we can only do while AI works in the background, kind of condensing workflow to where you have more time to spend with your clients and with prospecting and things that we do on the phone or what if. Or face to face. So that's a very interesting response and angle.
- [12:14]
B
Yeah. Yeah. And again it's, you know, there's more than one facet to any tool to any new technology. And I hear you loud and clear. You and I both have had good conversations about trying to overcome our initial resistance to AI from, from that non authentic point of view. But I also have been utilizing it a little bit more for data analysis which I can, which I can negate in some cases. Right. Like analyzing downtown condo activity so it can tell me things and make, make suppositions based on the data that it's getting. But I know that it's an anomaly because there hasn't been a unit available in that building for four years. Right. Yeah, so, so, so again it's that, that massaging it to, to make sure that it's on point but, but, but definitely even just understanding how consumers are using it. Right. So you're talking about some great ways that we can use it in our, in our industry, in our professions to streamline. But I think for me it's the awareness of how the consumer is using it. I think I mentioned recently that I was invited to interview for a 4 or 5 million do and when I asked the owners how they came to call me, they said we asked ChatGPT who were the top five realtors that we should, that we should interview. And I was blown away, particularly because I don't generally work in that price point. I generally don't work in that area. So I'm kind of curious about how AI decided that I, that I was one to call. And I do want to say a little plug for the Institute. I know that the Institute's public facing directory has great search engine results and so all those little things. So one of the things on my list to do is to update all of my bios and look right, Google myself to see where there's a profile that I don't even know exists, to make sure that it's saying the things that I want someone to know about me so that I'm attracting the kind of business that I want.
- [14:31]
A
Absolutely, yeah, absolutely. It's interesting. Yeah, I know the. It's funny when you think back about Google, when we first started using Google as a tool, when Google is not a standalone. There's all kinds of other search engines besides Google, but that's the one that everybody knows. Right. It's almost become a. It's like Kleenex.
- [14:49]
B
Right? Right, Kleenex, Google.
- [14:51]
A
Whatever they're using for searching, they say Google, they use it as a verb. Just Google it. But when we first started using Google, we were amazed at how Google could pull data together. But you had to be very specific with Google and you do with, with Chat GPT as well, to some degree. But it's a lot more liberal. I mean you can, you can give a lot more broad, a lot broader statement or question within Chat GPT and, and then let it go. And it's almost like it has a creative side and it does some things well beyond obviously what you would do in a Google search. Yeah, yeah, I used, I was amazed just yesterday, no, day before yesterday, there was a image that I had of a particular art piece on a wall that I wanted to use in a staging piece and a staging photo. And so, but, but the image I wanted to use wasn't a straight ahead flat on photo like you would ideally take. And so I put the picture that I did have into Chat GPT and I said, I like to use this piece of art in this room. I'd like you to furnish this room but tilt the art so it looks flat on the wall, blah, blah, and make it, you know, and it. I can show you the picture, Tam, you'd be amazed. You would swear it was an actual room. You cannot tell that it came from a, from a unusual angle. I cannot believe it did what it did. These are things that Google could never do.
- [16:16]
B
Right.
- [16:16]
A
And we're not again, I'm just scratching the surface. That's, that's how I've been using pretty frequently so many other things. But you know that we probably come back talk more about, about AI using AI but one of the things this is, this is completely different from most of the responses I got from my colleagues and probably not what you're expecting to hear me say either. But one of the things I'm doing personally is I'm actually this year leaning more in to the fundamentals of sales. You know, we know we've always said this is a relationship business and I really want to lean into that because what I have found is, you know, the market we had kind of sluggish year this past year.
- [16:56]
B
It was unusual.
- [16:57]
A
Yeah, for sure. Our last, our last 30 days was the most active last 30 days I think I've ever had in a calendar year in 30 years. But the previous 11 months, not so much. So I was glad to have the business and get it where you can. But what I, what I figured out was a lot of the business that I got toward the end of the year, it wasn't coming from chat GPT, wasn't coming from AI, wasn't coming from search engine, it wasn't coming from lead sources. Lord knows we spent way too much money, time and energy on, on lead sources that didn't pan out. But what it was coming from was the direct result of having face to face contact with past clients and current clients and just doing, having that meaningful time. And it generated, it wasn't to generate business, it was just doing what we do.
- [17:47]
B
Right.
- [17:48]
A
And I also realized, you know, we all have different strengths and for me that's probably the greatest strength I bring to, to our business and our market is beyond knowing the market. And I do, I know it really well. I know the luxury market in this town. But beyond that as I do have a gift for being able to spend face to face time with people and genuinely enjoying it and helping them genuinely enjoy that experience. Like in a social atmosphere, casual atmosphere, not just a business, you know, transaction.
- [18:19]
B
Yeah, right on.
- [18:20]
A
So, yeah, so I've realized I've kind of gotten away from, I've been focusing way too much on all the other things except, and that's really a fundamental, I'm going to lean more into this year because as we've talked about before, you know, there are some agents out there who've done really, really well capitalizing on these massive databases, you know, thousands and thousands of names. They're doing mass mailings, emailings physical mailings and all this stuff. And but for me, I've always done better with a very boutique style database where everybody in my database, I know them personally. Personally and really leaning into that and having more face to face experiences, whether it means, you know, going to lunch, going to dinner, having drinks, making a concerted effort to have more phone calls or just a text, I'm thinking about you or whatever that's for me is what I really want to. It's not a change, it's just more of a focus, if you will.
- [19:13]
B
Right. And you and I share that in common. And every year when I look to the year ahead, I think about, I need to make sure that I plan more time to spend with my sphere of influence. And how can I do that? What events are going on in the community that I might invite two or three or four or five folks who I think would get along to. And so one of the things that I had on my list of things for the new year for 2026 is putting the big rocks in the calendar, right? The old saying, put your big rocks in and then fill the others around it. And part of that was scheduling conferences that I want to attend and making sure that those are blocked out, scheduling your major client events and activities and whatnot. But also that's schedule regular opportunities for interaction with your sphere of influence. Right. Like whether it's a lunch a week or, or something like that, block out, block out a time, make that a, make that a priority. And of course I put, I put on that list because you've taught me that how important it is to do this is schedule time for yourself. Yeah, right, right. Make that one of the big blocks and then fill in all the other things around it. But that client interaction and I think also looking for new opportunities for that client interaction. I think it's been on my list, gosh, every year to leverage the work that we're already doing. Prime example, if I am doing a market analysis that people usually call a CMA for a property in a particular neighborhood, I think I need to think about who else do I know that I sold a house to here or in my sphere of influence that lives in this neighborhood, that I could leverage this information that I've just prepared for a particular single use to say, hey, I was thinking about you. I did this data and was digging in for another reason, but I thought it might be of interest to you. And that kind of falls into work smarter, not harder. Leverage things that we're already working on.
- [21:29]
A
Yeah, absolutely. That I was just looking at my notes. That was one of the things. Another one of the agents from our company said was talking about providing more data that you're already putting together for other people in your database, other clients, past clients that you think they might benefit from that, you know, using the same information for multiple uses.
- [21:48]
B
Yeah, yeah. And for our listeners that are members of the Institute, those monthly market reports, the luxury market reports that come out, are a perfect opportunity to touch not only our sphere of influence, but also I have a group of professionals, financial advisors, wealth managers, high level CPAs that whenever that monthly report comes out, that I make sure that I share that. It's a touch point. And it's also something valuable that they can share with their clients. Yeah, that makes you top of mind when they have the opportunity to refer. So it's. And that's something that's utilizing something that's available, that's already there, that you don't have to step back and create something. And if you're like me, you get a great idea and you never quite finish it because it's never good enough.
- [22:42]
A
Right, right. Oh, I've got lots of starting projects. I've got every good intention get well into. Like, I, I'm just going to pause this. And then I realized I didn't come back to it. But yeah, we're talking about top of mind. And again, it's a, it's a, it's a concept we've discussed many times on here. That's why I made, you know, the relationships and focusing on that a priority for the coming year, because I realized as we were sending out invitations for our annual Christmas party and we put on a Christmas party here.
- [23:14]
B
Right. I know. I want to ask you how that went.
- [23:16]
A
It was amazing. It was amazing and it was a lot of fun. We had a great turnout. Not a great turnout personally for my clients, but as I was going through my list, besides sending out physical invitations, I went back through and shot text messages personally for me that I sent out. Not someone else I hired, but I sent a text message out from my phone or I called them personally. Hey, really hope you can make it. But as I was doing that and making those personal invitations, I picked up some referrals. Not in the conversation, not as a result of the text, but like a week later, I get a referral from somebody that I just talked to a week ago. And I thought that wasn't an accident. No, that was top of mind. That's what they just heard from me. And so, boy, you can't underestimate top of mind experiences in real estate because the, the guy, the gal that's there in that space in their headspace. Yeah. Someone mentions real estate, you're the one that, you're the top of mind. You're the one they're going to think about and you want to be there. You want to be there. So that's. Yeah, that's again, I really want to focus on that.
- [24:15]
B
I had breakfast this morning with someone who, yes, I did have breakfast this morning. It was really good too. You would really enjoyed the cheese grits that I had. Right. It was a good old fashioned diner and I was meeting with, with a man who's a past client but also is an executive in in development with Eckerd College, which is my alma mater and has resulted in a lot of great business and we have a great symbiotic relationship and we get together periodically. There wasn't a specific purpose for our getting together this morning, but I walked away with him having shared with me three names of people that he wants to connect me to.
- [24:58]
A
Oh, that's great.
- [25:00]
B
And not all in these people want to buy right now, but people to get to know who also broaden your sphere of influence who may end up being, being clients. But it was that, that top of mind, oh, here I am here, here we are. And oh gosh. Yeah, there's other, here's these people that I want to connect you with and a way that I want to expand that. So I think that's super important to prioritize for the year ahead.
- [25:27]
A
What. Is there anything else that you think of that you're doing or that you've heard of some of your colleagues doing either focusing on or doing differently in 2026 this year that they weren't doing last year that you heard?
- [25:42]
B
Well, if I take it back to how to position listings. Right. That that's a really important thing. If we, if we talk about how the, the year behind us was a little bit sluggish.
- [25:54]
A
Yeah.
- [25:54]
B
I want to be ahead of the game in, in managing length of time on the market for luxury properties in the year ahead. Also, it was brought to my attention by my local colleague who will know herself that not only are the first half a dozen or dozen photos critical. Right. We've talked about this before on a given listing. Yeah, sure. Right.
- [26:18]
A
Yeah.
- [26:19]
B
But also there are certain platforms like Zillow that all it's going to show you unless you click through is the first five photos.
- [26:28]
A
Yeah.
- [26:30]
B
And that's gotta absolutely be on the money. So for me, it's tightening in From a great 10 photos at the beginning to okay, I got, I got five and that's what's going to show every time. Now. Interestingly, I pulled up realtor.com and it's not the same photos. Really it's not. And so here again, I need to educate myself about how these things are doing. Now from my research lately, Zillow is still the top search functions for folks looking at my listings. And that may, may or may not be true in any, any given geographic market. So I'm going to give deference to the ones that, that have the highest usage. But I'm now curious to know, I'm going to pull up that same listing on realtor.com tomorrow and see if there's a different set of photos that come up. Right. Yeah, so, so I'm really kind of curious about, about that sort of thing. So my, my priority in 2026 is spending more time with my colleagues who know different things than I do. Right. They're coming at it from a different approach. You and I are at a point in our careers where we've got, you know, I mentioned it before, we've got that well oiled wheel. We know what we're doing, but sometimes other people, younger people that are hungrier are learning different things than, than we do.
- [28:03]
A
Yeah.
- [28:04]
B
And so paying attention to that, spending more time with my colleagues broker, to broker events, even, you know, even just coffee or, or cocktails with, with colleagues. Right. Who are competitors. But ultimately at the end of the day, the relationships with each other are important and, and also perhaps more webinar or seminar opportunities to learn things that I think I know. Right. Like even the mls. The MLS has changed.
- [28:37]
A
Yeah.
- [28:38]
B
And so the other day I needed to use a wild card function and I was like, I knew how to do that 20 years ago, but I had to look it up and see how to do it again. And so I think even you talk about back to basics sometimes it's even just using the tools that we already have that we, that we think we know and just spend a little time getting a brush up on, on some of those, those basic things to, I don't want to say to have learn how to outsmart the system, but how to use it most effectively.
- [29:11]
A
Well, I think, I think a lot of us, Tammy, particularly those of us have been around for quite a while in the business. You could be doing well in business, but we can get complacent on bringing in new tools and effective strategies simply because we're doing okay as we are. And I think there's two examples about that that remind me why it's so important to have this kind of soul searching toward the end of the year and going into a new year. Like, what can I do? New and different. It's important that we ask that question of ourselves, because I remember. And one's a not so good story. One's a great story, but short, but one I remember dealing years ago with the agent who was a much older agent. She'd been very successful through the years, but she was in her latter years in the business. And she wrote her contract and used a counteroffering process that was based on the way she did it probably 20 years ago. And it was. It didn't work with our current updated forms. The language was different, but she had never taken the time to really understand the changes in the forms, which is so critical for all of us. In any given market we're in, every one of us, or whether it's our company forms or our mls, you know, produce forms or whatever it is, they change. They change because the market changes and life around us changes. So it's important we understand that. So I watched that happen. I don't want to do that. And then another story similar, but which was just such a wonderful story, was that our owner, Bob Parks, I used to tease him many years ago because I would see Bob, this has been a long time ago, but I would see Bob walking around with a pager on his belt. And I told Bob, I said, bob, I said, you're the last person I think I've ever seen with a pager other than on tv. Drug dealers would have pagers. And I said, I said, you need to move forward. I was joking, give him a hard time about it. And Bob was attending some conferences with some of the groups he's involved with, and he made it a priority, a technology be a priority for him and also a new priority for our company years ago. And boy, it was only a year later and he had suddenly surpassed me on his embracing new technology. He was bringing all these new technologies into our company. And it was a direct result of having that moment where you say, okay, I've got to move forward and get ahead of it.
- [31:32]
B
Yeah.
- [31:32]
A
And that's what we're doing here. You know, it's like whether it's for us individual as individual agents individually, or whether it's for us leading an office or a company is getting ahead of it and saying, okay, what can we. We've had a great year hopefully we've all had a great year, despite what's been going on. But what can we do to be better?
- [31:53]
B
Yeah.
- [31:53]
A
Better for our clients, better for ourselves.
- [31:56]
B
And better for our industry.
- [31:58]
A
Yeah, better for. And better for industry, for sure. I think we're always, you know, I think we're always dealing with the. The image of real estate professionals in the bigger world. And there's been a number of groups on social media that I've been a part of, and many I've dropped out of because I get so frustrated with the lack of professionalism. And it reminds me how critical that is, how important it is, because we have unfortunately kind of inherited not the best of, you know, the best of impressions from.
- [32:33]
B
Yeah. Public perception.
- [32:35]
A
Public perception. Yeah. And you see that. And it's.
- [32:37]
B
And it's.
- [32:37]
A
But. But it's because I think ease of access in the industry, and I think for those of us who are in the luxury space, and certainly with the Institute, we're really focusing and trying to be better. Yeah. I applaud everybody who's listening to this podcast, and they're trying to be better, and we're trying to be better. You never really. You never really arrive. You just don't. Because every time you think you get there, something changes. You've got.
- [33:00]
B
That's right.
- [33:01]
A
Yeah. So that's why. But it. But again, it makes it very interesting for myself. You know, the fundamentals. I mean, that's. These fundamentals were the same fundamentals when I started in the business 30 years ago.
- [33:11]
B
Yeah.
- [33:11]
A
Not even specific to real estate. It's about sales. You know, it's. It's about how to be good at sales. And so I don't want to be distracted by all the little things out there. There's so many things that can distract us, and some of those things are really good things to focus on, but we got to focus on something. You can't be good at everything. You can't use every technology.
- [33:32]
B
Right.
- [33:32]
A
Can't try every lead service. But. But you've got to focus on something. And so I think focus is a key word. Focus. We always talk about authenticity. Authenticity. Critical, that is. But I think focus is really critical, too. And when I look across at my colleagues at various companies, even within our own company, who are really successful, and particularly those who are really successful in luxury real estate, we don't all do it the same way.
- [33:58]
B
That's right.
- [33:59]
A
And we all have different gifts, and we have to look at ourselves. Okay, what are my gifts? How can I best use the. The talents and gifts that I have to be the best that I can be in this industry for my clients. And so I think that's what really, when you're evaluating what changes you want to make in the new year, on any given year, it's, it's what changes you can make for you. Because what works for me doesn't work for Tammy necessarily even. I think you and I probably a lot alike.
- [34:25]
B
Yes, yes, it's true. It's true.
- [34:27]
A
Yeah. So we got to see what, what works for you. That, that's, I think that's my mantra really for this.
- [34:33]
B
So that point that you just made, coupled with something that you talked about, about the, the, the, the realtor that was using forms that, that weren't up to speed really makes me think about how blessed I am. So my number two, right, we all, most of you know who are listening that I've had a big shift in my personal and professional world this year. And now my, my number two is our transaction manager who's been my best friend since we met at a slumber party in 1987, any event, so when she came on board with my team with mom, when she hired her as our full time office manager and transaction manager and technology manager and all of those things, and that's when my brother was still working with us. And that was fantastic. When we Ultimately, in 2011, I think it was, when we ultimately merged with the regional boutique brokerage that we're with now, they didn't need a full time staff person. Right. They had somebody that was going to come in and manage the office and, and, and so we didn't need to pay the full time salary of that. And we convinced her that she might consider starting her own business being our transaction manager. But also, and plus. Plus, right. Because it's always part of, part of us. But taking on other Realtor clients and managing their transactions, that has turned out to be brilliant because she's able to take. And a lot of her clients are newer. Right. And so she's able to teach them the things that she learned from my mom and from, you know, the last decades of really having high standards. So she's sharing that with agents who are benefiting from that. But we're also benefiting because she comes back to us and says, hey, one of my other clients with this other brokerage, they've got this great form that manages this thing and I think that we should create one and adopt it here or a process or strategy that I wouldn't have been aware of if it hadn't been for her also working with other agents in the space. So that's a, that's a, that's a really, a really big bonus. And, and also the, you know, the time that I've been interacting with a luxury networking group within, within my marketplace here. Really agents who are willing to share with one another best practices and, and, and ways that we can all do better and, and learn more. And you know, there's not enough time in the day for everybody to follow every new thing or to take every, every webinar. So the more that we share with each other. So I guess on my, on my to do list for 2026 is making sure that I prioritize those events that, that are broker inclusive and that give me the opportunity to interact with, with other brokers. And it's more than just a pitch session, right? Like I hate a straight up pitch session. But, but it's, you know, there's a, there's a deeper way. Even in the luxury space, for example, the quote unquote pitch that, that I participate in is a, here's my listing. Does anybody have any suggestions about how I might do this better? And I mean everybody's honest. They're like, seriously, go back to picture number three. You gotta fix that right like that. You know, really giving each other constructive criticism.
- [38:19]
A
I'm gonna give you a name, Tammy. I'm gonna give you a name for that. So one of the brokers at our company, he invited me to come speak at his sales meeting. And so I stay always whenever I speak at someone else's meeting, I stay for the whole meeting. I like to, because I think it's respectful.
- [38:32]
B
First of all, right, I do the same.
- [38:34]
A
Always stay through the whole thing, but also always learn a lot. And one of the things that this particular broker, Scott, who is with onward Scott Cornett, is they do a listerectomy and a list is agents will submit and they'll choose one each week, one or two. And they'll put the listing up on the big screen and they'll look at the comments and the photos. Whatever everybody in the room will give will give feedback on how to improve the marketing and hopefully by the end of the list direct me. The listing broker of record has a new strategy for increasing showings exposure, whatever.
- [39:14]
B
I love it. I've just written that down. Listerectomy. And, and it's kind of similar. Whenever I teach the institute's training class, we have some time to share our problem listings. And so within the group of whether it's 20 or 50 or 75 or 100 people will share their challeng listings and we will all brainstorm some of the ways, some of the things that we're teaching in the class about marketing strategies, of ways that they might overcome that. And then they get to go back to their sellers and say, you know, I was just brainstorming this with 75 top luxury agents and here's some suggestions. And it's not just me saying it, here's everybody else saying it. So.
- [39:55]
A
Well, I've said for years I wish this is awful, but it's somewhat, it's obviously in jest, but I've said for years there was a game we played as kids. I don't know if it was Go Fish or Old Maid, but where you would pick one of their cards, they take one of your cards. You're trying to find the better, the better hand the better cars by just picking a blind card. I like to take. Okay, I've got all these listings. Here's the two or three that I'm really struggling with. I've had for a long time. I can't seem to move it. I've done all I can do. I can't seem to get, get where I need to go. I'm going to take my listings and we're going through all of our listings a pile and draw one. So I'll get Tammy's. Tammy, get mine, Joe.
- [40:31]
B
Right.
- [40:31]
A
And we'll go start fresh. Fresh eyes on a brand new listing. It's like I love it.
- [40:36]
B
All right, so for, for those of you in the audience who are real estate professionals, because I know that there are some people who are not realtors who enjoy our podcast too. Those of you that are realtors, think about the list direct to me. Right? That is a gem takeaway from today's podcast. All right, Right. Like giving credit where credit's due.
- [40:59]
A
Right, Right.
- [40:59]
B
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I can't name names of the agent that I've referenced a few times because I'll get in trouble for, you know, you know, her, her spilling her secrets and me, you know, taking them outside of the, the closed room. Right. So let's see, as we're, as we're wrapping up, can you think of anything else that's on your mind as a priority for 2026?
- [41:26]
A
You know, well, some of the priorities that we have are not, not specific to this year. Things we do, we make a priority as we start each year. And one of the things that we always do is to make sure that we have, we have our databases up to date. And we have our databases nice and clean, the way we like them so that we, when we do marketing utilizing that tool that everything goes where it's supposed to go. It's easy. And you know, I was reminded of this recently in 2025. I was reminded of this when I had one of my first clients almost 30 years ago reach out to. To list the house I sold him. He hadn't moved in almost 30 years to list a house. This is not a luxury home. This is not a home I would typically list at all. And it's not an area I would typically list at all. But because. But I realized he had not been in my database for 30 years. Somehow he slipped through the cracks and who knows what was happening that time period and technologically what was happening when we're trying to transfer data.
- [42:26]
B
Yeah. You probably didn't have the database at that time.
- [42:29]
A
Yeah, right, exactly. Who knows. But anyway, but he tracked me down and it reminded me how important that having an up to date clean databases. We all know this, but you have to physically, you know, check it out. It's like doing a. A service check on your car.
- [42:44]
B
Yeah.
- [42:44]
A
You gotta make sure he's running properly. Yeah, that's one of the. That's one of the things that we always do is going back to our database again, our solds for the year. Make sure everybody's in there, the information is correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not some stuff, but yeah.
- [42:56]
B
Jack, one of the things that. That's also an always an ongoing priority for us. One of the things we do at our team meeting is we look and see who's got home anniversaries or birthdays coming up.
- [43:06]
A
Yeah.
- [43:06]
B
In the week ahead. And we'll cross reference the database with the public records to make sure that we write to make sure they didn't cheat on us. Right. They still own that house and that sort of thing. But then we also do maybe once a month we sit down and we search the records from oldest to newest.
- [43:24]
A
Oh really?
- [43:25]
B
And cross reference and see if we can't add some things because our database has. I want to dump is like a bad. A bad way to say it. But that's what it was. There was a data dump like in the early 2000s that went into the current database that we're using. And what we had before had no way to track anything. We didn't have, you know, none of this. So we've got some records out there that are old and blind. And so we go through those oldest ones, little by little. Just to try to pull that together, having that clean database. I'm glad you said. Said that because it's a. It's a big priority.
- [44:01]
A
Okay. I've got a personal question for you, Tammy. Oh, boy. All right. So when you look at your database, and fortunately, this doesn't happen very often, but it happens occasionally. It's always. It's always like a stab in the heart when you find that person you're cross referencing, you realize they're at a different address. And you go in the MLS and you look, say, oh, my gosh, they sold their house and they didn't call me. Yep. The first question I asked myself is, what? Why. Why didn't they call me? Me? What did I do wrong? And I think the typical answer to that is, I wasn't. Top of mind is probably the reason.
- [44:33]
B
Yeah. Either top of mind or they built a relationship with somebody who was a realtor that became, you know, closer to them and more top of mind, if you will, or.
- [44:42]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, the question for you is, here's the question. When you find out that they have a new address and you reference and you see they use a different broker to sell their house or help them buy a house or whatever, do you keep them in your database with a new address or do you let them go?
- [44:58]
B
It depends.
- [44:59]
A
Okay.
- [45:00]
B
It depends. Now, I will also look because we have tags of, are we sending these people holiday cards? And are. Right. And here's the kicker, and I think you understand this. Are they getting an invitation to the party? Right. And if they have cheated on us and they have used somebody else to sell a property, they are off the party invitation list.
- [45:20]
A
Right, Right.
- [45:21]
B
And, you know, and in every case is a little Merry Christmas.
- [45:25]
A
You're not invited, Right?
- [45:27]
B
No, ours is in spring. Right.
- [45:29]
A
Sorry.
- [45:32]
B
But also, we look at the depth of the database, the entry, if we had no contact, if there was no connection. And also we rank every client and every vendor at the end of every transaction, our database allows us. We've got A, B, C, D, C is caution, D is danger. And we don't have an F. We have an X. I have an X. Right. We have an X.
- [46:05]
A
That's it.
- [46:06]
B
And so if somebody was a C or other, then we'll probably take them straight out of the database and everything is a little bit different. But. And then we talk about it, you know, as we go through that, we talk about, is it. Do you remember the relationship with that person?
- [46:28]
A
You know, I usually find I'll be being very transparent I usually find when I discover something like that, I'll take the blame for it more often than not. And there are occasions where I'm just really surprised, like, wow, you know, Because I know I've done. I've done everything possible.
- [46:43]
B
Yeah.
- [46:44]
A
Stay top of mind and stay in contact. And it was genuine. Like, I really wanted to work and I liked the relationship and we had a great transaction previously. We stayed in touch. How did that happen? I don't know. And you can't pick up the phone and say, hey, why didn't you.
- [46:55]
B
Yeah, you can't. Right. Like you're. You're dead in the water right there.
- [46:58]
A
Right, Exactly. But. But there are. There are. More often than not, I look at it and say, I didn't do my job properly. I did not stay in contact as frequently I should. I didn't make enough effort. And that's a learning experience, you know?
- [47:12]
B
Yep, it sure is. It sure is. Yeah. Those are sometimes painful, but often we. We avoid doing the tasks that we know might bring pain.
- [47:22]
A
Yeah.
- [47:23]
B
But it's important to do it so well. We could. We could go on and on, but I think that we'd better save it for next month's podcast. So with that, I want to thank everyone so much for joining us on this episode of A State of Mind, the art of selling luxury real estate. If you're interested in learning more about the institute, you can find more at www.luxuryhomemarketing.com. if you like what you just heard, please share it with a friend. And don't forget. And don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. And if you've got a hot topic that you'd like us to discuss in a future podcast, feel free to let us know. Send an email to infoluxuryhomemarketing.com thanks so much for listening.