← Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
Estate of Mind — The Art of Selling Luxury Real Estate
Real Estate Tech That Strengthens Client Relationships
00:45:11
In this episode of Estate of Mind, hosts Tami Simms and Jack Miller explore how real estate technology can support, not replace, authentic client relationships. From virtual showings and predictive analytics to personalized automation and AI staging, learn how today’s top luxury agents use tech tools to save time, deepen trust, and close more deals without losing the human touch. Discover strategies for building meaningful connections, qualifying high-net-worth leads, and using digital resources to enhance negotiation, marketing, and presentation.
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- [00:01]
A
Both of those transactions closed at the end of last week. They didn't close because of AI, they didn't close because of technology. They didn't close of any kind of tools or platforms. They closed because of what you and I and the rest of our listeners do every day, which is negotiating, having conversations bring into play the contacts that we have to work together to solve problems.
- [00:28]
B
Ultimately, if AI can or any of the other technology tools can free us up from the data, heavy time intensive activities to give us more time to focus on those human aspects of working with our clients and really providing excellent service. I think that that's really important. 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. I n-t e 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. Tammy 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 talk about how technology can enhance the client journey in luxury real estate. I'm here today with my co host Jack Miller, a 25 plus year veteran luxury agent with Onward Real Estate in the greater Nashville, Tennessee market. Hello Jack, good to see you again.
- [01:53]
A
Hi Tammy, good to see you too.
- [01:56]
B
So in our last episode we talked about utilizing technology to boost productivity and the conversation quickly reverted back to the idea that the luxury real estate experience is truly an authentic human interaction. And so many tech functions seem to want to replace that with automated features, really kind of taking more time to manage the tech than giving us more time. So today I want the conversation to go a little bit deeper into how we can truly embrace technology in a way that gives us more time to interact with our clients and our sphere of influence. So Jack, I just want to, I want to let you kick off kind of what your thoughts were from the last conversation and the points that I think we really want to drill home on today.
- [02:48]
A
Yeah, well, no, I think that it's interesting too because again, we're focusing on the luxury space and I think that a lot of agents in the broader spectrum, you know, as far as our colleagues across the country working other price ranges, various price ranges, the push is always toward more clients, more business, more transactions. You know, it's about Growing the volume of transactions. And that's not necessarily the push for luxury brokers. It's more on the quality of transactions, the loyalty, the long term clientele, repeat business. And obviously along with that is growing ourselves in a way that allows us to work in more luxurious environments, you know, higher end properties, higher end communities. That's where more the push is. And so I think that for some of us, we almost recoil a little bit talking about technology, particularly when you think that most of the, you know, most of my colleagues that just came from, I mentioned previously, before we went on the air, there was, I came from a broker open that was a 24 million dollar broker open and all the heavy hitters were there. And when you look across the room, most of the heavy hitters have been around for a long time. And so these are folks that they, they're using technology but they're not making it the total focus of their existence. So I think there's some terrific ways we can incorporate technology. Technology help us boost the client experience in the luxury market. But I think we approach it a little differently than maybe some of our colleagues who are working with entry level buyers, for example, and entry level sellers and that sort of thing.
- [04:24]
B
You know, your comments about the broker open make me think of one particular piece of technology that, that I want to mention and that is sly dial. Right. So I'm betting that for those heavy hitter agents to actually attend a broker's open, right? Everybody's Busy. Now granted, $24 million, it's always a reason to, you know, it piques your interest a little bit. But what I have found is that if one of my colleagues personally invites me, right. Sends me a text message or I get a voicemail that says, you know, I really, really would appreciate if you could take the time to come. Right. That's going to ratchet something in my book, in my calendar to a. Okay. I've had a personal ask from someone who I respect and I know that in many cases those are automated. Either text messages that are coming from the agent or the slide dial that I was mentioning is where you can record a message and it actually bypasses their phone and just goes directly to voicemail. And you can record those in a way that it doesn't seem like it's a canned message. Right. Oh gosh, I'm so sorry that I missed you. I was really just calling to make sure you got invitation to the brokers event that I'm doing and it would mean a lot to me if you were there. Right. That's the kind of thing that, that could be a tech automation, if you will, that still has that high touch kind of, kind of feel. Now, did you get a phone call or a personal invitation to that broker's open?
- [06:05]
A
I did. Okay, those are the one, those are the ones that make a point to attend. I, I try. You know, we, there's so many opportunities and you can't do everything. And like you said earlier, we're all busy, but I always try to attend the broker opens for colleagues that I've worked with previously, my friends, the ones who send personal invitations, or if the property itself is so noteworthy that it's piqued my interest, or perhaps I've got a client I think is a, as a potential candidate and we want to see it before it hits the market. Those. That's kind of the way that I prioritize where I attend. And so conversely, you know, my business partner Robert and I, we don't do a lot of broker opens, honestly. But when we do those, I make a personal reach to each agent I want to attend. I do my top 25 or top 50 that way. And beyond that, yes, we do some mass emails and things of that nature, but my top 25 or top 50, depending on the price point, I'll make a personal reach because I think that makes a huge difference on who comes.
- [07:09]
B
Oh, I absolutely agree. And the fact that you're automating to some degree using email and other technology to reach the larger group, but you're making that, you know, that, that, that person to person, that personal touch, the human touch, if you will, even if it's automated, to the folks that you want to come. And that makes me think about the power of our databases as well as it relates to, to our client interactions, having more time to, to, to interact. A lot of agents, particularly those that you talked about, that are looking for volume, they're looking for production, they're relying on their databases and CRMs to do drip marketing, right, to convert leads, raw leads, at whatever price point. But I know that I use my database to make sure that I'm recording what we talked about before, to make, make record of interest. Right. Is somebody a, a sailor, a golfer, do they have dogs, do they love wine, that sort of thing, to look for opportunities to pick up the phone or send a note or that sort of thing. And, and so it kind of feels the same way, kind of how we're interacting with our colleagues in the luxury space in the same way that we want to be interacting with our clients.
- [08:33]
A
Go ahead. I'm sorry.
- [08:34]
B
No, you, you go ahead.
- [08:36]
A
Well, I was, I was going to shift gears a little bit too. I mean, the technology has allowed us to do all kinds of things. I mean, I, I think back to during COVID when we had that crazy rush and you know, in 2021 and first half of 2022, and you could put incredibly expensive homes on the market, which typically would have more of a limited audience. But people are just, you know, beating the doors down to get in to see listings and multiple offers and the speed at which everything move was so quickly. And we have, we've. In this market like yours, we have a lot of our buyers are coming from other markets, typically larger markets, moving to Nashville and they couldn't get in town quick enough to see the properties. They would be gone before they get the flight booked, you know, and so we had to change the way we did business in a lot of respects and that we started doing video and FaceTime on properties that were off market offerings or coming soon, brand new opportunities. We'd be in the first couple of hours doing FaceTime calls and writing offers based on that experience. Now, that's not typical today as much. We still do that some, but we don't have that same sense of urgency, that same rush that we saw during COVID times. But we're still using the same types of technologies to assist with the process and to make for our clients again who are coming from out of town. Is it worth booking a flight and disrupting the, the family and work life, et cetera, to come to Nashville for a couple of days to see some properties? It helps with that.
- [10:09]
B
I think that's an interesting concept. Sometimes, sometimes technologies or different ways of doing business is forced on us a little bit by circumstance. And sometimes there's things about it that, that stick. And for me, your comment about virtual showings, FaceTime showings, video showings, not just in showing property, but I have defaulted to video conferencing whenever I am having my first engagements or communications with out of town buyers who are getting ready to come. Right. And I have found that the difference between talking to somebody on the phone and having a zoom call with them when they're in their home, I can see where they live, I can get a sense of their style. And I just find that to be a powerful way to kind of bridge the gap between being able to be in person and the next best thing, to be able to see their faces and their reactions and how they interact with each other. If there's more than one of them. Are you doing any of that with your out of town folks?
- [11:23]
A
I have, I have for sure. And I've had some of our clients actually request that, that we do a zoom call, something more face to face as an initial interaction. I don't know, it's funny, for me, I prefer the initial call to be on phone and then it had that conversation. That's just me. But when we get down to having more of an interview type setup, then I like the zoom call where we can go through all the questions and kind of drill down deeper, if you will. I think mainly it's because we usually want to have the opportunity to talk with a new client. For me, it's more important that it happened quickly than it happened on video. So that's why initially, a lot of times it will be the call, make the call, let them see where I'm responsive. You know, Johnny, on the spot. I've worked them into my schedule, I followed up on the timeframe they've asked me to, and then we can set up a more detailed, you know, call at a later time.
- [12:13]
B
Right now that makes perfect sense and we've talked about that before, your strategies for being quickly responding, responsive, but still setting boundaries. And I agree you can't always just hop on a video call, but when it's, when it's scheduled, I think that's a, that's a great opportunity.
- [12:32]
A
I've got a question for you though, Tammy.
- [12:33]
B
Sure.
- [12:34]
A
Is using the, you know, video or FaceTime or what have you for virtual showings, have you sold homes, luxury homes, where a buyer didn't see the home until they purchased it, until after they purchased it?
- [12:51]
B
Yes, but I will say that they get to see it during the inspection period. So they'll go to contract. They'll go to contract and then make the arrangements to come. And I have done that in a number of instances. Certainly it happened when we were in the pandemic, but that has kind of stayed the course because, you know, regardless of market trends, I still feel, and I was sharing this with a, with a potential luxury seller yesterday, that a good property presented well, priced appropriately in a desirable location is still going to sell quickly. So there is still a sense of urgency for someone who wants that right thing. I was doing statistics today for our downtown condo luxury market report and I saw among the, among the multimillion dollar sales year to date that there were at least a dozen that were zero days on the market or one day on the market. And so that tells me it's kind of a tried and true thing that if you take the time to prepare and that sort of thing. But I think that also goes beyond when we're talking about technology. You can do the push button CMA and you can, you can automate an awful lot of the tasks. But the nuances of pricing and preparation are definitely things that are the highest and best use of our time. I think that's right.
- [14:24]
A
That's right.
- [14:24]
B
Yeah. Another place that it comes into is negotiating. Right there, there, there, there is no technology, there's no AI. I think that can replace that level of communication and that negotiation piece that comes into play. So all the more reason for us to take, you know, data driven, time intensive tasks off of our plate, to have more time to focus on that.
- [14:50]
A
I've had too many conversations with a, you know, because here's the reality of day to day. A lot of the colleagues that we're working with and interacting with in the luxury market are a lot of the same faces. People we've known for years, we've done transactions with them before. But then, as you know, we're in a market here that's growing rapidly and we've got a lot of new faces are entering the marketplace and they're having the opportunity to work in the luxury space for the first time. But they're not. But they seem to be following patterns they've established in a different price range, different market that aren't necessarily the best for working on higher end transaction. And one example is the negotiating. You know, this is something you don't do. You don't negotiate by text and really important conversations don't happen by text. That's just my opinion. Important conversations, you know, personal conversations between people, whether it's something personal, emotional, business, important conversations or something you have face to face or personal interaction by phone at a minimum. And so what I'm seeing sometimes is agents who want to just shoot over an offer or shoot over a counter offer and shoot a text and off they go. Or you try to get them on the phone and they're doing three other things at the same time. That's not good negotiating. Good negotiating is when I'm hearing you, Tammy, I'm hearing what you're saying and I'm hearing you convey the ideas and thoughts of your client and you're hearing me, and that's so critical. And you're right, that's something that I can't replace. That's something that automation can't replace. And that's what gives us job security.
- [16:27]
B
Is that, that's right. That's right.
- [16:28]
A
Our clients need. We talked about this in previous podcasts where I told you that one of my concerns was, you know, certain price ranges that, you know, we're going to have Amazon Prime Realtors where, you know, your garage door just goes up and buyers just show up and they go in your house because they're Amazon prime members. That's not going to happen in the luxury space. It's just not. And that. And so, yeah, the tools help us become more efficient and they do all kinds of wonderful things, but they can't replace us, not in the, in the most meaningful spaces. Like negotiating.
- [17:00]
B
Absolutely. I do think that it's important for us to pay attention and embrace when we talk about technology. That's a huge, huge category. But everybody's all focused on AI now. And some of the major luxury brands and industries, like the financial services industries, luxury travel, that sort of thing, are utilizing AI for predictive analysis. Right. So that thing that makes the ads appear on your Facebook feed, Jack, because it knows that you were thinking about something in a little deeper extent, if you will, are allowing some AI tools to make some predictions about when people might want to make a change or purchase a vacation property. And the difference between going all in on AI or paying attention to the things that, especially in the luxury space, might be of value to us in being able to, to know when to pick up the phone and call and say, hey, I'm just, How are you doing? I just, we haven't talked in a while and have you gotten to play golf lately? Right. Are you going to the Hamptons? That sort of thing. Just checking in, being fed by some information that says this may be a good time. To me, that's like this sophisticated version of all of the different technology that says we're just doing an algorithm of when somebody bought and what the averages are on how long they're going to live in that home.
- [18:42]
A
Right.
- [18:42]
B
What do you think about those kinds of concepts?
- [18:45]
A
Oh, I think, I think the use of AI is unlimited. There's so many things and funny, I just recently started using Chat GPT. I was very slow to the game. And it's funny if there's any of our listeners, if you're not using those types of tools, I would encourage you find somebody who is spend 30 minutes with them. It won't take very long. This is not a skill set you acquire. It's just being exposed to it and seeing, hey, what can you do here? It's amazing, the opportunity. So, yeah, we use the AI in all sorts of ways to help us become more productive. One of the things I've done just recently is, you know, we've had some, some sales. I've got a couple of listings right now, gorgeous homes and they're on critical lots. I don't know what if that term means anything to you.
- [19:27]
B
No, I was going to ask you what, what does that mean, critical?
- [19:31]
A
So a critical lot, for example, you know, there's some lots you look at that, you just look into dirt, you think, oh, this will be easy lot to build on because fairly level, it's got city sewer, it doesn't flood. This is the optimal lot. You know, there's critical lots where the lot is really steep. It's going to require some engineering to build it. Steep in our market because we bills, you know, so. And we also have colluvial soil. So just because something looks pretty doesn't mean you can build on it. So you have to do, you know, soil testing and you have to make sure does it require special engineering. So some lots require engineering before you can build on them. And that would be a critical lot. And so for example, I've got some lots here that have homes already built on them where they used, you know, they had engineering done to be able to do the foundation work it's going to build. These are beautiful homes, but these homes don't have pools. And the typical consumer looks at these lots and says, oh, you can't do a pool here. Yeah, you can do a pool here. You know, the setbacks are such you can do a pool. There's no covenants and restrictions restricting you from such. But what AI is kind of what's cool to use AI for is to help paint the picture. You know, previously we had to wait to get an appointment with a pool company to bring out some graphic artists, you know, platform to show what a pool would look like. We can spend two minutes on AI and show a picture of the home and then a few minutes later we've got a picture of the home with a pool in the backyard and it paints the picture literally. And we can post those pictures, you know, in our market materials. And of course we have to disclose it's. That's of course, but it helps create the vision for the buyer so that this, so that the opportunity is not eliminated. So that's just one way we do it and it's a lot of fun.
- [21:10]
B
And you know, I think that that also makes me think of one of the ways that that a lot of high end agents are embracing virtual Technology and that sort of thing. We Talked about your FaceTime showings, but virtual staging on a higher level. Right. To give people the opportunity to be able to visualize how a space would.
- [21:38]
A
Look.
- [21:41]
B
With their furnishings decorated differently with a different purpose applied. Those are, those are powerful technological tools that, that we didn't have back in the day.
- [21:54]
A
No. Think about before and afters, Tammy. You know, we go on a listing appointment, someone's got a really nice home and they're, they're landscaping doesn't really present well.
- [22:02]
B
Yeah.
- [22:03]
A
You know, you can go and use the AI tool and put landscaping and just with them, spend a couple of minutes, you can show them. Here's how your home could look. If you could see a home like this, would this make your business grab your attention? And the seller looks like, wow. Yeah, well. Or here's even better example. Before and after from a seller perspective. I had several homes through the years where there's. Over the course of time, each owner tried to put their touch on the home. And so layer by layer by layer by layer. I've had probably three or four homes in my 28 year career where there were so many different substrates and color schemes on the exterior that it was just too busy because there were additions, things, additions done. You have stucco and brick and stone and this, whatever. And it needed something more cohesive. And I had to describe that to clientele. I had to get pictures and bring in magazines and images off the Internet when it became available. Well, now we take a picture of their home and let's do this whole thing, do this to it. What does that look like? And you can show them. And so it's a really easy way to show a seller. This makes sense to make these improvements on the front end to make your home more marketable. Conversely, if you're working with buyer clients and I think about historic homes or homes that maybe, you know, gorgeous homes, the inside, they don't have the great front elevation. They need a. Yeah, I can paint the picture, show what it looks like. If you had a front porch on it, like, wow, it's amazing the difference it makes architecturally. Whatever.
- [23:27]
B
Yeah. And those are the things even using chat GPT as you started out there in terms of copywriting or descriptions or whatnot, these are things that can save us time from the types of tasks that used to take us away from being, being able to spend time with our clients, having FaceTime with them, being out and visible in our communities. So I think, I think that's really what we're, what we're kind of focused on here is embracing those things that, that, that allow us to have the highest and best use of our times.
- [24:04]
A
Absolutely.
- [24:05]
B
I want to go back to the database concept a little bit because I think that a good database can be an incredible tool for reminding you when you haven't spoken to someone in a while. You know, you can rank people, you can make note of their communication styles. Right. So, so you will remember and they will appreciate the fact that you have sent them a text if that's the way that they prefer to be communicated with or if somebody has a C type personality that, that, that you send them data and not something flowery. I think those are, those are really valu that allow us to interact with our clients in an efficient way.
- [24:49]
A
Absolutely.
- [24:50]
B
So having the ability to make note of somebody's communication style. Right. So in the Institute we use the disc model and there's lots of others, but in that particular model, the C style communicator is kind of like what I like to call the cpa. And so if you know that somebody is that type of personality, you have the ability to share with them data points and things that are going to resonate with them as opposed to another style of communication. Do you find that important, Jack, when you're, when you're interacting with, with your clients in your sphere of influence, to remember how they like to be spoken to?
- [25:30]
A
Yeah, of course. And keep in mind too, I think it's probably true for you as well, Tammy, but in my case, I don't have a large database. I've done this a long time, but I've always tried to hone my database to the audience I'm truly targeting for the long run because there's people along the way that are wonderful clients and for whatever reason, it's not the right fit for my long term goals as far as my business. I'm still happy to be of service to them, help in any way I can. But the folks that I'm targeting and the folks I want to make sure I keep in my sphere of influence and frequent contact is a fairly small number. And so one, I don't have a hard time keeping those, that information in mind. But at the same time, I take a lot of notes to your point in our database and our CRM. A lot of notes, a lot of detail and I keep that and it keeps it always fresh for me. So yeah, it's very important that I keep that information on hand.
- [26:31]
B
I think that's very true. And so if we, if we shift from Talking about the people that we, that we already know, that we want to cultivate to do more business with. I think one of the ways that, that we can use technology and different resources is helping us to do a precursory qualification of a new lead. So institute members have the opportunity to, to utilize the Wealth Engine tool which allows you to learn a little bit more about an individual. But I think about the fact that, that things like that weren' us and you really had to rely on, you know, paper trails and, and, and that sort of thing. And so, so Jack, do you use, I don't know, Google or you know, are you using any of those types of resources to help you learn more? Right. Not necessarily qualify because we, we don't want to take the importance away from actual qualification but to learn more about the people that you're interacting with.
- [27:32]
A
Yeah, yeah, of course, absolutely, of course. Because a lot of times and even some cases, you know, we know somebody is, is qualified, if you will, financially because there's somebody very high profile or whatever. But in some cases, you know, for example, maybe somebody from the music industry, which we deal with here in Nashville a lot or, or in sports or whatever, I don't know a lot about their background in music. And I want to come to the table with a little bit of, you know, with some sort of insight into what they do and who they are. And so it gives you. These are all kinds of research tools. Certainly Google, that's the go to, I think for just about everybody is to hit Google and type of key phrase in and learn about somebody's background, their business background, where they went to school, where they're from. These are all. It's very interesting because you find out sometimes somebody's from the part of the country that you're from, or perhaps they went to a university that you attended or they, we have friends that, you know, there's all sorts of potential connections and you want to see where those opportunities, my lot might lie. And so yeah, that's exactly how we start. It's very helpful.
- [28:31]
B
So those are some really basic, basic ways to, to use technology for that sort of thing. I know of the. One of the places where AI is going is identifying sets of big data to, to or and analyzing sets of big data to gain some insight into, to trends that can be like micro trends because we know that the real estate market, and that's in air quotes there performs differently in different areas and different types of homes. And so I'm looking forward to the development of that in ways that can help us really to, to identify those types of trends that are going to be relevant for us in, in pricing luxury properties. I know I did an analysis yesterday, I'm in Florida, so you might expect that that pool homes are, are the norm, but there's certain neighborhoods that have lot sizes that are, that are too small to accommodate pools. And then you've got new construction that's building out on every inch. And so I was able to, to have a conversation yesterday and by analyzing data in a certain price segment, certain size homes, I said of all the properties that have sold in the last two years, half of them had pools and half of them didn't. So you're not at a disadvantage. And, and I'm looking forward to as, as the AI tools get more intuitive and, and a little better at math and that sort of thing to be able to help us with that data analysis. But you know that I feel strongly that it's always important to do your own data pulling and to really, you know, don't, don't rely on it. Just like you don't send a chat GPT description off without proofreading it, you know, analyze the data.
- [30:24]
A
We've talked about that. Yeah, we've talked about that before that agents who are using AI to write home descriptions, you can tell sometimes they post them or copy and paste some of their marketing materials without truly going back through and giving it their touch because it sounds so cliche in some cases. No, I think that's terrific. You know, one of the tools that we have here, and I'm sure you have in your market too, is our MLS has continued to develop and grow and has become such a wonderful tool. So it's not just here's a list of houses in a price range and a zip code, you know, this much square footage. But providing analytic tools specific to our market, and in our case, about 85% of the home showings are actually done through our MLS tool that's offered free of charge to members. Why that's important is it gives us really good analytics about showing activity where show happening, where showings are not are going down. What showings look like this month versus the same month last year, what trends we're seeing year to year. You know, it's very interesting to look at that information that's being compiled. It can be pulled together within a few seconds. And so I don't know that's necessarily AI as much as analytics, but still it's a technology tool.
- [31:39]
B
It's technology, that's the thing. And AI is Not everything. There are a lot of very functional technology pieces that come into this conversation as well. And you made me think about just even the advances in lockboxes and showing requests. And I remember when automated showing requests first came in and I stomped my phone feet and I didn't like it one bit. How come you can't call me, you know, that sort of thing. Now I have come to, to, to really appreciate that especially because of the analytics as you mentioned. And one of the things that I think is, is, is the best feature on homes. So, so let's say that you've got to accompany the showing anyway if you're in the luxury price point. Right. But still utilizing those showing time is what we use in our MLS and those things to at least record requests for showings. Right. You can manage the rest of them personally. Now I will say my pet peeve is when it says use the showing time to schedule an appointment and then it says text the agent to schedule the appointment. Right. So my interpretation of that is, if I want to use this effectively is that I'll get a notification from showing time and then I'll call the agent, we'll work it out from there. But it's tracking when those things are and that's valuable for communicating with your clients, particularly sellers. But I like the reverse option of that as well where if you're trying to determine whether the showing activity on your listing is the same, better, worse than anybody else. Your ability to see whether other agents. Agents have been requesting showings.
- [33:37]
A
Yeah.
- [33:37]
B
On other properties and not yours.
- [33:41]
A
That's right.
- [33:41]
B
So I think those are really good back end analytics. I think that's, that, that's fantastic.
- [33:48]
A
Once again, I think again, where it's, where our role comes into play is not just the ability to use those tools and to bring those analytics to our clients and help them understand the bigger picture. But then once again, the analytics, the AI and you go on down the list for all the technology opportunities that we have. Can't look at a property and tell you why it's not selling.
- [34:11]
B
Sure.
- [34:12]
A
And sometimes the analytics help us build our case to present a recommendation to our clients. But sometimes we need to actually, you know, when you, when you pull all the data together and it shows the activity level is good across the board and other homes are selling and our home doesn't seem overpriced when you look at the numbers and the footages and they're all data. But then we look at our listing and you and I look at it and we know the Reason it's not selling is because there are some really dated features here and things that replace and upgrade where the seller thinks it looks just fine like it is and they want someone to buy it just like it is, but they need somebody and they hire us. They need somebody to say, hey, look, this is going to make the difference between selling and not selling.
- [34:56]
B
Yeah, yeah. And even identifying anomalies in data. Right. So I know that AI can say, hey, this happened here. That was different than in, in any other. It can identify it, but it can't figure out why. So, for example, yesterday when I was talking with this prospective seller and they asked that question, the Magic eight Ball question, for those of you who have the video. This is my. This is my Magic eight Ball that I keep right here by my desk for when I get these questions. So he said, I, I want you to tell us when the best time to, to come on the market is. And now that's a loaded question. Anytime. But particularly in my market, we are, you know, we are right smack in hurricane season again, and our market is going to behave differently depending on how the entirety of the next several months goes.
- [35:59]
A
Yeah.
- [36:00]
B
And as I was looking at historical data. Right. Because first of all, you, you know, look back and see the last several years, see if there is a trend of particular months where there are more homes that have gone to contract than others. Where are the lulls? Where are the highs? Well, in the fall of last year, October and November, I saw a spike in homes that went to contract. That might lead an ordinary analyst to say, oh, look at, that's a good time. And what I had to talk about was the fact that that could have been an artificially spiked time period because there were a number of people who lost their homes in the hurricane and needed to find a new place to live lickety split, and they had the means to go purchase a new home in a different area. And so I think that's one of the things that's super important about where we come into play is being able to kind of do the interpretation and figure out hypothetically what could cause these anomalies. Not just that they exist, but maybe why. I think that goes back to the negotiation piece as well. Yeah, right. Because you can spit out a ticker tape of a, you know, how to do a negotiation.
- [37:15]
A
You give, you can provide data all day long, too, but somebody's really interpreted and say, that's wonderful. What does that mean for me? Yeah, what does that mean to me, you know, as a seller? What does that Mean to me as the buyer, when you talk about a balanced market and you're talking to your clients, your clients don't necessarily know what a balanced market, what that, what that looks like, you know, and they may.
- [37:35]
B
They have forgotten indeed that for sure.
- [37:37]
A
And you talk to a seller and you talk about the fact that no, it may take four or five months to sell and they're shocked because they're thinking, what's wrong with my house that you think it could take four or five months to sell. Four or five months is not that long.
- [37:51]
B
Right.
- [37:52]
A
But it feels long on the heels of just a couple years ago where they were selling in ad days and hours.
- [37:58]
B
Yeah, I think it's felt long all along. Remember back in the day when this was the norm and we still had to make the plans of how we were going to communicate with the sellers and manage their expectations and all of that. Then it got exacerbated for sure when the market got hot. So it, it definitely feels like a long time. Definitely no for sure.
- [38:19]
A
And the thing I think is key, and again, it's a little off topic here, but I think the key is, is good communication with our clients. They need to hear from us, even if it's not, not great news. If, when they're hearing from us, it gives them a comfort level that we're paying attention, that we're.
- [38:33]
B
That's right.
- [38:33]
A
We may be out there constantly doing things and talk about their property and totally plugged in the market, but they don't know unless we tell them.
- [38:40]
B
That's right.
- [38:41]
A
I've fallen short there too sometimes because, you know, you're busy, you're doing things, you're trying to stir up the activity when it's a slower time period. But we've got to remember to slow down a little bit and go back and talk to our clients and tell them what we're doing.
- [38:52]
B
Right.
- [38:53]
A
We're doing something they don't really we're doing to help kind of generate, generate activity. So we, we respond differently, different markets, but again, it's all about technology here. Once again, how can we use technology to help us present solutions to our clients?
- [39:07]
B
Yeah. You know, one of the things that makes me think of in our, in our team meetings, you know, strategic planning sessions every year, we allow everybody on the team to share what they love to do and what they wish they never had to do again. Right. And a lot of that's very task oriented, but those are kind of aha, moments where we can identify places where we need to seek solutions, whether that's outsourcing to humans or whether that's finding the technology to. To take off of our plate the things that not only aren't the highest and best use of our time, but that may mentally slow us down because we really don't enjoy doing them. Them.
- [39:49]
A
Right. That's right. Well, I can think of, for example, I can think of times where my business partner Robert and myself would spend countless hours putting brochures and marketing pieces together and working on Photoshop and Microsoft Word, trying to create these brochures and take them to a printer and blah, blah. I mean, very cumbersome. And you know, it's interesting because I don't know about you guys, but we're seeing over the last couple of years, I think it started, I think again, once again, during the COVID period 21 and 22, when things were moving so quickly that people quit using brochures. What was the point? It was sold before the brochure was ready. You couldn't possibly get a brochure, so we quit doing it. But also what we found is a lot of our clients, you know, it's not about brochures. They're doing everything online and they're doing things more quickly and they want to have it, you know, at their fingertips to show their friend, their sister, their whoever, they will be able to do it and share it. They share it virtually. You know, I'm here and somebody's in LA and we can share. You can't share the brochure, a physical brochure, but you can share a website or.
- [40:52]
B
Well, and you can sure share the brochures that get uploaded into the digital reader formats, right?
- [40:56]
A
That's right, exactly. So, yeah, again, the technologies allow us to pull those things together pretty quickly and allow us to spend our time doing things that really matter. You know, I had a client that they're closing into this month. It's a client. I've sold him and his wife and his family homes for my entire career. I probably did 10, eight or 10 transactions with them, all of them luxury transactions. But the. Since the last time he and his wife and I have worked together, a lot has changed. And I didn't. And it made. It made me acutely aware how much has changed because he started asking me questions about things that I realized the market has changed and brochures is one of those things, you know, And I said, well, you know, we do more digital brochures now because we can distribute them quicker, faster, hit more people. And, you know, I was explaining it to him, he's like, oh, okay, you.
- [41:45]
B
Know, well, it's kind of like having those materials to prepare that you can share electronically with a prospective seller before your meeting. Right. You don't have to fill up their whole coffee table with all the printed materials. And I think to some degree that gives them an opportunity to learn what they want to know about you so that you can then focus on having the conversation with them when you're meeting. So I think it kind of takes us back to the concept that, you know, that ultimately if AI can or any of the other technology tools can free us up from the data, heavy time intensive time and time intensive activities to give us more time to focus on those human aspects of working with our clients and really providing excellent service. I think that that's really important. There's no replacement for emotional intelligence, the negotiation skills that we talked about, et cetera. And so, so as we, as we wrap up, I'm, I'm curious, is there, do you have hopes of where something will go that, that will give you more time for that or anything that you've taken away from our time today? That, that kind of was like an aha moment.
- [43:04]
A
No, I think, you know, I think what we're doing, Tammy, is we're summarizing the experience I think that we're all having right now. You know, we, I had two appraisal issues in the last two weeks on closings that were about to happen. One of them appraised a hundred thousand dollars short, had one that was a million dollars short.
- [43:24]
B
Oh, boy.
- [43:26]
A
Both of those transactions closed at the end of last week. They didn't close because of AI. They didn't close because of technology. They didn't close of any kind of tools or platforms. They closed because of what you and I and the rest of our listeners do every day, which is negotiating, having conversations, bring into play the contacts that we have to work together to solve problems. That's what technology does. It allows us more time to focus on that if we're doing it well.
- [43:59]
B
Oh, my goodness, I couldn't possibly have closed that better. But we have come to the end of our time and I want to thank all of you. Thank you, Jack, for all, as always, for, for being my partner in crime here. And to all of our listeners, thank you 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 for Luxury Home Marketing, you can find more at www.luxuryhomemarketing.com and if you like what you just heard, please share it with a friend. And don't forget to subscribe, rate and review this podcast. And of course, if you have a topic that you'd like us to discuss in a future podcast, feel free to suggest it. Just send an email to infoluxuryhomemarketing.com until next time. Thanks for listening. Sam.