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- [00:01]
David Green
Welcome to Real Talk Real Estate, the show where we cover how to build wealth in real estate with no fluff, no BS and no sales pitches. I'm David Green and I've been doing this for over 10 years. I've seen the ups, the downs, and everything in between. This is the show where we pull back the curtain and show it to you too. So if you want to build wealth through real estate or you just love learning about it, you found your home. What's going on, everyone? Welcome to Real Talk Real Estate. This is Real Talk Realtor, I'm David Green and I have got a gem for you all today. I'll be joined with former UFC fighter and real estate champ Al Iquinta. Good friend, awesome dude, and runs an incredible business in Long Island, New York. I've actually got to know him and I, I like the guy. He's got a lot of character and he's got a lot of fight in him. Pun intended. We're going be talking about what he did to transition from being a professional athlete into a badass wrestling realtor. Al, welcome to the show.
- [00:55]
Al Iaquinta
Thank you for having me, David. This is awesome. Really.
- [00:58]
David Green
All right. I remember when we met, we were in your car and we were driving and you said later. I can't believe I'm listening to David Green in my car when I'm usually listening to David Green while I'm in my car, but it's, it's not coming out of the speakers. Right.
- [01:14]
Al Iaquinta
It was incredible, man. Knives, great, great event. Thank you. As again, you know, I can't thank you enough for making it out to New York and I know that everybody that attended the event was blown away by the knowledge you dropped and the insights. You have just such a wealth of knowledge and, and me personally just getting a. Exactly. Pick you up from the airport and, and chop it up. And we had a good time. It was a good time. And I learned, you know, you know, I think just as much about real estate as I did about like, life and your experiences. You know, you, you're a, a well traveled person and you have some, some really good insights to all different areas of life. So I, I, it was a really cool, cool weekend.
- [02:03]
David Green
Yeah, it was a great time. I can see why you're selling so many houses out there because when you drive around Long island, your face is on the park benches, you got advertising everywhere, you're checking your phone nonstop for what leads are coming in and what clients might be calling. You don't have that attitude of I'm, I'm too cool or I'm too busy to take these calls. You're out there grinding and you just. You took great care of me. I could tell. You take care of all the people that came to your event. We were raising money for the victims in North Carolina of the flooding, I believe it was. And you just put all that together yourself and used all your sort of like homegrown connections to make that happen. And I thought this is what realtors used to be like. It was a local person that knew the locals, that your dad's dad knew his dad's dad. And it was sort of word of mouth and connections and reputation. And we've moved away from that in general with technology and online leads and trying to streamline everything. And when you and I were talking, you kind of mentioned how you've incorporated both of those methods. You got the old school, reputation is everything, and you got to do right by people. But you've also combined some technological sort of improvements to your brokerage. So can we just start with, like, explaining what your overall systems look like and how your brokerage is set up with you also being in production?
- [03:21]
Al Iaquinta
Yeah, it's, you know, we're a local. Local brokerage. I opened up in my hometown of Wanta, pretty much lived here my whole life. Wrestled for the high school, went to the high school, and just really have, you know, developed some really good relationships here in. In the town of Wanta. And majority of the agents that are with the Office are from this. The town. They've known me, you know, growing up. Denise Fowler is an agent with the Office. I played sports with her sons growing up. Matt Scroy, I grew up with it, went to high school with his brother, Ricky Capiello. He's the manager at the. The bar here, Mulcahys. So it's a real, like, homegrown home roots kind of place where we all, like, know the same people. We all have similar values, goals, and, and. And stuff like that. It's very similar. I've kind of structured it. When I was fighting with the Sara Longo fight team, it was very, very similar. I was like, that's the kind of vibe that I want to create that I didn't have when I was with my previous brokerage, which is the reason that I opened my office here was just the. The people that I surround myself with. And, you know, it's enjoyable coming to the office every day. Every day I look forward to coming to the office. The people that, with the office that they come in, they get their work done. I'm excited when they come in and we talk, we talk about, you know, news, what's going on and then it's time to work. We get to work and then after work's done, same kind of thing, we can hang out after work hours and have a good time. We all have like the same, the same interests and you know, it's, it's been a really, really cool process. Stressful at the start, but you know, I think for our office, majority of the leads come from just word of mouth, sphere of influence. But then, you know, there's, there's some downtime throughout the year. There's busy seasons and there's a little slower seasons and those are always a good, good way to, or a good time to kind of sharpen the sword. Look into some different lead generating sites and, and different ways to get leads that are outside of the, the traditional like sphere of influence. Getting on the phones, getting uncomfortable, making the calls, that kind of thing.
- [06:12]
David Green
So you, you've got a brokerage now that's sort of a close knit group, good relationships. Not everyone's going to be the right fit and you're going to struggle with scaling to have a lot of people. But the upside is the people you have are going to be more efficient, more productive and you're going to keep them longer. You said you were with a different brokerage before. What is the difference in the vibe between what you built and what you were a part of?
- [06:37]
Al Iaquinta
Well, I think that's it's, it is, it's kind of like cliche, like a family, you know what I mean? But, but you know, it's close to that. Whereas if like, you know, if I'm going away for the weekend, I know I have agents that are down, they're going to be around and they're going to be down to cover an open house or if I have an inspection, if I have a showing, you know, they're gonna help out with, with whatever it is and, and vice versa. They know if they, they can leave, they can, they don't have to, you know, structure their life around just real estate because they know if they're leaving town, if they're going out, that I'm here, that Andrea's here, Denise, Ricky, Matt, we have the whole crew here that's, you know, and, and kind of everybody knows the same people. So it's not really like one person's like out and you know, can't pick up where, where, you know, it's still like, you know, everyone knows that I'm Trying to be there at my own open houses as they are. But if it doesn't work out, there's someone that is more than comparable to pick up the slack.
- [07:48]
David Green
Yeah. So there's like a confidence that you're going to have that you can leave, you can keep some work life balance. You're not going to get burned out. Always afraid of. You're glued to the business 24 7, which I see a lot of talented agents can't hang because after two to three years of that, they're just bloodshot eyes and stressed out and they don't take care of their health and their relationships are suffering, their family is suffering, they're having a nervous breakdown. There's all those jokes about the realtor on vacation with their laptop on the surfboard. Right. Yeah. You feel like, hey, I got a group of people I could delegate things to. And if they got to leave, you're. You're kind of covering for them. Do you think that we've lost some of that fuel in the industry for. From the big discount brokerage model where all these agents are running to. They have a low commission, they have a cap on commissions, they're offering stock options. I know there was one that was trying to recruit my team that was offering free car washes for the realtors so that your car would look nice. Right. Like, they're just sort of throwing things at agents. And then the only way that they're profitable is they become a body shop of a ton of people and they don't give you that personal mentorship. Like, do you think that it makes a difference for the agent when they're choosing what brokers to work at, which style they. They pick?
- [09:05]
Al Iaquinta
Well, you could definitely get lost in the shuffle, I think. You know, when I, when I first got my license, I was with, you know, I didn't really. I just walked into an office and I, you know, is one of the bigger, bigger brands, you know, nationwide brands. And they were kind of like, here's your desk. Go, go, go for it. And I was like, well, I have buyers looking right now. And I didn't really know. You know, I kind of probably lost. I'm gonna say I lost like three deals right off the bat because my buyers, they, they were afraid. I felt, I mean, I didn't really know what I was doing and I didn't have any guidance, you know, so that was one thing. Then I, then I went on to a different brokerage, which was a little bit more training and stuff like that. But, but in opening this this office. Yeah, that's. That's the thing. We have just such a wealth of knowledge with the agents that have come on board. And for a new agent, they're. They just have, you know, we have meeting once a week where it's not like a training necessarily. It's more just like everyone comes in, it's a good time. You know, everybody. Not too many people are in the office. You know what I mean? But for. For once a week to get everybody in the office talking about what they have going on and for a newer agent to come in and just listen to what everyone's got going on, and it inspires them to get to that and also gives them, you know, like, oh, you know, Denise, I heard. You heard you were talking about this the other day. I actually have the same kind of scenario. How did that work out for you? And what kind of advice can you give me? And it's really just like a. A think tank where everybody just bounces stuff off of each other. And, you know, I have this listing coming out. Is there a. What do you think about a new way to market this? Or, you know, do you have any buyers looking in this area? And it's. It's. Yeah, it's been really, really cool. I. I think that. Yeah. That, you know, honestly, I. It could be. I. I really have just such blinders on to what else is going on in. In the industry, and I kind of like, just really. We're having fun doing it the way we're doing it, and it's working. It's. It's. I think people in the area are starting to take notice. And this is, you know, this. This spring season is huge for us. We've. We've really done a good job of helping the community over the last two years, and it's starting to pay off this year. I think more and more people. It's getting to that. Like, the first. The first two years were direct sphere of influence, and now it's people, hey, you know, I heard that, you know, we. You did a good job for my neighbor on the block. I wanted to talk to you about listing my house. It's kind of getting to that second and third, you know, sphere.
- [12:00]
David Green
You just made me think, like, that's exactly how we did it. When the David Green team was humming Is, There was an office, you would come into the office. You had to be there. You would listen to the other agents on the phone so you'd hear how they're handling objections, what words they're using with their clients. The way that you kind of read how direct you can be when you need to meet someone in person versus when you can just organize for them to go look at open house. And then you would ask questions like, hey, how did you do that? Or why'd you do it that way? And a lot of confidence, I think, was gained from seeing someone else do it or hearing somebody else do it. Right. Probably not that much different from your fighting career. You see somebody do something on the mat and you're like, man, I've never thought to do that before. And you ask them and then they kind of show you like, yeah, when you see this, you can get away with that. If these things happen, then you try it. It sort of becomes part of second nature. And that is how human beings learn the best. After Covid, we moved away from that model of learning into efficiency is over everything. Like, it's efficient. You don't have to be in the office. You're saving on driving time. You're meeting your clients on Zoo. You're sending a contract with people that you've never even met before. And then the clients kind of mirror that energy. They're in this position like, well, I'm not really loyal to this person. I don't know them. I don't have a relationship with them. Who's got the best deal? Who gives me the very best commission split? Who's going to kick back part of the commission if they're working with buyers? Right. Like, you sort of create this mercenary environment where the agents are trying to not have to get to know the clients, and the clients are trying to use the agents for whoever they think has the best deal. And that creates a bad reputation in real estate. Do you think that it's because your area, like, you're sort of like a blue collar. This is a small town and we all know each other, that it works better. Or are you of the opinion that that's just a better model and if you can, you should get plugged into a brokerage that works that way?
- [13:58]
Al Iaquinta
I think it all. All depends. I mean, for us, yeah, it's definitely. That's definitely the reason, I think. But I do think real estate is something that, you know, it's like you can't watch. You could watch a. A UFC fight. You could watch all the UFC fights you want. Right. And you're not going to be able to go out there and fight. Real estate, I think, is similar in a lot of ways that you got to get the reps in. You know, if you're A newer agent. You got to be in the office. You have to be going on showings with successful agents, agents in your office going on showing, seeing how they're interacting, what you know, you really have to, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta be in it. That's the training. The training is like, you have to get a listing and then you have to, you probably won't know how to do every. You won't know what you're doing the first time. But you gotta have somebody, you gotta have a coach or, or you know, a mentor, somebody in the office that can guide you through that first one and get your reps in to where now you know, or you're shadowing an agent that has a listing and you see the process from beginning to end. And now you know what you're doing because it's not, I don't think real estate you can learn. There's so much and there is a lot you can read in books and there's, you know, to, to supplement, you know, just like in fighting, you could read about mindset. You could read about, you know, you could, you could, you know, take these books that have moves in them and you review the moves and you everything. But at the end of the day, you got to get on the mat and you got to, you got to get the reps in.
- [15:35]
David Green
Yeah, it, it doesn't matter what you know. I mean, I, I did some Jiu jitsu training and when I was a police officer, I was one of the defensive tactics instructors. So we went to classes and they taught us mostly like Aikido based control holds and some pain compliance stuff. And there's a little bit of exposure to positional control. You learn a lot more of that when you get into grappling. But I mean, I learned really fast both when I was in law enforcement that whatever they showed you in the academy, if you didn't do it all the time, you don't think of it when you' the middle of freaking high stress. And even me, that had probably more experience than most of the cops in those physical altercations. I go to Jiu jitsu and I'm just like that cop that doesn't know what he's doing on the streets, right? Like, you get some really good person sitting on your chest and you're exhausted and like your brain does not remember what you just learned 30 minutes ago telling you exactly when you're here, this is what to do. It just, it's a weird phenomenon that your brain does not work under stress. I think the Agent showing homes. They're gonna. Especially new ones. You're gonna be scared. You're gonna be stressed. You're gonna feel like, man, I don't know what to do. I feel like. I mean, have you ever had that experience when you were new and you show up and you can't even find the lockbox to start it off? And you're just like, oh, I feel like an idiot, man. My clients are watching me, and I couldn't even find it. And then you can't open it. Your phone doesn't have signal, and it's not working. And then you finally get the key out, and the key doesn't work on the door, and you're just like, shoot me now. This is just the worst, right?
- [16:59]
Al Iaquinta
Front door, the back door is brutal.
- [17:01]
David Green
Yes. And you. By the time you even get in that house, you got to get on the phone and call the listing agent. They don't answer. And you're trying to make small talk so you don't look like a complete goofball. You walk in, your confidence is shot. Your. Your clients might not care, but you think they do. And now you're interacting without confidence. You sort of shrink back if you don't have that. Just like you said, experience following someone of some form of mentorship to tell you, here's how you hold an open house. This is how I get them to sign in when they walk in the door. This is what I say. So I'm not too pushy, but I also don't let a lead slip through my fingers. There's a skill to how you gauge the interaction with people. To use an analogy, it's kind of like fighting. If you threw me in a cage with somebody and I don't have that experience, my distance control is going to be horrible. My reactions are going to be terrible. Like, you're going to see something coming from a mile away that I'm not going to see. That to you is kind of simple. You see their shoulder dip down a little bit. You see them move in a direction you're not even thinking. Your body is already moving to mitigate that. It's like that with conversations. It's like that with reading human beings that I. I completely agree with you. They need to get reps in. And too many realtors walk into this business thinking it's like a way to make a quick buck. You don't have to commit to the process of becoming good at it. You don't have to learn from someone with. With the new agents that are listening to this, what is the advice that you could give them from the agents and your brokerage when you see them come in that you maybe think like, man, if 80% of them could just get this part down, they would eventually get some traction and their career would get going.
- [18:32]
Al Iaquinta
It's so it's the simplest thing. Like if you want to be successful in the real estate business, all you have to do is be on time and answer your phone and right away you're in the top like 5% of the world. Because there are a ton of people in this business that show up late. They don't answer their phone, they're unorganized. Like, you just do the basics. Do what like you're supposed to do. You don't even have to go above and beyond and you just are already in the top of the top. But then you got to learn the craft. It's an art. It really is an art to know. First you got to know your market and, and then you got to learn the process. The, a lot of the newer agents, maybe they haven't bought a house, they haven't sold a house themselves, you know, a personal residence, which is huge. Like just the process of, you know, finding a client. How do you, how do you make a connection with a client? Now we start showing them houses, showing them houses. Then what happens? You put in an offer. And I think a lot, a lot of brokers, especially when I was coming into the, the business, they kind of took that for granted. And really you got to, for a new agent, you really got to break it down to like the, the every little step of the way. And shadowing somebody is huge. Being able to see it, seeing one deal from the beginning to the end, I think that just puts it. Now you're confident even if it's not your deal, if it's somebody else's deal. And if, look, if a buyer, you have a buyer and, and you know, if you're on a team, then you have the team leader that will, will I'm sure show you the way. But you know, have an agent that is experienced that can kind of like say, hey listen, like I'll split the commission with you. I have this new buyer or you know, even give all the commission. Just, it's, it's, it's a learning experience. Those first couple deals are so crucial to, to learning, learning the process, learning how to, how to just bring somebody from the 1 yard line to the end zone. And, and, and there's always hiccups that come along the way. How to talk Your client off the edge when they're frustrated, when they're down. Like, that's what we're really there for. We're there to help in every way possible. Get, you know, figure out what they need, why they need what they need, and then figure out the best way to do it. And the whole time keeping them focused on the goal at hand.
- [21:20]
David Green
That's a great point. I. I see a lot of agents that I've seen in my career that have made the statement, I just want to find a client that's transactional. I just. I don't want to have to talk to them. I don't want to have to listen to them. I just want to do the steps that are required. And every time someone says that, I'm like, that is going to be the easiest job to replace. AI will be able to do that part for you. Technology will do that for you. Nobody is looking for an agent to treat them like a transaction. They're looking for an agent to help them understand what they want or even as simple as what their options are. I found that to be a big one. People know what they like, but they don't know what's realistic. And they'll be like, hey, just. They'll show them a house and they'll say, you need to buy this house. This is the best one for you. But they haven't shown them any other houses, or they haven't even gone over the inventory in the mls. So the client's brain is thinking, like, what if there's an amazing deal out there that I don't get that could have been better. I don't feel comfortable moving on the first one. And the agents will come back to the office and complain to all their coworkers that they found the perfect house and the client wouldn't move on it. I would listen to this, like, would you trust a stranger you didn't know? Like, that said, hey, this is the guitar you should buy if you wanted to learn guitar and you haven't shown them the other guitars or explain why this guitar is better. Is that a mistake that you see also just in our industry in general?
- [22:40]
Al Iaquinta
Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of. A lot of agents have that kind of mindset where they're like, oh, this person's never going to buy a house, or, you know, this. That they should have bought that house or. Or whatever. I remember one of my first clients was looking for a house, showed him a bunch of houses. I showed him the perfect house, and then now he needs his mom to move in with them. So I started showing him, you know, mother daughters, and now he needs his brother to move in with them. And I was like. And agents in my office were like, oh, he's never gonna buy a house. He's just wasting time. Like, you're still working with that guy. And I was like, I couldn't believe you're thinking. Like, my, my mindset was just like, how am I gonna, how am I gonna figure out what he wants before he even knows and make it happen for him? And I ended up doing it. It took forever. He, he like, kept track of how many houses he looked at and everything. It was like adding insult to injury. He was like, oh, well, look, this is the, the 70th house we're looking at. I was like, all right, well, let's make it 70 and that's it. And. But he's referred me business to this day. This was five, six, seven years ago. And he remembered that. And we still stay in touch. He came to my, my, my one year anniversary for the, for the brokerage he was here and, and we still, we still joke about how many houses we had to see. He still complains about his mom living with him, you know, but I've become like, really good friends with them. And that's, that's the thing is with, with, I think with this business is, it's great working with friends. When I'm, when I'm showing houses to friends, you know, my friends, like, my friend calls me and he goes, oh, Al, I'm. Look, you know, we're looking to do this or do that, and then if it's somebody that's not my friend, it's like they very quickly become my friend through, through the process. And I learn everything about them so I can learn exactly what they're looking to do, why they're looking to do it. It's like, it's, it really is like a, like A, it's like 50 business, 50 therapy. You know, you got to get in somebody's head and see why they want to do what they want to do. And that's how you really help somebody. It's not just about selling the house. It's like, why are they selling the house and where do they want to end up and what's their timeline? And if the timeline doesn't work, what's the backup plan? And you know, that, that I think goes a long way.
- [25:10]
David Green
That's the personal side that I think the clients are looking for. But something shifted where the agents aren't wanting to Provide it. And I think that's like this lure of technology that's come out where we've made agents think, hey, you can just create a funnel. Zillow will give you a lead. You show houses to the lead. The lead will write an offer. You fill out the offer. You just send an email to the other agent. You don't even call them. They accept it. Your two transaction coordinators talk to each other and you collect a check. And then you brag about how you systemize something that has just led to a lot of hostility in our industry. I don't think real estate agents in general have a good reputation, and I think we've done this to ourselves. There's a low bar of entry. It's very easy to get in. It's very hard for the client to know if. If you're good or if you're not. They just know what you're saying when. Before they get in there. And they get to know you. Very similar. Like if you watched a guy fighting you, you could tell from the way he moves how experienced that person is and how skilled they are. But if you know nothing about fighting and you see two people in a cage, which one's bigger? That's. You don't really know what you're looking for. And that's the normal person buying a house. They. They did this nine years ago. They don't know what skills are required. I know one of the things that you showed me when we were talking was like there was some system or app or service you were using that was delivering leads and to your phone. And then you'd call the lead and you'd figure out if you were going to take it or if you were going to give it to another agent. Do you have systems like that that you use to stay in touch with your database? Or let's say somebody hears about Al being a good real estate agent and you want to get in touch with that person via a referral. Referral. Do you have a system in place for how you're tracking these things and staying organized for the leads that do come in?
- [26:54]
Al Iaquinta
I like Follow up boss. Our office, most of the office is on Follow up boss. I've used a bunch of CRMs. I think, you know, for me, I need like a CRM for the CRM, because I forget. I forget even with somebody reminding me. And for me, that's Follow up boss. Every. Every morning I wake up, I look at my tasks. It has the tasks. These are the people you need to call. It has in the Notes, you know, everything about the person might have talked to him a year ago. And then I read, you know, the notes and I say, oh, that's right. This guy was looking to do this, this girl was looking to do that. I call them and I say, hey, you know, oh, how's your daughter doing with the lacrosse up and wherever, you know what I mean? And they really, it reminds me to, to the conversations that we've had in the past. And I think that goes a long way because it's very hard to, even if you haven't been punched in the head your whole life, to remember, to remember all these people and all these conversations and everything, you know, especially when.
- [27:55]
David Green
You'Re holding open houses and you're meeting them at a grocery store. I used to, like when I'd get done with my open house, I would take notes when they left and I'd write like, black Oakland, a shirt, red hat, married to Maria, two kids, go to this school. Because I needed something to jog my memory, to try to remember the conversation we had. And even if I couldn't, I had some notes that I could ask, like, well, how's Maria doing? Does she want to buy a house right now? And that gives them this sense that you care. Even if you, you, you don't care yet because you don't know them. You're just the kind of person that cares. Your character cares. That's funny, I never thought about there's a pun in there like care, but you need to do something like that to set yourself apart from the other agents. This is a thing that I realized when I was selling homes. Your listing is, is. How do I want to put this? It's kind of like online dating. If people have ever done that, you are just a profile out of thousands of pictures that that other person is looking at all the time. There's no way, there's no place to go to find the super secret list of homes for sale. Everything is going to be seen by everybody. So the point of a listing is to be the best looking house in the price range where you've put it, because that stands out to the person looking at homes. All right, I want to go look at that house. You kind of got to take that same approach to yourself as an agent. You're not the only agent they talk to. They probably have 10 real estate agents in their cell phone. They. You're not the only open house they went to. They've been going to open houses for months, most likely looking at homes. You have to stand out somehow there has to be something about you that makes them go, oh, that person was smarter, that person cared more, that person remembered, that person wants what I want. Otherwise you're just another name that's out there. And I notice a lot of the real estate agents sort of because they're high eyes on the disc profile. They're people persons. A high eyes biggest fear is being rejected and they are not being liked. And they get in this worry that if I put myself out there and they don't like me, they're going to take it personal. But that's exactly what causes you to fail because you don't go make an effort. The, the customer, the potential client doesn't see you as any different than anyone else. And you just spent your whole Saturday holding an open house for absolutely no reason, just hoping that somebody would choose you. Do you give advice to your agents when they're holding open homes, when they're making an introduction to somebody, even if they just get a phone call from someone that says, yeah, Jake told me that I should give you a call. I was thinking about buying a house. Do you have like a system in place that you're using or maybe the other agents are using to stand out?
- [30:29]
Al Iaquinta
Well, we follow up boss is great because we, we have the QR code sign in and, and when everyone, you know, buyer comes to the open house, they sign in with the QR code. Now we have their information sent right to follow up boss with a tag this open house. So you know, the following Monday we can go and we can see all these are all the people, these are their phone numbers, their emails. Blast out an email, give them all a call, follow up, say, did you like the house? Oh no, you didn't like the house? What do you like? Oh, you want to put an offer. Okay that way. And then if they didn't like that, you know, only one person's buying that house. And in this market there's so many buyers. Buyers. But it's just the how you got to find the houses. You get a, you know, a couple buyers. Now you're searching for that house for them. And that's, you know, you, finding, finding the buyers is not the problem. You hold one open house, you have 40 buyers. Now you, now you really, it's, it's motivating for you to get out there and get the listings, get the listings for these people and, which is a great selling, selling, you know, a marketing technique at a, at a listing presentation you say, oh we did, we did three open houses in the, in the last month in Wantor, these are the buyers. We already have all the buyers lined up. We could bring them, you know, no questions asked. You could see right here, boom, they're right here printed out for you. These are the names, these are the emails. We, we list this house. They're going to get an email that says the open house is this day. Schedule the showing. If you want a private showing, you know that that right there is, is I think a huge selling point. But then following up with these buyers and, and letting them know, you know, that you're in the area. You know, we have a team of agents that are out here hunting for listings for them. Now. We're not just like, you know, a listing comes on the market and we're sending it to them and we're going to show it to them. It's like we're actively searching for your house, sending out letters, door knocking, making phone calls like that, that gains the trust of, of a buyer. And if you can, you know, show them a house that's off market or whatever you could do to go above and beyond for these buyers is the way you gain their trust in a market where they're getting, they're signing up for a Zillow and a random agent calls them. You know what I mean? If a random agent, you know, that's how you stand out, I think, above, like these, you know, there's 9,000 agents for every house for sale. So how are they going to choose you? You got to have systems and conversations that go above and beyond.
- [33:24]
David Green
That's a great point. I always thought the same way when I was working, when people said, do you want to work with buyers or sellers? And say, well, everybody would prefer to work with sellers in most markets, right? If it's 2010 and every house is for sale, maybe that's a different story. But in most markets, listings are easier. Less time spent driving around and you're, and everyone's competing for what you have. But you kind of need the buyers to get the listings. And then when you get listings, you get buyers. They work like a blade of scissors or like a pair of scissors, you need two blades to make that thing work. So I love your advice there that to get the listing, you show them the list of buyers that you have. And then to cherry pick the best buyers to work with you, you tell them about the upcoming listings that they can see before anybody else does. It gives you an advantage in both areas. And most importantly, it gives them a reason to pick Ally Aquinta. Or Fred Smith or whoever it is, but you're doing something to make them feel good about choosing you. Because in today's world, we got to get a buyer agreement. Just like we need a listing agreement. There. There's a commitment that's going to be there. And if you want someone to commit to you in a romantic relationship, you got to prove yourself before they're going to do that. If you want them to commit to you in a business relationship, you got to prove yourself. I think we've had a decade, maybe longer, of not having to look at it that way. We just got by with, like, casual relationships and hoping that they turn into a contract. And we just shotgunned a whole lot of work, and we had a bunch of agents that all made, like, $20,000 a year, right? But then you have the top agents that are making hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year because something stands out about them. You. You recently picked up three new listings you told me that you have coming on. Let's just use these as a case study. Tell me where these came from. Were they sphere of influence? Were they advertising that you did? How did you lock these three up?
- [35:19]
Al Iaquinta
So the ones that are coming on the market this. This week, three in our town. One is. One is my listing that actually came through, through our website. A property. Property valuation. She was looking on Google. What's my house worth? Want to. Our site came up. She entered in the information. I gave her a call. This was maybe six, eight months ago. And since then, she's. She's asked me for referrals as far as, like, chimney repair, paint and cleaners. And I got the answers for everything. I know, you know, she's been super happy with the people that I've recommended, All people that I use myself. So she'll be coming on the market this week. Our. Our agent, Ricky Capiello, He's. He's the manager and that. He's like the talent scout at. At Mulcahy's, the big bar in town. So he knows everybody in the area. He's great with. I mean, this guy can. This guy can sell. You know, he's. He's squared away. He's. He's negotiated with these bands coming to Mulcahys for like a decade or longer decades, you know, so he's. When it comes to negotiating, he's the man. And he's. He's got a listing coming, Same area, maybe two blocks away from. From my listing. And then Matt Scroy is a new agent with the office, came from A background of used. He's a, he's a car salesman. So this guy squared away, this is his first listing. It's coming. It's actually his brother's house that he's going to be selling right, right here in Wantor. So a lot of sphere of influence, Brand new agent coming, coming out of the gate fast with, you know, the friends and family listing. And he's actually, he's actually come out of the gate really fast. He's, he's locked up two rentals already. He's got a buyer that's put in an offer, probably should be in a contract pretty soon. So right out of the gate, he's, he's looking, he's looking really strong. So we got a good, good team and, and it's all starting to pay off.
- [37:42]
David Green
One of the things that stood out to me when we got to hang out was the way that you treated everyone. I didn't see you play favorites with one person that you came across. You treated every human, whether they were staff at the venue, Mulcahys that you mentioned, whether they were on your team, whether they were attending the event, whether they were a waiter at the restaurant, the same way that someone would treat a buyer client that just signed up with them. I feel like that approach leads to you getting your sphere of influence rooting for you and wanting to send you more business and your personal friends, family, people you grew up with wanting to work for you. Is that something that you think like you're intentional about in your business or is that just a byproduct of the values that you have that you think end up making you successful?
- [38:29]
Al Iaquinta
It's a good question. I, I appreciate that, the compliment. I mean, that's a cool thing to. I guess I never really like realized. Yeah, I don't know. I think I'm just like a pretty humble. I try to be just like humble, I guess, you know, But I think, yeah, definitely, it definitely can be a good attribute for selling houses. It definitely, you know, whatever. Every house to me is a, Every house to me is a multi million dollar house. You know what I mean? I don't, I don't. It's not like, I know for, for, for a seller, it's like this is a huge deal. They want to make sure that everything goes smooth and they get the most amount of money they can, they possibly can. And for buyers, it's like whatever they're looking at, it's like this is, you know, that I remember what it was like looking for my first house and it was like the coolest thing, you know, it was that, that moving in and like being there by myself in this house and just like, you know, it's like, it's the best, it's the best times. So I enjoy being there for people. And like my, remember my real estate agent, when I bought my first house, it was a friend of mine's mother and you know, it was like that kind of, you know, it was that kind of care, you know, she was taking care of her son's friend and like, it was just a great process. I, that's what turned me on to real estate. I was like, I was, I was an easy buy. I was, I was the easiest buyer. I just wanted, I bought the first house that I looked at, the garage.
- [40:10]
David Green
That's what she wanted, right?
- [40:11]
Al Iaquinta
I got the garage. Yeah. So I was like, ah, you know, I was like, Mrs. St. John, she showed me, she showed me like three houses. I bought the first one that I looked at, the second two, I was still thinking about the first one. Basically I was like, hgtv, Whatever. You see three houses, you pick one. I go, real estate's easy, I can do that. You know what I mean? But it's a lot harder than that sometimes. But, but it was that, it was that, you know, like I enjoyed going on Zillow and seeing what I could afford and like seeing what I couldn't afford. What's been on the market for a while, oh, maybe they'll come down with the price. It's been on for a while. And then Mrs. St. John was like, she knew what she was doing because she's done this a bunch of times. So she's like, this is the house I think you like. The first house she picked me out, I had a house with a detached two car garage with the bathroom in it. Like that. Like she knew what I wanted. And it was, it was like what a great, what a great, you know, what a great process, you know, and what a great example for, for a really quality agent for her to like, really see what I wanted, what I needed, why I wanted it. I didn't care about the house. The house just came along with the garage. Like I was, I wanted that training center in the back and she found it for me, the first one. Like that's what it's all about, I think, really getting to know clients, knowing what they want. And, and you know, that's like, for me, that's my goal is to get to know somebody so well that I show them one house and then they can't stop thinking about that house. They have to have that house. And, and it's, it's quite a crazy goal to shoot for, but. And you get your heart broken pretty much about every time. But that's, you know, it's, it's just part of the process.
- [42:04]
David Green
All right, last question I have for you. With buyers. One of the problems that I remember coming across when I was working with them myself was they always want the pretty new house that just came on that so do the other 75 buyers. And the stuff that's been sitting on the market longer is usually there because it's outdated or it was overpriced at one point. Point. Or maybe there was a death in the home or there's a problem in the inspection report. Somebody doesn't. There's something that makes it less than ideal, but that's the one you can get because the sellers are more motivated. How do you have those conversations with the buyer who maybe doesn't have the right expectations? Like they're looking at the very top of what they're pre approved for, so they can't come up anymore. And they're competing with all these people. They can throw another 100 grand at a house or maybe a cash buyer. How do you move them into what they can realistically get without crushing their dreams when they have their heart set on something they're not going to get?
- [42:58]
Al Iaquinta
It's a tough conversation, that's for sure. You know, in this market too, if someone's, you know, it's slim pickings under 750,000 in this area, you know, and there's a couple buyers that are like Pre approved for 750. And it's like you can't look at a property that's 750 because that property is going to end up selling for 800 plus. Maybe 850. Like this market's just so crazy. It's such a, a seller's market. And I, I have a situation like that right now where I have a buyer that is looking and, and there's a, there's a house on the market. It's on the market right now and it's 150 below. It's listed, it's listed a hundred below below their, their max. And we put in an offer 150, you know, 50,000 under what they're asking. And I said to, they walked in the house and they were like, get us. They couldn't get out of there fast enough. I said, listen, listen, this house is a great House, the base, the basement. It has like an apartment down in the basement. I said, and it just like smells bad. But I said you could get this house at a good number and everyone else, it's, no one else wants this house, but you can get this house at a good number. You put new rugs, you, you put new paint on the walls, you do some renovating and, and this is going to be a brand new house that you can get at a discount. And they're coming along. I think they're coming along. Now it's just between getting the buyer and the seller to kind of meet at a price because she thinks her house, the seller thinks their house is like brand new house and it's, you know, it needs a lot of work and it's, you know, eventually she's going to come around, she's going to have to sell the house. I got to think, I don't know why she's selling but eventually she's going to come to the reality that her house ain't what she thinks it is. And hopefully my buyers are the only ones standing there with their offer in their hand. And I think it's a very good possibility. But it's a waiting game. But yeah, it's a tough conversation to have to, for, for those other situations where somebody's looking like in a different kind of price range or whatever. But it's sometimes, you know, they'll figure it out. Sometimes you can help them and hint at it and have sit down and kind of like pressure them to have the conversation. And then I think so at some point you just got to let them go. You gotta say, I don't think you're being realistic. You know, Douglas elements around the corner, go see what, see what they got going on.
- [45:29]
David Green
So to you it's just have the conversation with the client. It's difficult, don't expect it to be easy, but just you got to bring it up and you have to say maybe hey, how long are you willing to do this? Because you may be doing this for a year and during that time prices might go up and it might be even worse for you. You're going to get a worse house versus maybe like the way that I remember having it was I tried to tell them, I don't want you to give up on your dream house. I want to make your first house a stepping stone in the direction of your dream house. You need to get something to build this equity that is, that, that is coincidentally causing you to not be able to afford the house. You want Prices are going up too fast. Too many people want homes. But if we can get you in the door with something and it becomes something that gains equity, now I can sell it for you, and we can take all that money, plus your down payment, plus whatever you saved up in the meantime, and then maybe we can get to the dream house you want that somebody else is paying more for. And I will. I will agree that is a hard pill for them to swallow. Most people don't just in one conversation be like, okay, deal. You're gonna have to give them some time to dwell on it. And then we also had this saying on the David Green team that it's like. Like opening a pickle jar. You know how there's always that joke where, like, you couldn't open the jar and someone else grabs it and they do. And what do we always say? Yeah, I loosened it for you, right?
- [46:43]
Al Iaquinta
Yeah.
- [46:43]
David Green
Sometimes going after the home and getting your heart broke a couple times loosens that pickle jar. And then that conversation does work. You can finally pop it open because they. They swung for the fences and they missed. And. And they're like, all right, well, what can we do? But I also noticed that. Or they'll often give up if you don't have that conversation. They'll try. They'll try. They'll try. They'll get. They'll just get tired of getting their heart broke and they're like, you know what? It's not for me. I don't want to buy any real estate now. All of your hard work is useless. And all of their commitments at that point got them nothing. So they put in the time to getting pre approved. They put in the time talking to you. They saved all this money. They got to know real estate, and then they never start building equity. And so your thought is just like, hey, get in there, have the conversation, and then see what comes of it.
- [47:26]
Al Iaquinta
Yeah, yeah, it's. And in this market, it happens a lot. There's a lot of people in that price range the way they want to be in the best neighborhood. And they want to have the, you know, they. They want the house to be to a certain, you know, a certain liking. And it's like, well, to that liking, you're gonna go have to either a little different neighborhood or just be happy to get a house where you want to get it. It's like, you can't really, like, pick and choose. You. You. There's, you know, there's very few houses for sale, and in that price range, there's nothing coming up. So I think you should just take what you get, get in the game and like you said, build the equity. And then it's not, you know, especially people that are like, you know, younger. It's like you got a whole, you got your whole life to, to do, do what you want to do, you know, it's not, doesn't have to be every. I think that's a lot of like the younger generation now too. It's like they want maybe like a little entitled to, you know, oh, I don't want to, I don't want to have an oil tank in the backyard. It's like, it's just an oil tank. Like, you know what I mean? Like, if that's the worst thing, but you're in like a blue ribbon school district and you got like, you know, everything right near you. Is that really like the biggest thing, you know, so. But, but yeah, it's a process. It's. I'm still trying to figure it out. I don't know if anybody's got it. Like, you know, it's a, it's a delicate conversation to have.
- [48:53]
David Green
Yeah. And everyone's different, Right. Just like for you, getting in the ring with someone, every fighter is different and you're kind of, you're kind of trying to solve that puzzle with very high stakes in a very short period of time and they're trying to do the same thing to you. Right. So a lot of the time your clients are looking at it like you're holding out on me. You, you just want to hire commission. They're, they're going to be thinking the same thoughts that people put in their head that you don't care about them. And you're thinking, well, is this person taking advantage of me? And those difficult conversations can cut through some of that noise and get to the heart of what's happening and hopefully they can recognize. Oh, you don't want me to miss out on real estate. Or you maybe have examples of like, Let me tell you about this guy named Nathan. Eight years ago, he's in the same boat as you. He wanted a house on the water, three story home with a four car garage. And that was his dream. And we tried and it didn't work. But what he did was he bought this unupdated house in a good neighborhood. Ugliest house in the best area. He lived in it. Over time, he updated the flooring, he painted it himself, he, he did the kitchen when he got his tax refund. And then we put his house on the market five years later, and he made $250,000, got back his down payment, we went, bought him that house that he really loved and his, his first house, bought him his second house. Like now they have something in their mind that they can set their hopes on that isn't you taking advantage of them. And I've seen a lot of realtors that didn't do that because frankly, I'd pick up a buyer that someone else couldn't close. And that was the story. They come to me and I'm like, oh, you wrote seven offers at asking price. In this market where every house is selling for 50k more, we need to look at houses price like 70k less than what you're pre approved for. And we're probably going to have to come up this high. But if we, if we get something that has a value add opportunity or we get you in the right neighborhood, the same thing driving the prices higher on you is going to drive the prices higher on the people that are coming behind you. And now you're going to be able to move into the next boat. But if you're not willing to get in the ring, you're not willing to have the conversation, you're just going to lose. So I think that's great advice and maybe that's one of the reasons you're so successful, is you did something so hard for so long that this just by comparison sake doesn't seem as bad.
- [51:03]
Al Iaquinta
Yeah, a little conversation doesn't. Doesn't scare me.
- [51:06]
David Green
That's all right. For people that want to reach out to you, they want to talk with you more, maybe they're in New York and they're considering joining your brokerage or they want to send referrals your way for Wanta. And then you're also in like the Long island area, right? Same greater area.
- [51:21]
Al Iaquinta
Yeah. Long Island, Nassau, Suffolk County, a little bit of Queens, a little bit of Brooklyn at, @al iaquinta on Instagram and Twitter. 516-992-2888 if you want to give us a call iacinterealestate.com There you go.
- [51:43]
David Green
Folks, I highly recommend, at minimum, if you don't save his info, you follow his Instagram, I'll post funny stuff that's really, really good that you wouldn't expect out of someone as serious as a UFC fighter. I, I get a kick out of your Instagram all the time. So go give him a follow, send him a dm, let him know what you thought of today's show. Al, thanks for joining me. And folks, if you like Al's style, his New York accent, His stunning good looks? Make sure that you keep an eye out for the next Scene Green episode where Al and I will be tackling your questions on the show about real estate investing. You can submit one@david green24.com ask and please make sure you do, because if you don't, we won't have a show. Thanks, everybody. If you're watching this on YouTube or Spotify, leave a comment and make sure you're subscribed so you're notified when new shows come out. We'll see you next week on Real Talk. Realtor.
- [52:48]
Al Iaquinta
Sa.