← The David Greene Show
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- [00:00]
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. Landon Chase, welcome back to the David Green Show. This is Real Talk Real Estate. How are you today, my friend?
- [00:27]
Landon Chase
I'm doing well. Doing well in sunny Arizona. First day over 90. We're loving it. It's. It shouldn't be like that in March, but, you know, it's kind of where we're at.
- [00:38]
David Green
Your face is a little red. Is it like the first time it's got sun in a while?
- [00:41]
Landon Chase
A little bit? Yeah. No, no. We get sun every day here. It's just the first time I've gone outside.
- [00:47]
David Green
Yeah. You were on the show a couple months ago, and now we are having a podcast come out every week called Real Talk Realtor. So you are going to be likely the second show we've ever done. So if you're listening from the beginning, you're in for a treat. Landon is a real estate agent, and then he also has another job. I'll let him describe. But Landon, since the last time we talked, what's been new?
- [01:09]
Landon Chase
Yeah. So as far as real estate, it was cool. I just got the email yesterday. I was top eight out of ten Realtors in Arizona. So, I mean, just an absolute honor because I really didn't get into real estate to be one of the top agents. I got into real estate to help people and really help people make the biggest decision of their life and try to bring some of my financial wisdom to bear in that process. And I think that's just resulted in a lot of trust in the communities I'm in. Yeah, being on your podcast was awesome. I was, I was shocked at the amount of messages I got. Just tons of encouragement, tons of people that were listening and got something out of the podcast. It was, it was very encouraging. That was. That was awesome. I was, I was not expecting that. I know you have a ton of followers, but you never really think what you have to say is that valuable. So it was really sweet to hear that from your audience. And. Yeah. And then I, I run a Christian nonprofit here in Arizona called Real Faith. We distribute Bible teaching resources, we publish. Our main content provider is Pastor Mark Driscoll, which you've, you've come out and visited Arizona, visited our church. It's a, it's a good time out here. But we, we believe here that we can change lies with practical truth. So whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, go, go and follow us because we, we want to help you with your marriage, with your parenting, with your life plan. That's what we do here. So I, I fully believe in it because I think the, the Christian faith is one that is very practical. It's very spiritual, but very practical at the same time. So we're one of the fastest growing non profits in the country and it's an honor to lead, lead the organization here and do real estate. So that's, that's kind of my life. But yeah, that's awesome.
- [02:54]
David Green
I think when people hear the word Christian, this is something I've become more sensitive to lately. That word might mean something completely different to a hundred different people. If you asked each of them, what do you think it means to be a Christian? It. There's no Christian police that go around and say, you're not allowed to say that word. You're not allowed to have the fish on your car, you're overly judgmental, and so people can say whatever they want. And then if you had a good experience with the church, you were in a hard time, and it was the Christians that helped you out, you would probably look at it like, these guys are great. And if you had a bad experience with the church, maybe you had a family member that got affected by like the prosperity gospel and your grandma gave all of your inheritance away to a church that actually happens. You could look at it like they're a bunch of snake oil salesmen. And so as we talk about this today, no matter what faith somebody is talking about or really what opinion they have, it's always best to try to do what just said it. Get to the truth, right? Don't believe it because it's Christianity. Don't believe it because your family believes in a certain religion. Ask yourself, well, what is the truth and how do I dig into that? In fact, if you want, ask me later in the episode and I'll share a little something I learned about the word faith in the Bible. It does not mean at all what I thought it had meant my entire life. It's just something I looked up two weeks ago. And I think that God honors the people that dig in and try to understand what is truth. What is Lennon talking about when he says that these are practical truths and they're actually spiritual. Is that a experience that you found in your walk as well?
- [04:20]
Landon Chase
Yeah, absolutely. The ministry here is called real faith, and that's because faith without works is dead. Like, we. We need to be Christians that are loving people. We are Christ followers. We are Christ ambassadors. Our relationship with Jesus should impact everything we do, from business to how we treat people in the grocery store to. Yeah, I think it should be in every aspect of our life. And yes, there are Christians that give Christians a bad name, just like there's cops that give cops a bad name. But that doesn't mean all cops are bad. You have to find real Christians. Something we've been talking about is like, just saying you're a Christian isn't what gets you into heaven. Like, you. You have to genuinely have a relationship with God. And, uh, there will be pastors that won't be in heaven that proclaim the faith, but they're not genuine followers of Christ. And to be a genuine follower of Christ, you need to have that genuine relationship with Jesus. And then there should be fruit in your life of what it looks like to be a Christian. And that's good relationships. That's stewarding what God's given you. That's blessing those around you. It needs to come out very practically in your life. And if you're an angry, bitter person that is nasty and you're stabbing people in the back, I would. I would ask if. If that's the fruit of a Christian or not. And I think the number could be a lot smaller than we think that are genuine Christians, especially in this day and age. It's like every influencer is talking about Jesus. And it. I was listening, I got fed a real. The other day of the guy who plays Dwight on the office Rain. Rain Wilson, I think. And he's like, yeah, I'm Baha'I faith, but I'm also a Christian. And that's not. You can't be both. Like, there. You can't just pull religions together and say, I'm all things. And like, that's. That's kind of the confusion, I think in culture is God is the only one. He is the number one. He is the one that died for our sins and loves us so deeply. And one day he will return and it'll be awesome. But in the meantime, we need to tell people about Jesus. We need to love people. Well, the Christian should be. Yeah, I think the Christian should be the best at what they do, whether it's real estate or business or family or parenting or Education, like, we, we need to be a good witness. And I think a lot of Christians are not a good witness. And I'm a pastor, so being a pastor and a realtor comes with. I can't go and stab somebody in the back in a real estate deal and be a pastor at the same time. But another Christian might be able to do that because they're not a pastor. But you can't. Like in your values as a Christian should emulate through your entire life.
- [07:03]
David Green
Well, I think they do. And so when you act that way, you're showing what your values are, which probably don't align with the statement that you're making or the fish that you put on your car or. Right. Like putting John 3:16. In fact, the other day I was looking at someone's social media and it was a dude, and he's like a young guy on steroids, hasn't eaten a carb in probably five years. Every single picture is him with his shirt off, getting the perfect lining for as much lighting, for as much muscle definition as he can possibly get. And his page said John 3:16, Little Purple Heart cross. And then follow me to learn how to make seven figures with something, right? Like, basically his whole page is an advertisement for lust and greed. But he puts the little Jesus stamp on it and he goes, well, now I'm good. I have my fire insurance, so no matter what it is that I'm actually promoting, like, God's cool with me. And we bring this up because we're going to talk today about what it is to be excellent in your job, what it is, what virtues we should be extolling to find. And a lot of people that grew up in America got some experience to hearing the word Christian or hearing the word Jesus, but you heard it from another person, you didn't dig into it yourself. And it becomes very easy to get a bad taste in your mouth. And so when we say things like God given gifts or living out your purpose, it can become confusing if your exposure to people that said the same things were doing the opposite. So I would just like to highlight to your point, when somebody is greedy or even lazy in our business, there's so much laziness. There's agents that just. What's the bare minimum I can do to get my paycheck right? I built a real estate team. I've been in a brokerage. I train agents. And it's not just that it's in. It's in property management. It's everywhere. It's just, how do I do as little as I have to, to get as much as I can. That, I would say goes against the nature of God, who's a generous God, who's a giving God, who's a patient God, who continually offers us opportunities and believes in us and wants the best out of us, just like a good parent would. And as we encourage people to do those things, because that is what will bring prosperity, that is what will bring wealth. Right. None of us are sitting here saying, I want to give my money to the laziest person I could find. We're all looking for someone that's the best at what they do. And like said, if you're a Christian and you believe in a God that gives you his best, we should be giving our best to other people. And this needs to come with a disclaimer that not everybody who uses that phrase is actually doing that.
- [09:19]
Landon Chase
Yeah, 1, 100%. I. I would totally agree. And I think honestly, when you look at Christian businesses, if you like, in Arizona, everybody's a general contractor, everybody's a roofer, everybody. Like the amount of those investor type companies that have moved in here are staggering. And you see the Christian fish on their car, I don't immediately think they're the best at what they do. I actually think, like, they're probably not going to be the best at what they do. And I think you should never call yourself a Christian company. If you're not willing to work excellently and you shouldn't be because you're being a witness in your work, then, like, you're held accountable for your witness as a Christian. And it's like, oh, no, no, that's just my job. No, no, no, no. All throughout the Bible, people's livelihoods, they weren't as separated as we try to separate them. We try to be like, oh, we can be compartmentalized with our job. I can go be greedy. I can stab a business partner in the back, and then I can go to church on Sunday and it's like, no, no, they're not separate like your life as a Christian are. They're together. There is no separation there.
- [10:25]
David Green
Yeah. One of the biggest misunderstandings that I found about the faith is the Ten Commandments. One of them is do not take the Lord's name in vain. And we have assumed incorrectly that that means don't say a curse word with God's name in it. Right. So saying gosh darn would be the nice way of putting in there. That's a sin. You should never do that.
- [10:44]
Landon Chase
Right.
- [10:44]
David Green
And there could be some Utility and, like, you should keep his name holy and respectful. Just like you would never say something bad about your grandfather that you really respect or something. But that's not what the commandment meant. But the commandment meant was, do not do something in the name of the king that the king has not mandated or would not do. Do not go say, hey, I work for the king and I'm here to collect taxes. And the king told you to collect a 12% tax because he's looked at the lay of the land. He knows what people can afford, he understands the situation. And then you go collect 35% and keep the difference for yourself and say, well, hey, it's the king's thing, not me. There are a lot of people doing it like you just described, and they're. They're giving a bad name to the king. And if you were the king, you'd be pretty pissed about that. You wouldn't be feeling super great about people dragging your own name through the mud when you're the only one that can help them.
- [11:32]
Landon Chase
No.
- [11:33]
David Green
Yeah. So in business, this is just something that we kind of want to start the show off talking about. We're going to be getting into some practical stuff now, but if you're somebody who's been struggling with your portfolio, with your rental properties, with your business as a real estate agent, and your. Your question has been the wrong one, you might be saying, where do I get leads from? Who's. Who's the best brokerage? What's the best marketing plan? What is the shortcut that I can have the most money possible and do the least work possible? You're probably just going to be frustrated for a long time. The answer is going to be, how do you become the best version of you, and what is the path to doing that? And when that happens, everybody will come to you. And Landon is here as a great example of somebody who did that. Like you mentioned earlier, when you started selling houses, you did not expect to be a top producer. You didn't walk into this thing with a business plan, and the seven affirmations you were going to put together every single morning about what you were going to do, and you didn't go pay Alex Hormozi to teach you how to become $100 million agent, yet you find yourself the number eight agent in Arizona right now kind of by accident. It's very similar to what I feel like happened in. In my career. So if you wouldn't mind, can you just explain what it was like when you first got your license? What you had to learn and how things turned out like they did.
- [12:44]
Landon Chase
Yeah, I mean, to begin with, I, I really didn't know. I was like, maybe I'll do a few deals a year. Like, I wasn't like, man, I'm gonna go just like take the bull by the horns. Which isn't a. Again, that's not like a great business plan. But it wasn't my, it wasn't my business. I, I run a non profit and I do it excellently. I have a great staff. We're growing at a very aggressive rate. But I love real estate. My wife and I had been buying properties pretty successfully in Arizona. Based off of some of your teaching, some of Brandon Turner's teaching on house hacking. We did that fairly well. Bought a property that absolutely incredible in Scottsdale. An acre and a quarter. Just amazing property. We would never have bought it for ourselves, but we're like, oh, there's a casita. Let's live on that casita and let's bank cash and remodel this. Let's try Airbnb. That didn't work. We pivoted to long term midterm rental. That. Long term rental. And we've, we've, we learned so many lessons that I felt like it was bad stewardship to not take the wisdom I'd gained through all that experience and not help other people. So I got my license. That was quite the trek. The 90 hours of classes or whatever goes by a lot slower than you'd think. Just not a big school guy. But I got through there. I did my first deal with Ashley's. It was actually Ashley's brother bought a house and I was like, yeah, I'm that realtor. That's. I just do friends and family. Like, cool. Helped him out, gave him a bunch of the commission back for furniture. And I really wasn't in it for the money. I wrote all the contracts myself, did, did everything. And then from there we just started stumbling into more and more deals. Basically word of mouth of like, hey, Landon has a lot of credibility and trust in real estate. Ashley, same thing. They're well known, they're well credible people, trustworthy people. Hey, just. How about, how about you work with them? We had one of our renters that was renting our big property in Scottsdale. They're like, hey, we want a horse property. Like, great, we can help you with that. They wouldn't normally trust somebody in their mid-20s for something like that. But we have the property they're renting. That is a horse property. So I think Trust played a big role in that. I think building systems for myself that allowed me to become a top producer and have a full time job was huge. I've only written one contract in my career since the very beginning. I've only written that first contract. I needed to know I knew how to do it all if I needed to do it again. And then I found a great tc, which is a transaction coordinator. If you don't know what that is, it's a very, very important thing. They make a certain amount of money per transaction. So I think my transaction coordinator gets $400 for every deal I do. She does all my paperwork, all my listing agreements, she'll get the keys, she'll do a lot of those things that makes my business scalable because I have a job and I have a family and I couldn't do real estate at the level I do without her assistance. It's kind of like, I think owning properties out of state like you, you can't physically go there and do all the things. So you have to have a good team around you in those different areas to help you with those properties. So it just taught. It helped me build a scale where I could be one of the top agents in Arizona and have. I have a CEO job. I have a fairly large staff. I have a lot of people that depend on me. I have church commitments, I have family commitments, I have, I, I buy and sell cars, we have real estate properties. So right off the bat, I think one of the things that made me successful was I don't have time to be an agent. I have time to have great relationships and share my wisdom and help people with all of the, how to think about real estate, how to, how to go into a deal, how to make sure they don't get taken advantage of. But I don't have time to do all the paperwork. So I found a team that can help me with the things that I'm not that great at. Like, I'm not the best contract writer. I know what to write in a contract, how to negotiate things, how to get. I've gotten a $250,000 credit for one of my clients. Like, I know how to negotiate, but my highest and best use isn't doing paperwork, but I get to bless somebody else with my transaction coordinator. She gets to make a partial living there with helping me out. And I think blessing those around you and taking care of them when you can is, is a huge value of mine. I, I love, I always tell my staff I always want the lunch table to get Bigger the, the table. We all meet around and share a meal together. I want that table to continue to grow. I want more people. So I, I think God calls me to big vision and I get as many people around that vision as possible and I physically can't do it all. But that's part of why I could be the number eight agent last year. And I don't think my staff here noticed that I did real estate, but that doesn't mean I don't care about my clients or invest in them heavily. I definitely work a lot more than a full time job, but my value is, is explaining to my clients, sharing wisdom, helping negotiate. My wife is amazing at data and research and finding the perfect property. Last night we took somebody, we showed them two houses. They bought the first one. We're going under contract as we speak and I was doing that at the gym this morning. I was sending a contract over and wrapping that up and. But all I think we talked about this last time, the data and research on the front end and knowing what your client's looking for is everything as a realtor, because I could have shown this client 50 homes and I would not have been a top producer because I couldn't show my client 50 homes and the other client 50 homes. I don't have enough time for that. Um, I gotta be really dialed in and how I serve my clients, what I'm best at, having a team around me that can support me in that. And then yeah, it was just kind of like once those processes were in place, people trusted me. I've always delivered for my clients. I don't think I've had a client feel like I betrayed that trust and I go the extra mile. And if there's ever something that comes up, I'm going to handle it. I'm not, I'm not pawning off the important things ever. I'm not delegating the important things or something that's going to cost you money at the end of the day. I'm delegating the contract writing and things like that. But if there's a problem, I'm there, I'm going to solve it and my clients trust that. And man, that snowball just starts rolling. It was like maybe a deal every other month for the first three or four months. And then suddenly it was like, oh my gosh, this is like, like 15 deals in three months. Like it's like way too much in a great way. So. But if I didn't have the systems in place and a team around me, I couldn't have handled those deals. I would have like had to quit a job or drop balls with my clients. But I've never, never had a big error on a contract, never missed a deadline. My, my job here is going well. So it's, it's fun. I, I enjoy it. And not everyone's built to juggle a ton of things. I think God has wired me that way. So I'm not advocating everyone have a full time job and be a realtor. It's a lot of times those people are the worst realtors. But I, I wanted to get rid of that stigma because God has called me to this ministry and God's called me to be a realtor, if that makes sense.
- [19:58]
David Green
You mentioned something in the beginning where you said word of mouth kind of got around. People started coming back. Our last week's guest, Felicia, had a similar experience where she was in the military. She started selling homes. Word got around that Felicia was incredible. Felicia's phone starts ringing. She has more people than she can handle. That's how you build a team. You can't build a team when you don't have enough work for everybody to do. And you can't get enough work unless you get everyone coming to you. And this is the part I want to highlight. It's the quality of person that Felicia said determines how many leads she gets. You're saying the same thing. You put the client's interest first. You leverage the stuff that doesn't serve the client, like the paperwork. They don't care who fills out the paperwork. That is a burden on you. You keep your attention. You keep the burden off of you so that you can run fast to do things that do benefit the client, like negotiating or like finding houses. It is a common experience for buyer's agents to show 50 homes before someone puts it in contract. And you'll frequently hear these agents, maybe the person listening is one of them, complaining to the other realtors about how buyers are liars and nobody's loyal and they don't know what they want. And what's really happening if we're having the honest conversation, is that the realtor is not spending the time doing what you do, listening to the client, determining what they want, looking for it for them, and then having the skill of communication to explain. Here's why. These are the only two houses that you should even consider and we should lock in on it. They're taking shortcuts or they're not facing insecurities they have about. They don't know how to communicate the right way or they're scared like there's some vice.
- [21:39]
Landon Chase
Oh yeah. I think the leading your client, leading your, leading your client is one of the most important things. So I was supposed to, this is a new client I showed homes to last night. I was supposed to get lunch with them as a couple on Thursday. We saw a couple houses come up. One house in particular they really liked. And I was like, okay, we can go, but I need you to know there's already an offer on this house and they're going to accept it this morning, today. And I was like, if we're going to go look at this, I need you guys to go walk the neighborhood. I need you to be all in on this because we're going to move really quick. And this is the first time you're buying a house. And I'm, I'm prefacing all this with them through the whole process of like, guys, buckle up. Like I have to manage expectations. I got to talk them through this. And I'm not pressuring them. I'm like, guys, it doesn't matter to me if this is the house for you though.
- [22:27]
David Green
It's it.
- [22:28]
Landon Chase
This one will go away in the morning. And this house was, I mean it's amazing. The backyard's incredible, luscious, big fountain, giant fruit trees. Like it's not a first time home buyer type of house at a first time home buyer price point. So I was like, guys, this isn't a house that's going to come up a bunch of times. And so I had to educate them quite a bit. Something I would do over a few hours I had to do in like 30 minutes last night and lead them through that and have an incredible loan guy. My loan guy, he can do a first time home buyer loan he in 10 days. And that is what got us from second position to first position on this offer. I'm hoping to get an acceptance while we're on this, this call. But we're, we submitted the same offer as the other person, but my loan guy can close it in 10 days. So we're likely going to get across the finish line because of that. But even right before this call, I went and met with the, the, the gal that is the wife of the buyer. I mean obviously they're both the buyers, but they didn't fully understand the FHA loan versus conventional. Like I'm talking them through the whole thing and I'm like, guys, if we don't submit this by 10, this isn't your house. And that's okay with me. I'm good. We'll show you more homes. It's great. But I just need you to know the cold, hard facts here of, like, this is it. Like, we're in the go zone. So I think leading your clients, really important and just going back to what you had said before about not delegating the things that matter. I think early on, I made really big impressions on clients where even now, I will not let a deal fall apart over three grand. Two grand, five grand. Like, if I need to be the one to cut my commission to make a deal come together, I will do that time and time again. Because when you do that with your client, you will be remembered and you build loyalty for a lifetime that you'll be there. They will advocate to you, to all their friends. And they're not telling everyone you cut your commission. They're telling everyone that Landon will go the extra mile for you. And if there's, like, a repair discrepancy and the buyer and the seller are stuck of like, nope, we're not coming up two grand. I never let those deals blow. I'm like, all right, agent, what can we do? I'm willing to cut mine here. Can you cut yours? A thousand. And we come together on those. And those moments where you're willing to cover a little bit of closing costs, you're willing to, whatever those things are to go the extra mile. You can make the biggest impression that'll bring you five more clients. It's like, okay, little short term pain, but it's. It's delayed gratification. It's like, yeah, I would love to have five more grand on this deal, but I'd love five more clients that trust me, that's it.
- [25:05]
David Green
That's the key. I used to tell the agents on my team, you guys are looking at it like the transaction you want the money for. Right now. You're looking at like a W2 worker that just wants to get your paycheck. But the smart agents look at it like a business. And your goal with the client is not to just get a closed transaction. It is to get a closed transaction and have them refer everyone they ever come across in their life to you. And in Sold one of the books I wrote, I talk about how you want raving fans. You don't want someone to be like, oh, yeah, he was my agent. Did all right. You want. You have to use Landon. Listen, don't even think about using anyone else. He's incredible. You've never seen anyone like him. I'm going to connect you Guys right now. And then Landon has to take that first impression and run with it like he just got hyped up. And if you do that, the people will follow you. Well, what gets in the way of that? It's our own insecurities. It's our own greed. It's. Well, I'm busy right now. I don't want to have to look at my phone or I'm having me time. Like, there's always something about our personality that stops us from giving the very best. And it can become very easy to become egocentric and just think about how you feel and not think about the impression that you're putting out to the people that really you depend on to make a living.
- [26:25]
Landon Chase
Yeah. Yeah. I think you always have to ask yourself, what's the win here? Like, would I rather. All right, a $15,000 commission? Would I rather a $10,000 commission and a loyal client or zero commission? Because if this deal falls apart, there's nothing happening. And the amount of agents that just let deals fall apart, it blows my mind. And, like, there's always a hostage negotiation point in every deal I've been in where I'm like, this thing's going to blow. And I think, like, 99% of the time, I can hold it together. I had one fallout last week that I couldn't have avoided because the seller didn't disclose that half the property wasn't permitted, and my buyer couldn't build on that half of the property. So there's. There's exceptions to that rule where a deal can fall apart, and that's okay. Don't beat yourself up. But if there's something you can do and cut your commission, do whatever to make a deal happen, make that deal happen, because it'll pay dividends over the next few years for your reputation.
- [27:21]
David Green
Well, how many people listening say, I would never cut my commission, 3000 or $5000, but they're happy to spend marketing of $5000 on leads from a website where they don't know the person at all.
- [27:34]
Landon Chase
I. I think leads are just bs. I think it's fine. Like, I think people who want to spend their money there. It's like, that is the biggest waste of time, waste of money. Like, I. I'm sure it works for some agents. I'm sure it does. It doesn't work for me. It's like, I. If I did in Arizona, I would get a client that wants to look at houses an hour away from where I live, and I'm not going to know that area super well, I'm not going to be super bought into driving an hour whenever they want to see it. And then they're probably not going to call me back. They're going to meet some other realtor. There's no like, there's no like buy in from them to choose me as an agent. I, I have never lost a client, but I would lose leads. I'm sure of it. Because they're, they're not loyal to you. They don't know you.
- [28:20]
David Green
Yeah.
- [28:20]
Landon Chase
And I, I think for somebody that wants to buy leads, I would encourage you go to church, join a life group and get to know a bunch of people and let your life be your lead. Like, let, let how you live your life and what you're doing be the reason that people refer you. You spend that time over the five grand of buying leads, you will get way higher quality leads. But you have to be good at what you do that.
- [28:44]
David Green
And I know there's a couple people listening, shaking their head or rolling their eyes and they're saying, it's easy to say that you just don't want to tell me where the leads are. I want, if you're hearing this and you're thinking that, just ask yourself when you want something, when you want a loan for a house, when you're looking for a real estate agent, when you want to buy a car from someone, let's use the car example. Do you want to find a stranger you don't know that you found on a website when you said, tell me more about this Honda Civic? And then a bunch of people start calling you, saying, hey, I can help represent you buying that Honda Civic that you don't know at all? Or do you want someone that you know? Or a trusted friend says, Jeff is the best person he's not going to pressure into the wrong car. He's going to make sure you avoid the wrong one and get the right one. He's going to fight for you. Nobody else wants the person that their information was sold to to be the one to call them. We don't want that. We want a person we trust. You just have to use that perspective and flip it around and say, when you're buying an online lead, you're getting the contact info of someone who probably doesn't want to talk to you, who definitely doesn't know you. If you want trust, you're going to have to build it from the ground up. Why not take advantage of someone that you've known for nine months or four years, in a church, at the gym, in your CrossFit community, in your running club, in your bowling league, in your pta, whatever it is that you're already doing, if you're letting your light shine and people can see the quality of person that you are, they're going to feel very comfortable trusting you with this really big thing. And that used to be honestly how real estate agents made their living. They had to be good people. It was only when the Internet started, like, monetizing attention and, and, and websites like Zillow and Realtor and Redfin started to say, hey, if we get everyone to look at our site, we can sell the leads to all the agents. Yeah. And then all the agents flooded in and were like, give me the crack. I want the leads. And then they got frustrated that they're just running around all year long in their car to close $20,000 worth of deals.
- [30:38]
Landon Chase
Yeah. And I would say I think the market has changed the last couple of years. It is a very tough market. I saw a stat. You probably know the stat better than me. It came out a couple of weeks ago, but it was something like 75% of agents didn't do a deal last year. It was some number between 60 and 80% that I was like, oh, my gosh. I, like, I, I, I, I, I couldn't help but do deals. It was like they just kept coming and I had this incredible year. But I think that when markets are tough like this and interest rates are high, I'm not going to someone that just cold calls me to help me buy the biggest decision in my life. I'm going to someone that I trust. And when, when market is scary and interest rates are high, you need someone that you're like, I trust this person. And I know whether it was a friend that trusted them, you're borrowing trust from people or you know them firsthand. It matters a lot in a tough market because I haven't had any clients go look at houses and not fall through and buy. I can imagine that'd be very frustrating. But the people that I walk through the process are trusting me and I'm, and I'm putting courage into them. I'm encouraging them. The word encourage literally means to put courage in. So I'm putting courage in my clients that this is a good move, this is a good time to buy in the market. The market's in this, like, weird plateau. Arizona hasn't grown in a couple years. That's not gonna last. Hey. Last time Trump got into office, Arizona jumped by 40% in value. It was crazy. I bought A house. My first house we bought, I paid 387 for, sold for 600. Two years later, 24 months later, sold for 600. I wasn't a genius when I was 23 and bought my first house. I rode the market in Arizona and inflation, it was wild. But it's likely going to happen again. Maybe it won't be 40, maybe it'll be 15, maybe it'll be 10%. Whatever it is, it's a good time to buy because all the investors that are cash flowing aren't jumping into the markets right now because it's tough. Interest rates will come down, this will pass, it'll be okay. But I have to tell my clients those things. And, and they gotta trust me. And they wouldn't trust me if I wasn't in the game. I think another stat is like, 60 of agents don't own a home. I'm not. You should quit. If you don't own a house, you should quit as an agent right now. You do not have the credibility to sell homes. I. I'm sorry, might be a hot take on my part, but if you're not willing to buy the thing, you shouldn't sell the thing. And, and maybe there's exceptions to that, like you can't afford a home yet, but you're going to as soon as you can. That's okay. I get that. But if you're like in your mid-30s, 40s, you've been in real estate for a few years and you could buy a home and you don't. Don't be a real estate agent. You are not, well, open to. Open to your feedback on that.
- [33:28]
David Green
No, I, I think you're kind of saying with your act, like, this is the thing I've started doing. Landon, instead of asking what do I think, think, or what's an opinion on something, I switched the way I looked at the world and I just said, well, what are their actions telling me? It doesn't matter what they say. They can say they're Christian or they're not. There's probably some people out there, this could be a hot take, too, that say they're not a Christian and actually are. They believe all the same things and they treat people the way they want to be treated and they do have a relation with God, but they're. They're denying a form of it that doesn't make sense to them. Right. And when you start looking at how someone acts or what their decisions are, you start to see something that can't be denied, can't Be deceptive, can't be confusing, which is their fruit. Okay, so if you're capable of buying a house but you're not doing it, what you're saying to your clients is, I don't believe in the thing that I'm telling you I can lead you into. You're also indirectly saying, I'm doing this for the money. I am good at marketing, I'm good looking, I like attention. I throw myself on social media and I like all the validation that I get it. And that leads to people that don't know me reaching out. And now I try to trick them into getting a house. That's what their actions are saying, even if their words don't say that. So it's not like it's a hard and fast rule. You can't be an agent if you don't own real estate. But I think your point is if you believe in it, wouldn't you have it also?
- [34:48]
Landon Chase
Yeah, 100%. And it's kind of like I, I just feel like in real estate it just breeds a bunch of people that are phonies. And I've got like, I've got friends, maybe friends, people that I, I follow that they're like doing these luxury home tours, pretending to be the listing agent with their drone footage. And I'm like, who's gonna trust you and who the heck is on your social media following that's gonna buy a ten million dollar house? I, I doubt you have one follower that is gonna ever buy a 10 million dollar house. A $10 million buyer isn't on Instagram, almost guaranteed. So like I don't know what you're doing other than trying to look flashy and you pulled up in your beater Honda Civic. Like I like the peop. People with money can sniff out a phony like none other. Like they didn't get money by trusting people that are faking it. So you have to be a genuine, trustworthy person and you, your life needs to have the fruit of it to be trusted by those type of people. And honestly, the best thing is if you are the realtor with the crappy Honda Civic and that's what you can afford right now. Start with first time home buyers. Like be faithful in the small. Don't try to jump to luxury. You are not capable of luxury to start out with. You need to understand the lingo. You need to understand loans. Like if you haven't gotten a jumbo loan, you probably can't walk your client through a house by with a jumbo loan. Like I Have jumbo loans, I have helocs, I have first time home buyer. Like, I, I've gone through all the loan processes so I can help people. That doesn't. Again, it's not a hard and fast rule, but concept out of the Bible is being faithful with the small and then being trusted with the much. My first deal was a first time home buyer, small deal. It was a great deal. I also did one of the biggest deals in Arizona last year and, but I didn't start there because the, the negotiation, the conversation, it was different. It was far more difficult and far more easy. Like it was, it was interesting. The agents are much classier. The agents are much more competent. They know, they know how many security cameras are in the house, how it's w. What the system was, what the contractor that installed that security system was. It's amazing when you get up to the luxury level. But I also negotiated a $250,000 check to be handed to my client at close. And if, if you haven't sold a 250, 000 house, you, you probably can't get a 250, 000 credit. Like, you got to work your way into the bigger deals. You, you, you need to be comfortable at the first time home buyer and then be comfortable at the mid and then grow into luxury. But trying to start in luxury is, is a challenge, I would say.
- [37:24]
David Green
I think you hit it on the head when you talked about how many phonies are drawn to the world of real estate investing if you, if you haven't sold normal homes. Unless you happen to grow up in like, your parents were very wealthy and you've been around wealthy people your whole life. But outside of an exception like that, you're not gonna be able to read the other side to know where your client has the leverage and where they don't. So you may be like, oh, I can ask for 250,000. That's not hard. I know how to fill out an addendum. Well, then you blow up the entire deal because you misplayed your hand and now you did not help your client. Or you could have, it was soft and you could have got 500, but you, you only asked for 250. Right? Like, if you can't read that situation, you're not.
- [38:06]
Landon Chase
Yeah, you blow the deal.
- [38:07]
David Green
Easy. It's easy. And sometimes your buyers want to blow up their own deals. Sometimes they're like, that's B.S. they're giving me five grand for this thing. I shouldn't have to pay for that roof leak. And you have to say, hey, we can do that. But here's what they're going to say. We have three other people that want to buy this house more than you do. And they're not asking for that five grand. In fact, prices have gone up since we were in contract. I hope you kick me out of contract because I'll sell it for more. Yeah. And you have to be able to have that conversation.
- [38:31]
Landon Chase
What's the win? Do you want the house or not? What's the win here? I know it's emotional. I know you're frustrated about the repair. Do you want the house or not? What is the win here? We can try to screw them. We can try whatever. But if they're not willing to do it, you just got to decide you want the house and what's the middle ground we can meet on? Yeah, absolutely. Leading your client. But. But knowing how to lead is, I think is what you're getting at is.
- [38:54]
David Green
Like, yes, you have skill to it.
- [38:56]
Landon Chase
Huh? Huh?
- [38:57]
David Green
And I think the same thing, like, when I was in law enforcement my last couple years, it was very difficult in the San Francisco Bay area to find police officers that took pride in their job and wanted to stand up to the bad guys. That's the nicest way I can say it. It and the department I worked for was literally sending recruitment officers to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. I'm not making this up.
- [39:19]
Landon Chase
My gosh.
- [39:20]
David Green
Yeah. And no shade, if you work at Geek Squad, you probably didn't get a job there thinking that you would transition into being a cop. You. It's recruiters talking them into. You could do this and saying they should go get that job. So I'm working in Oakland and we've got someone from the Geek Squad who someone. He made it through a six month academy and he's got a gun on his hip now and he's dealing with people that he does not know what their lingo means. He does not know what their background is. Like, he has never been around somebody like this. This person has been raised never to even, like, have a sarcastic tone. And he's being looked up and down by gang members that could just chew this person up and spit them out. And I just remember thinking, you did not do this job to keep your community safe. You did this job because it made you look cool on your bumble profile. That you could say you're a police officer, you had the wrong motive and you're getting other people hurt or you're letting bad guys get away, they're going to go hurt somebody else. It was not an admirable motive. And I'm just bringing this up to say, if you're an agent and you got into the business because you really like the attention that it gets, or you wanted a business card, you wanted your own website, you wanted to wear the pantsuit and do the three quarter turn thing where you cross your arms and look at the camera, either get out or give up doing it for the wrong motives and start the pursuit of excellence, that you can actually serve the client. Because people can sense that energy. When you're selfish, you're the only one that doesn't know you're selfish. Everybody around you when you're not there, they're all saying they're incompetent, they're an idiot, they're selfish, they don't know what they're doing and they're not going to be referring business. And I think you probably have noticed this too, just being around people that seem sort of clueless to how they're perceived by their peers or other people.
- [41:05]
Landon Chase
Oh, 100%. And the not being selfish part, like agents, if, if it's not the best move for your client to buy that house or to sell their house, tell them, be honest with them. Like even when it's at detriment of yourself. I had a deal. Somebody had a 2.5% interest rate, amazing home, they wanted to move closer to friends. I totally understood the why. And I was like, let's look at your payments. Like, let's talk through this. You make a 1200 payment right now for the same house we're going to go buy up there and you're going to pay $4,500 a month. Month. I want you to count the cost. I, I need you guys to be fully into this. And if it were me, I may not go move right now. And I was very honest with them and they still moved. But they trusted me so much more because I gained so much trust in giving counter advice than a salesman of like, hey, I, I've got your best interest here. I'm gonna give you the honest opinion and we can still make the move. And I'm all in on making the move move. But it, I'm going to tell you the thing that doesn't benefit me, that has never backfired on me. It has never lost me a client to be honest and give them good advice. And if the house is in bad shape or you notice something as an agent and you don't say something, that's your integrity check and you cannot be a. You will never be a high producer without integrity, because it just takes a couple bad deals to ruin your reputation forever. And if you just try to skim through something, you. That may follow you the rest of your career. And I think whether you're a Christian or not, integrity is really important. And if you're a Christian and you see something that you have a check about and you don't tell your client, God's not going to bless you. There's not going to be this snowball of deals that land in your lap, because God can't trust you. He's not going to trust you with somebody's biggest decision of their lifetime, financial decision of their lifetime, like you. You need to be a trustworthy person. You need to have integrity.
- [43:04]
David Green
Okay, last question before I get you out of here. You're a new agent. You're listening to this, and there's something in you that's like that right there. That's what I want to be. I came here to help people. I want to help people. I would gladly do the right thing to help someone else and just trust that that's going to come back to me later. But I just don't know what to do. I joined a brokerage that's virtual, and I'm not around other agents, and I don't have a mentor, and I. I know my TC fills out the form. I don't even know how to understand what I'm reading. I'm nervous to have the conversation with the client because I've never heard anyone else do it. What's your advice to the person who seeks greatness but doesn't know the path to get there?
- [43:43]
Landon Chase
Yeah, I think so. You got time on your hands. You need to build relationships, and you need to build your knowledge. So go find somebody to draft off of, somebody to mentor you, some agent that's willing to share wisdom or a podcast like this. And you consume as many of these podcasts as you physically can. For a few months, you'll get a master's education in real estate by just finding classes or podcasts like this. Reading David's books, reading Brandon Turner's books. I, I, for the first two or three years of my marriage, I would go to Goodwill, and I would buy every single finance or real estate book that they had from anyone. I did not care who it was. And I read everything because, you know, what I had when I first got married, A lot of time and not a lot of resources so I could build my financial knowledge as much as I possibly could. I love stock investing. I love real estate investing. I love, like I learned about insurance. I learned about the. There's the insurance scams and there's good insurance that you can invest in. Like, there's so many things that you can learn about. And the more financial wisdom you have, the more you're immediately credible when you talk to somebody with money. Because if I understand insurance and they're talking insurance or gold or crypto or whatever they're talking about, if I can be somewhat knowledgeable, I gain so much credibility. But if you BS it, oh my gosh, you will lose all credibility immediately with somebody that's wealthy because they. They know you're psing it. But you have a ton of time. So invest in your knowledge. Invest and just go to Goodwill, buy all the books, go to David Green's website and buy all his books, buy as many books, listen to as many podcasts, gain as much wisdom as you can, and then go build relationships, Join a church. Join. There's like these marketing groups where people from different industries meet. And I've heard a lot of good things about that kind of thing. You can offer to open houses for people within your brokerage, at least in Arizona. And that's a good way to just meet people. Don't be a salesman. Just meet a bunch of new people. Be genuine, be kind, give good advice, don't be salesy. Just see who you can meet, who you can hold an open house for. Build those relationships. Something that just came to mind, like, churches are always looking for people to, like, do Dave Ramsey's financial curriculum at their church and teach a class. Like, go learn Dave Ramsey's curriculum, but get certified. However, that process works. To teach a financial class and then go teach it at a church, because you know who's going to go in those classes is people that want to get good at their finances so that they can buy their first house. So you need to get upstream of the people that want to buy a house. But you can't go in there like, hey, I'm a realtor. Because the church isn't going to like, oh yeah, I'm trying to get this realtor fee. Go in with a good heart to just help people if. If that's really your heart right now. And it's like, oh, yeah, I'm also a realtor and I can be helpful in that. But you need to go into a community and build a ton of credibility. Doesn't need to be a church. Could be it's like a club, sports team, it could be, I, I don't know. There's tons of options out there. Could be a gym, gym group. You talked about CrossFit, all those things. Go to as many communities where you're around a ton of people and just meet people. Go to a coffee shop, just like, hey, how's it going? Like, start conversations. I was with my realtor mentor who's awesome. He's also top 10 in Arizona. He's, he's great. And we went to a coffee shop early on and he like started long conversations with like three people at the coffee shop and I was like, dude, who are you? I am not nearly as friendly as you, but he can just start conversations with people. He's like, hey, that's an awesome shirt. Where, like, where'd you get that? Like, just starts becoming very personable and talking to him and he's not being salesy. Like he's genuinely just getting to know him and it was really cool. And that's why he's a top producer. He's just very relational. So grow your knowledge, grow your community base and then you should also do whatever it takes to make money right now. Don't, don't just wait for that next commission check. You got a lot of free time on your hands. I do this in my free time. I, I got done with my job at 5:30 last night. I went and showed a house at 6:30 and had a contract written by 6:30am and under contract. Hopefully by now like you, you could have a, a job and this. Just go make money. Uber Postmates. Do something to make money, hopefully and even that you can meet some great people. But go do something. Don't wait for something to fall in your lap. Don't be a victim. Don't be like, oh, I'm buying leads on Zillow. Like, like I, I think that's an absolute waste of your time. You're not going to get your first house sale off a lead on Zillow. Like you're gonna get it from someone who knows you. Yeah, I think that's what I would do if I moved somewhere. I didn't know anyone. I would just go try to get plugged into communities. I would learn as much as I could. I, I, I, maybe it's weird, but I, I am like, hey, let's go get lunch to as many people as I can. Especially early on at the church. Like guys who were older than me that I knew were financially very literate and had done great things. I was like, hey, could we get dinner as A couple, hey, could we get lunch? One on one? Could we get coffee? Just doing those things. I'm always shocked by people older than me. I have a guy that's. He owns like 15, 16 businesses, has been at it 40 years. Was like a master acquirer at businesses. And they'll get dinner with us anytime because I'm just there to learn. I'm not there to teach him how much I know. I'm there to ask questions. And the older guys want to invest in you. And a lot of those older guys or older gals, they'll throw you a bone and give you a deal because they're like, hey, this person's hungry and I can help teach them something. So I'm not ever arrogant when I walk into circles like that. I'm. My wife is always like. It's almost to a fault where I'm like, I. I just want to learn. I'm not ever walking in a room with people that I know are smarter than me, trying to show how smart I am. And I could, but it's. It doesn't help anyone to be like, hey, I'm really smart. I'm a great realtor. Like, no one knows I'm a top eight realtor in my circle. I don't go brag that all the time, but I'm like, asking questions of people smarter than me in a humble way. And even if I know the answer, I'm going to ask and I'm going to hear it because it might be a totally different answer than I've heard before and I might learn something. So, yeah, I think just being very straightforward with people and like, hey, I want to learn from you. Hey, I want to start a friendship with you. Like, just say the thing. Don't be weird and go do something.
- [50:20]
David Green
Yeah. And that starts with the heart. If your heart genuinely wants to be good at what you do, wants to help other people, that's what you're going to do. If your heart is in the condition of. I just want to make money. And I don't like having a boss because I don't like people telling me what to do. Maybe you got to look in the mirror and find out why you have such an issue with people telling you what to do if you want to be successful. You referred several times to a verse in the Bible where Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven. He's giving an analogy to try to compare it to people so they can understand. And he says, it's like a boss that had three people that work for him and one of them, he gave five. The Bible says talents. It doesn't mean gifts or abilities. It's like a day's wages. Basically, five talents of this person, two talents to this person and one talent to this person. And the one he gave five to multiplied it and came back and said, hey, here's 10. I doubled your money. The person you gave to did the same thing. He came back and said, hey, I took the two and I turned it into four. Here's your money. The person who had one when. When the boss came back said, hey, I did nothing. I just buried it in the backyard. And when the boss was upset because they didn't do anything, they were lazy, the person tried to blame it on the boss's character. They said, hey, I heard that you're a big, mean jerk and you get mad at people and you reap what you didn't sow. Like, you just want to live off of other people's work. Work. And so I didn't want to risk making you mad, so I just buried it in the backyard. And the boss says, if you actually thought I was as bad of a dude as you say, you would have put it in the bank and at least got me interest. You're just lazy and you didn't want to work hard. And so take whatever this person has and give it to the person that had the five so he can get me a better return. And when I was a young kid, I just thought that was so mean of God. Like, he doesn't need more. He's already got five. Like, let's be a socialist here. Let's give it to the person that doesn't have it. But as I get older, I realized this was not just about God's nature. This was how the world works. When you are the person that does a great job, everybody wants to go to you. The person that has the crappy agent wants to ditch their crappy agent that doesn't sell any houses to go work with the good one. The same for being a loan officer, an insurance provider. This is why the 8020 rule exists, because 20% of the people get 80% of the business because they're good. And so the goal of this podcast is to convince more people to start the path to becoming great. Fight your way to get into that 20%. Don't be content with just sitting in the 80%, hoping that you manifest money by thinking about it all the time. Yeah, go actually do the things that lead to this happening. And then it's going to not only Affect you and benefit you. It's going to benefit the podcast. It's going to affect Landon because he's going to feel good about helping you and it's going to clean up our entire industry that's full of the phonies and the people that are not very good. Like you just said, that give agents such a bad reputation that make it hard when you get somebody who's been burned before for.
- [53:03]
Landon Chase
Yeah, it's, I mean it's becoming much more difficult to be a bad agent. They're just not getting any business because you're not guaranteed a commission anymore like it is. It is much more difficult out there. Far less houses are being sold or bought like you, you really can't fake it in this industry. So if you're in it for yourself and you don't have your life in order, probably just go get a different job. Like it's time to jump ship. Because there are people that care about their clients. There are people that, that want to do a good job. There are people that are in it to bless others. And those are gonna be the people that get 80, 90% of the deals. Like they're the smartest agents, they're the agents that care the most and that's right, the most for their clients. They're the people that have their life in order, that are. Their whole life emulates success. Where from how they're. If you don't have any clients and your car's a mess, you don't deserve any clients. Get your house in order, get your car cleaned, wash your car. You never know when you're going to meet a new client. You, you need to show up presentable. If you're going to the gym, if you're going to the coffee shop, look presentable. Like there's a lot of things you can do in your own life to get your life in order before you'll ever get a client. Because you need to steward what you have. And maybe all you have is a part time job right now and a little apartment and a ratty car. But you can take care of that stuff.
- [54:23]
David Green
Stuff.
- [54:23]
Landon Chase
And you can be the kind of person that God can bless that can be blessed with a lot more. But if you're not doing it with what you have now, you're not going to do it when you're a top performing agent. Like it's not going to change and nobody wants to work with you if, if you're not the kind of person that takes care of the things they have. Because how you clean your Car is how you write a contract. How you clean your car is how you're going to look at an inspection report. Like, those things really do matter, matter. And if you have a lot of time on your hand, start being an excellent person in all areas of your life and whatever that realm is now, and it's gonna grow, I guarantee it. Because very few people are excellent. They don't emulate excellence. And I believe you can do it. I'm. I'm. If you're listening to this podcast, you care. So you are already taking the first step, and the next step is just putting that vision throughout your whole life. And, yeah, I'm excited for the people listening. I think this, this new podcast is going to do great. I think it's going to bless a lot of agents.
- [55:24]
David Green
Thanks, man. If people want to reach out to you, ask a couple questions, maybe refer some business for people that are going in Scottsdale, where can they find you?
- [55:31]
Landon Chase
Yeah, Landonchase.com or Landon Chaser at. That's my Instagram Lando Chaser is my Instagram Underscore chaser.
- [55:41]
David Green
Right?
- [55:41]
Landon Chase
Yep, yep, yep. Exactly.
- [55:43]
David Green
So don't miss that.
- [55:43]
Landon Chase
Underscore had a shocking amount of followers I gained from the last podcast and a lot of people reached out and a couple new clients moving here, investors. So it's a good time. I. You, you've got a great audience, very loyal audience, and I'm, I'm honored to be on this show. And hopefully something I said was helpful and I really did appreciate the encouragement. A number of people reached out after the last one, and you never know if what you have to say is very helpful.
- [56:10]
David Green
Well, surprisingly, it was. And so people liked it. We wanted to have you back. You're just as shocked as I was.
- [56:15]
Landon Chase
I was like, what do you know?
- [56:17]
David Green
He said something smart I wasn't expecting. I thought you were just here for the good looks.
- [56:20]
Landon Chase
I. I am. I'm the trophy husband for sure.
- [56:24]
David Green
All right, everybody go give Lando a follow. And don't forget, today's show is sponsored by the One Brokerage. So if you are looking for a lender to take care of you, to look out for you, to get you the best rate and the best service, reach out to us@the1brokerage.com or even better, send me a DM on Instagram @DavidGreen24 and I will personally put you in touch with the right person for your personality and the kind of property you're trying to buy. And if you are a loan officer listening to this and you would like to find a better brokerage. We are adding eight loan officers. We need them. We have more business we can keep up with. So please also DM me if you would be open to switching to a new brokerage. Landon, thanks for being here. Good luck to you. We'll see you soon.
- [57:00]
Landon Chase
Thanks so much.