107. Psychology > Technology: What Consumers Actually Want With Mike DelPrete

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Millionaire Real Estate Agent (MREA) Podcast

Episode 107: Psychology > Technology: What Consumers Actually Want With Mike DelPrete
Host: Jason Abrams
Guest: Mike DelPrete
Date: November 3, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, Jason Abrams welcomes real estate tech strategist and researcher Mike DelPrete for a data-driven discussion on the true drivers of consumer behavior in real estate. The conversation challenges the notion that technology or AI alone will upend the traditional agent role, suggesting instead that human psychology and relationship-building remain paramount. Drawing on international research, DelPrete shares what consumers actually want from agents, unpacks widespread myths about tech disruption, reviews the real impact of AI, and debunks the hype with evidence-based insights.

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Key Segments & Insights

1. Mike DelPrete’s Journey Into Real Estate

[02:06 – 05:52]

• Mike recounts his beginnings as a tech founder, his spontaneous move to New Zealand, and his transition to overseeing digital marketplaces encompassing real estate.
• “New Zealand is kind of a lot like… California in the 70s. It was really nice to do that.” (Mike, 03:30)
• Real estate was intellectually irresistible for Mike because “it’s the hardest and most interesting” industry, especially versus cars or jobs.

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2. Why Real Estate Resists Disruption

[05:52 – 10:21]

• Abrams asks why, after waves of technology startups, the majority of consumers still use agents.
• DelPrete’s Twofold Answer:
  • a. Outsiders Don’t Understand Real Estate:
    “For the most part, everybody trying to disrupt it does not understand real estate… They just don’t understand it in the way that you need to.” (Mike, 06:18)
  • b. It’s Psychological, Not Technical:
    “It’s not a technology problem. It’s a psychology problem… People are not selling their home on their phone because the technology doesn’t exist. They’re not doing that because psychologically, you don’t want to sell your biggest asset with a click of a button.” (Mike, 06:54)

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3. The Myth of the All-in-One Home Ownership Platform

[08:15 – 11:46]

• Many companies dream of creating a “one-brand, infinity loop” that owns the consumer’s entire housing journey.
• DelPrete is skeptical: “If you went around and asked 100 consumers… I don’t know that you’re going to get a lot of people saying, ‘I wish everything was on my phone all in one spot.’” (Mike, 09:27)
• True consumer pain points are affordability and finding houses, not bundling services.

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4. Technology Bundling—Will It Ever Work?

[10:38 – 11:46]

• Product/Service “bundling” only works if there’s genuine consumer savings, as in the recent Rocket-Redfin collaboration.
• “If a consumer can save… $20, $30, $40 grand on a home purchase, like maybe that’s enough to move the needle.” (Mike, 11:36)

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5. AI and Its Real Impact in Real Estate

[12:11 – 18:28]

• AI’s Value Boils Down to Two Buckets:
  1. OPEX Buster:
     “It helps you do things faster, cheaper, more efficiently.” (Mike, 12:43)
  2. Affecting Consumer Search Behavior:
     “Specifically with that, I’m talking about zero click searches.” (Mike, 13:10)
     • Zero click = getting direct answers from AI (ChatGPT, Gemini) instead of clicking links—now comprising “like 50, 60, maybe close to 70%” of searches. (Mike, 14:02)
• Abrams notes: “There is a segment of my client base who’s gonna ask AI, ‘Which real estate agent should I use?’”
• DelPrete: “It doesn’t seem like you can game the system… The best way to do a good job and be up there in their search results is to do a good job.” (16:20)

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6. How Agents Can Stand Out in the New AI World

[16:55 – 19:58]

• Mike’s model for agent relevance:
  1. Master your reviews—“I’d be asking everybody for reviews…getting those online at trusted review sites.” (Mike, 17:22)
  2. Produce a small number of high-quality videos that showcase your value, expertise, and niche.
  3. Pick and emphasize your niche—“You can’t be everything to everybody.”
• Authenticity is crucial: “The worst thing you can do is to put stuff out there online that’s inauthentic, right? That’s AI generated and is just bs. We don’t need any more of that.” (Mike, 19:58)

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7. Should Agents Use AI (and How to Disclose It)

[20:20 – 22:16]

• Internal use of AI is fine, but client-facing AI should always be clearly labeled as such.
• “If you’re going to have client facing AI, it should be advertised as AI… If you’re going to write something with AI, you should say this has been written by AI or edited by AI.” (Mike, 20:57)
• Abrams praises a model where an agent’s listing packet is split between “agent intelligence” and “artificial intelligence,” with full transparency about each’s role. (Jason, 22:01)

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8. Why The Basics Still Matter: The Lead Response Crisis

[22:37 – 26:59]

• DelPrete’s national research found:
  • 50% of online leads are never contacted by agents—even in 2025, rates same as 10–20 years ago! (Mike, 24:24)
  • Only 47% of open house visitors are even asked for their contact info.
  • “One of those [calling your leads back] is going to move the needle here.” (Mike, 26:35)
• Abrams’ reaction: “You blew my mind with that last one.” (Jason, 26:59)

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9. What Do Consumers Actually Want From Agents?

[27:26 – 29:08]

• DelPrete funded research involving 45-minute interviews with recent buyers/sellers.
• The top three attributes consumers want:
  1. Patient: No pressure—“Take your time. I’ll help you out through this process.”
  2. Knowledgeable: Expertise and real experience create trust.
  3. Transparent: Open, honest, forthcoming about everything.
• Biggest complaint: “The number one thing that consumers hate… is they just don’t hear from [agents].” (Mike, 29:08)

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10. Tech Tools: Focus on the Fundamentals

[22:52, 30:03]

• DelPrete advises: “Skip the conferences, skip the sessions, skip all this noise and focus on just doing a great job for your clients.” (22:52)
• Technology’s best use is supporting the basic skills of communication and service, not pushing everyone into the same rigid “tech” funnel.

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11. Teaching, Truth, and the Motivation Behind Research

[31:40 – 34:54]

• Teaching energizes Mike because it “helps me think better and think critically.”
• At the core of his work is a commitment to “transparency and truth”—asking if conventional wisdom is accurate and testing it with data, not opinion.

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12. Love for the Real Estate Community

[34:19 – 35:05]

• Despite industry challenges, Mike says: “I think I have fallen in love… You’re surrounded by people who speak the same language… We all have this weird disease, right, where we really like this industry.”

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Notable Quotes

• “It’s not a technology problem. It’s a psychology problem.” – Mike DelPrete (06:54)
• “Consumers are saying, like, it’s hard for me to find houses, I can’t afford it. That’s what people care about.” – Mike DelPrete (09:42)
• “The best way to do a good job and be up there in their search results is to do a good job.” – Mike DelPrete (16:20)
• “Patient. Knowledgeable. Transparent.” – Mike DelPrete (28:20) on what consumers want in an agent
• “The number one thing that consumers hate when working with a real estate agent is they just don’t hear from them.” – Mike DelPrete (29:08)
• “If you’re not going to respond to a lead, like, take the form down off your website.” – Mike DelPrete (25:29)
• “Don’t have opinions about your business. Have the data to back it up.” – Jason Abrams (39:38)
• “It’s rewarding because it’s hard.” – Mike DelPrete (35:00)

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Actionable Takeaways

1. Focus on Human Skills:
   Patient, knowledgeable, and transparent service are what consumers value most.
2. Call Your Leads Back:
   The most dramatic ROI may be in simply following up with your existing contacts.
3. Leverage AI Carefully and Transparently:
   Use AI for efficiency and internal support, disclose to clients when AI is used, and always lead with authenticity.
4. Don’t Chase Every Tech Trend:
   Instead, reinforce the basics: reviews, expert content, and developing a clear niche.
5. Regularly Audit Your Business:
   Track who’s in your database, your lead response rate, and which sources actually drive your closings.

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:06 – Mike’s personal and career background
• 05:52 – Why real estate resists disruption
• 08:15 – Evaluating the “all-in-one” experience
• 12:11 – AI’s impact: OPEX buster & zero click
• 16:55 – Standing out in the AI era as an agent
• 22:52 – Tech tools: Skip hype, focus on service
• 24:24 – The “lead response” research bombshell
• 27:26 – Consumer research: patient, knowledgeable, transparent
• 29:08 – #1 thing consumers hate: Lack of communication

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Closing Reflection

The episode repeatedly returns to a central, research-backed thesis: Technology—even AI—cannot replace the value of genuine, knowledgeable, and communicative human agents. In fact, the best tech simply amplifies these skills. For agents, Mike DelPrete’s core advice is simple but profound: do the basics well, let technology augment—not replace—your value, and constantly validate assumptions with data rather than opinion.

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Want more from Mike DelPrete? Find him at mikedp.com and on his podcast “Context.”
Subscribe to the MREA Podcast newsletter for episode notes and actionable tips.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign. Welcome back to another episode of the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. I'm Jason Abrams and this is the place where we lift the curtain on the world of real estate like never before. Every week I sit down with visionaries, pirates and mavericks. We're here to document, demonstrate, and most importantly, demystify their game changing models and systems. What secrets propel them to the top and how are they living their dreams? This is about passion. It's about strategy. But above all, it's about real, tangible success. So buckle up and let's dive in. This is the Millionaire Real Estate Agent podcast. You don't want to miss it, gang. Turn up the volume. I don't say it often, but this you're going to want to hear every word. We are about to talk about all things AI, all things real estate, technology, and all things client facing. What do they actually want from real estate agents? What don't they want from real estate agents? And we're going to do it in an interesting way. We are going to use a researcher to tell us the story. Friends, his research has been shared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the Economist. He also is a teacher at the University of Boulder and a staple at all sorts of industry events. I am talking about none other than Mike Delpretti. Mike is a friend of mine and a researcher. Extraordinary. Nothing he says is without a data point to back it up. Friends, sit back and buckle up. This is Mike Delpretti. Mike, how are you, sir?

[B]

Good. How are you doing?

[A]

Fantastic. You know, the first time that we spoke via Zoom, I believe you were living in Australia at the time. That's correct, yes.

[B]

New Zealand. New Zealand.

[A]

New Zealand. And just to confirm, you are now back in the continental U.S. yes, right.

[B]

Now I'm in lovely Colorado.

[A]

You're going to be surprised enough to ask you a question about New Zealand as we go, but I open up all these episodes the same way. I always say, how did you end up in the greatest industry in the world? But I'm often talking to real estate agents. But you, sir, you're a tech strategist, a professor, an author, a journalist. Like, I could just keep going. But it all revolves around real estate. So how did you fall in love with the greatest industry in the world?

[B]

I mean, if you go way back, like right after university, I started a tech company. So I'm originally, you know, a tech founder. I didn't raise a lot of money. It was bootstrapped. You know, we were profitable, we made money. I did that for about six or seven years. That was in New York State. Sold that business, stuck around for a little bit, and then, you know, as you do, kind of spun the globe finger, landed on New Zealand and we all moved there.

[A]

Is that really what happened? People always say that, but is that real?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, there was. There. There wasn't a whole lot of rhyme and reason. It was like, I've always wanted to go to New Zealand, you know, and then it started out as a joke, and then it progressed to reality in about four months. And, you know, I had two kids at the time. They were three and five. So it was probably one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. Looking back on it now, was back in 2011.

[A]

Why do you say that? Why was it one of the best decisions? What did you find there? What'd you learn?

[B]

Well, I mean, all up. I lived in New Zealand for about six years. And it's just amazing, you know, if you've ever lived outside of your home country, you realize what an awesome experience that is. It tickles the parts of your brain that like adventure and like new things. You know, going into a grocery store and seeing all the same stuff, but just slightly different, you know, that's exciting for your brain and you see the rest of the world. It's not all like America, right? Every place is different. And for my kids, do effectively have grown up there. I really like that. You know, New Zealand is kind of a lot like maybe you imagine California in the 70s. So it's like before everything changed. It's pretty old school and slow. Your kids can kind of run around town, do whatever they want. It was really nice to do that.

[A]

So you come back and during that time, you have both feet in real estate. You come back and you double down on it. Now, anywhere I look, man, whether it's events or it's Inman or it's your publishing. Why real estate? What grabs you about real estate?

[B]

So when I was in New Zealand, I worked at a large company that was like the number one Internet conglomerate of the country. New Zealand's very small, but this was a big company. It was publicly listed, multibillion dollars. We owned a lot of marketplace and classified businesses. So if you wanted to look to buy or sell a car, you'd go there, look for a new job, you go there, and if you wanted to buy or sell a house, we had that. We had the number one real estate portal. And my job was head of strategy. So I was looking over the entire business, kind of helping to manage corporate strategy and also looking for companies to buy. So I was kind of thinking hard about all these businesses all the time. And yet when I decided to come back to the United States, I said, I'm going to focus in real estate. Because out of all these different industries, real estate is the hardest and most interesting. Right. When you think about, like, selling a car, looking for a job, I don't know, it just kind of makes sense. It's like, okay, that's how it works. But real estate, it's like you have these fundamental questions. Why did people still use real estate agents? Why can't I do it all on my phone? You know, why this, why that? And I was fascinated, and this was in 2016. So that's when venture capital was just starting to come into the space. Opendoor was getting off the ground. Company called Purple Bricks in the UK was transforming things. It seemed like a really exciting time. It was hard to understand what was going on. I didn't know what was going to go on. And I like intellectually challenging problems where I can really work my brain. And there was nothing better than real estate. So that's where I went.

[A]

I love that. And I remember this time when there were all these startups. Now the graveyards are filled with most of them and some of them are kind of limping along. Why do you think that the real estate industry specific to the United States has been really kind of difficult to disrupt? Because when you look at the numbers, clients still, by and large, vote to work with real estate agents. And so many of those startup companies took a different view of what was coming.

[B]

Again, it's a really good question. I think the reason I'm going to give you two answers. The first reason it hasn't been disrupted is because for the most part, everybody trying to disrupt it does not understand real estate. I mean, you know, a lot of Silicon Valley hubris and we know better. We're going to build technology, we're going to change it. They just don't understand real estate in the way that you need to. Like, you get it, right? And the people listening to this, you all get it, you know, And I didn't understand real estate when I started, but 10 years in, I'm like, ah, I got it. But the second reason is because it's such a people and relationship business. You know, you've got a million and a half agents, you've got 400,000 MLOs. I mean, this is somebody's biggest asset. It's not a technology problem. It's a Psychology problem, right? People are not selling their home on their phone because the technology doesn't exist. They're not doing that because psychologically you don't want to sell your biggest asset with a click of a button on your phone.

[A]

I think that's so sage because we're living through a moment right now where the old days of AI is like 90 days ago. It's moving so quickly and anytime you're in one of these booms, everybody maybe overestimates what's coming or the speed by which it will happen and a bunch of them are going to fall by the wayside and of course there's going to be some winners. But your concept that it's a psychological thing and it's their largest asset, that's not changing regardless of the technology chassis that you might be driving on.

[B]

No, not at all. It's, you know, housing is in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You know, buying diapers online isn't and you know, this is where your kids sleep and it's safety and where, you know, where you go to school. I mean it's. Real estate by definition is, it's unique, right? It's differentiated. Every piece of real estate is different. So you can't, you know, that's why you run into difficulty if you try to do I buying where you try to price it accurately. It's like it just depends, right? It depends on so many factors because of all that.

[A]

Do you think, and I'm asking strictly for an opinion, no crystal balls allowed, this idea that any of companies are going to own the entire experience from when someone's searching to when they're shopping to when they need a mortgage, to now managing their home the way that they live. And they're going to be in this kind of infinity loop with one brand, all with the backbone of a piece of technology. Does that sound real to you or does that sound like fantastic fiction that's easy to raise money to?

[B]

God, it sounds so interesting, doesn't it? It's exciting.

[A]

That's the thing. Yeah, it's exciting. But the pitch is, it's not a new pitch. We've been talking about it for a long time.

[B]

And you know, in my role, what I've been doing, I'm like a one man show, right? I don't have a, you know, it's just me. I like doing research. I've had employees before. I don't want employees ever again, you know, And I've been researching this for the past 10 years internationally. And I can give you so many examples of companies trying to do exactly that and not succeeding. I mean, I did it operationally in New Zealand. You know, we thought, oh, we have this. We can also add this. It'll be great. It wasn't great. It was really hard. And it just keeps happening over and over again, like, regardless of the country, the investment, anything. So you have to stop and ask yourself, well, why is that the case? And I think what it is is a lot of companies doing that approach it from the company's standpoint, not the consumer standpoint. Meaning, is that really a consumer pain point? If you went around and you asked 10 consumers who are thinking about buying or selling their home, or 100 consumers, what are your top 10 problems right now? I don't know that you're going to get a lot of people saying, oh, I wish everything was on my phone all in one spot. I really wish I could get a mortgage from the same company that I get my title insurance from. Them from the same company that's giving me my real estate agent. Like, who's saying that? It makes sense for a company to say that, but consumers are saying, like, it's hard for me to find houses, I can't afford it. Right? Like, that's what people care about. So I'm not sure it's actually solving a problem other than the company's problem, which is how do we make more money?

[A]

I was reading Alex Hormozy's book the other day, and he said that the key to selling a product is to identify very specifically what pain your avatar of client is in and then speak and sell directly to that pain solution. And I think that's what you're saying.

[B]

Historically, that doesn't happen a lot. It's easy to say like, oh, it's complicated. The real estate transaction is complicated and we want to simplify it, right? Nobody's going to argue with that. Like, sure, that sounds great, but in real estate, I just don't know that that's enough to move the needle. Right? People are going to choose people to work with that they know, and they recommend they find an agent who's an expert in the neighborhood. Agents, the quarterback, you know, you ask them, like, all right, now I need a mortgage. Who do you recommend? Like, that's just kind of how it goes. And there's no real, like, you gotta think, is there enough value to move the needle? And historically that has not been the case. There's just not been enough value to move the needle in a meaningful way. With that, I will say that what Rocket is doing with Redfin is kind of the most interesting potential needle mover that we've seen in a while, simply because Rocket is making all the noises of saying we're going to offer money back to consumers. So it's not just bundle and it's easier, it's bundle and save. If a consumer can save, you know, I'm just making numbers up 20, 30, 40 grand on a home purchase, like maybe that's enough to move the needle.

[A]

A little bit if it's a true savings. Because what I've seen far too often when these sort of marriages come together is that it's saving from one pocket in order to put those dollars in the other pocket, which is usually the pocket your stock price is based on. Because look, at the end of the day, a lot of these public companies are defending the moat that their investors invested in to begin.

[B]

Right? That's the problem. These are public companies, they have to grow. We're in a capitalist society. Like it's pretty simple here.

[A]

Let me ask you this, because AI is the hottest topic out there, especially amongst real estate agents. We've made the argument that if you simplify and boil AI down for the real estate industry, it either, number one, helps you get things done faster, or number two, can be an incredibly powerful lead generation tool if used the right way. Do you think by and large those are the two buckets that you hear a conversation about the most?

[B]

Yeah, that's really interesting. So I've, you know, I've distilled AI down into two buckets. The first one I call AI is an OPEX buster. And OPEX are operating expenses. So AI is an OPEX buster. It helps you do things faster, cheaper, more efficiently. The most interesting stuff that I see companies doing is using AI to make themselves as companies faster and more efficient. And the way you see that on the bottom line is that OPEX or opex per transaction going down, right. You're materially more efficient. The second area that I think AI will have an impact is on consumer search behavior. And specifically with that, I'm talking about zero click searches, which I'll just throw it out there and if you want to come back to it, we can. I just don't know how much that's going to affect real estate. Right. If you're looking, you know, for a chili recipe, zero click searching, that's going to be a thing.

[A]

Let's just define zero click for the audience. Are you suggesting when I go to Google, I'm now getting my answer from Gemini as opposed to scrolling through and picking a link that looks interesting.

[B]

Exactly. That's exactly it. Or you go to ChatGPT, you ask it like, give me a chili recipe. And it gives you a chili recipe. And you haven't clicked anywhere. Right? You haven't gone to anyone's website. I'm doing some research on this right now. The statistics I've seen around that are staggering.

[A]

Oh, I don't want to get in front of you because I know we're going to publish it. Give me something. Give me something shocking, I want to.

[B]

Say, like the percentage of zero click searches, I mean, it's gone up to like 50, 60, maybe close to 70%.

[A]

Oh, my gosh. So if you're a company like Google that between 350 and $450 billion a year come by way of people clicking, you're disrupting yourself with Gemini. Are you terrified about the future or are you ushering it in?

[B]

I mean, it's interesting, right? I mean, you and I probably both grew up around the same time when the Internet came out. Like, there's no reason the Internet had to work, like, with a search engine. If you think about it, it's kind of weird, right? It's like in real life, you don't do that, right? You don't go up to somebody and be like, hey, Jason, recommend me a plumber. And you're like, well, I'm going to. Here's three business cards and this person's paying me money. Right? That's not how the real world works. Right? But we've been, like, conditioned to say, like, oh, that's how the Internet works. That's how the Internet works. But it doesn't. Right. People usually have questions and they want answers.

[A]

So we're.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, if I'm like, if I'm Google, I'm probably pretty scared about that. It's a huge opportunity to just really, like, reinvent the Internet in a sense, which I think is really cool and exciting because we. You get away from all this bullshit. I don't know if you've ever, you know, again with recipes. Like, have you ever searched for a recipe? Like, when, as a society did we decide that's okay in terms of how recipe results are given back to us. It's like, I'm not looking for a narrative of your mother's chili recipe and, you know, defining different types of butter. It's like, I want a recipe and I don't want ads everywhere and all. It's a mess. Like, we can do better than that. I think we are. So I'm pretty positive. I have no idea what the original question you asked me was, but that.

[A]

Is such a hopeful, optimistic view because I agree the Internet set us all free and you're suggesting there's a better way to do it and we can do better. When I say in my premise, get stuff done, I think that hits your opex. Then I say generate leads. And candidly I think that fits into your zero click search and here's why. And tell me if it's a bridge too far for you. I do believe that there is a segment of my client base who's gonna ask AI, which real estate agent should I use? How's the real estate market? Is it a good time to sell in Austin? These are the questions and I think the way we get surfaced. How do you think about that?

[B]

Yeah, I just did a, a chatgpt search this morning. You know, tell me the best real estate agents in Boulder, Colorado. And because exactly like you, I'm like, how is this working? And you know, it comes up with results. I think that the thing that's interesting now is it doesn't seem like you can game the system. So I've never been a huge fan of search engine optimization because it's just gaming the system. And the best way to do a good job and be up there in their search results is to do a good job. You know, if you're a plumber, be a great plumber. If you're a real estate agent, be a great real estate agent.

[A]

Yes. And full disclosure, I'm waist deep in writing a playbook on generative engine optimization. And I think the same way that you do, if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it fall? So the question is, are there enough trust signals telling the search engine or AI that I am a great plumber? Because I got news for you, man. If you're the best in the world, but you haven't sent those signals out into the world, you can't expect business to then find you. And therein lies the challenge.

[B]

No, I agree with that. But there's no like, there's no tricks, there's no shortcuts, right? It's not like optimizing, it's just do the right stuff. So if you're a fantastic real estate. If I was a real estate agent, you know, I'd be asking everybody for reviews and I'd be getting those online at trusted review sites, you know, like whatever those are, I'd be recording a smaller number of high Quality videos, whether that's testimonials or me just talking about who I am as a person, you know, I would highlight the value that I provide, my neighborhood knowledge, and I would like, I'd pick a niche. You know, when I looked for the top agents in Boulder this morning, I got answers back saying, like, if you're looking for a luxury, talk to this person. If you're looking for a fixer upper, talk to this person. If you're looking for somebody with, you know, right, everybody's got a niche. You can't be everything to everybody. So it's just like, do a great job and get this stuff out there and make it real. Don't try to game the system, just put it out there as a real person and that'll eventually get picked up and you will like, surface to the top.

[A]

Let me ask you this. As you think about this and you unknowingly just gave us a great model, which is, I'm going to master my reviews. I'm going to have content that's consumable, that's of a high quality, and it's going to speak to exactly my values and why you should trust me. And then I'm going to pick a niche so that AI knows to look for me in my thing as opposed to me everywhere. That makes all the sense in the world to me. If I'm a real estate agent and I haven't done any of these things, do you think I missed the boat or would you tell me to start today?

[B]

I struggle with that because every, like, event I look at or, you know, coach, I see they're all like, you gotta be on social media. You gotta be on social media. And I'm like, really? It's like, do you, I don't know that you have to, like, do you have to go viral? Like, if you had to get brain surgery, are you going to pick the brain surgeon that went viral? Like, it doesn't, you know. So I want to say no, Jason. And I think that's because we can do better and we don't all have to be going viral. You know, it can work for some people. I think the, let's say this, you know, the best case scenario is you produce a lot of high quality content that reflects who you are as a person. You put it out there and it helps reinforce your brand. Who you are next best is you don't do anything and you just do a good job in real life and you have coffee with people and you network. Right? We all know agents like that. The worst thing you can do is to put stuff out there online that's inauthentic, right? That's AI generated and is just bs. We don't need any more of that.

[A]

No, I think we're going to be inundated with that, my friend. And it won't just be our industry, it'll be every industry.

[B]

And you can like, I hate to tell you, but you can tell. Like, you can tell. I teach at a college, I can absolutely 100% tell when a student submits something that was written by AI or mostly written by AI, you just can. Like, as humans, you can.

[A]

So yeah, that's my next question for you. Because in my workplace, you know, there's people on my team and half of the people that work with me, they're using AI to get faster, produce more work product. They're using it as a rough draft and then they're worried. The other half thinks it's cheating for all practice. And if I walk by, they quickly minimize their screen. And I know it's now that they're looking at AI. I think real estate agents are a little hesitant to start using AI because they're a little worried that their clients are going to say, wait a minute, you didn't do this, I did. Do you think there's a solve for that? Do you think they should be using it in their business? How do they be transparent with their clients about it?

[B]

I think if you're going to have client facing AI, it should be advertised as AI, right? Meaning if I'm going to talk to an AI chatbot, it should not be pretending to be Mike Delpretti. It should say, I'm an AI chatbot, I'm trained by Mike. If you ever want to talk to Mike, press one. But that's it. If you're going to write something with AI, you should say this has been written by AI or edited by AI. If you're going to use AI to present some photos, right, of, you know, what your interior could look like, like, make note of that. I think you have to be authentic. And it seems like that's the direction we're going. But I also think there's plenty of applications to use AI. Not consumer facing or client facing, just internal. There's tons of stuff there.

[A]

I documented a model the other day where this agent, in their listing package, they have a page and on one side it says agent intelligence, and on the other side of the page it says artificial intelligence. And they listed which parts of the transaction they were going to let AI Help.

[B]

Oh, interesting.

[A]

I gotta tell you, if I'm a homeowner and you bring that to me, I'm really comfortable with this idea. And I think it's gonna start putting pressure on agents that don't, because I think my clients are using AI and they expect me to be there also.

[B]

Yeah, that's the problem with these, you know, hype buzz. What's going on? You don't want to be the fuddy duddy who's like, no, it's not a. It's not a thing. But nobody wants to hire you as an agent, pay you x percent commission, and have you just all outsourcing it to ChatGPT. So I love that idea of kind of, this is what I'm gon it for. This is what I'm not going to use it for. That's great. That's great.

[A]

I thought it was really smart. Are there. So as you go out, you look at every company. You're looking at all the emerging technologies. You don't have to pick winners, but are there pieces of tech that you're seeing right now that you think are absolutely awesome? That if you're a real estate agent, you take a look at.

[B]

No, that's where I'm going to be kind of the contrarian and give you the countdown. I mean, if you're. If you're an agent, my advice is like, skip the conferences, skip the sessions, skip all this noise and focus on just doing a great job, you know, for your clients. I mean, I did this research last year where we did all this secret shopping and online leads and the. You know, the headline.

[A]

Tell us about that. Yeah. What'd you find?

[B]

Well, yeah, so the headline is that 50% of leads are never contacted, even today.

[A]

Wait, I gotta stop you, dude. It's been 20 years that we've been saying, speed the lead and contact within three minutes and people are paying for them. You're still buying them.

[B]

I know. You're serious? Yeah. Yeah. You're sure? Yeah. No, this was. Let me tell you about the project. I don't know. It's online and it's all free. You can check it out. But I wanted to know. I'm addicted to research, so I wanted to know. I funded this research. So what we did is we did a bunch of online leads. So basically we went to. Not Zillow and realtor.com, like, they're set up to deal with leads, but all the other brokerage websites, right? Think about every time you hear a company saying, like, oh, Jason, you Need to have a website, and you're going to spend $20,000 on it. You have a website, there's a form. It's stuff like that. It's brokerage websites. So we did. We did over 100 of these tests nationally, 25, 30 different brokerages. We went in, we filled out the lead form, and then we just waited to see what would happen. And we're not idiots. Like, we made ourselves sound like good leads. Like beautiful leads. Right.

[A]

Buying in 48 hours, plenty of cash going out.

[B]

Well, not scam leads. Good leads. And then we also did it with open homes. You know, we just. We went into same thing. We picked all these open homes across the country. The variety of markets. Right. In the median price.

[A]

I'm sorry, you mean open houses? You.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, sorry. Open houses. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Just walk in. We hired people to professionally do this. You know, they, like, they didn't look like they just wandered in off the street. They were nicely dressed, asked all the right quest, all that stuff. And, yeah, like, I forget what the numbers were. But even for open houses, like, think about that. That's somebody demonstrating, you know, on a cold day, they're going to Dr. Go into an open house. It was like, only 47% of the time somebody would be asked for their contact information. And then, yeah, basically, like, half the time, they wouldn't get contacted. Jason, I did it. I went into an open house just to see. And, you know, I was asked if I wanted a cookie, but I wasn't asked for my phone number or email address. And you hear that all the time and you're like, oh, that's a weird outlier. But at the end of the day, yeah. 50% of all of these leads were simply not followed up. And I get it. There's so much garbage out there. But you know what? If you're not gonna respond to a lead, like, take the form down off.

[A]

Your website, get into a different business.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

By the way, that's the research project that I'd love to now go back and fund, which is finding out why they didn't respond to the lead. There's gotta be some reasons.

[B]

Yeah, there have to be. I think the number one reason is for better or worse, you know, real estate agents have been conditioned that online leads are garbage. I just. I get bombarded. You know, one agent showed me. He showed me their WhatsApp channel or all this stuff coming in. You know, we were going through it, and it's like, scam. I mean, it is. It's just. It's scam.

[A]

Did you confirm or disprove your hypothesis? Do you begin these studies with a hypothesis or do you go in and just say, I don't know the answer and I'm going to do all this research?

[B]

Yeah, that's it. I'm attracted to the data. I want to see what it is. I didn't really have a hypothesis. I've heard. Right, We've all heard, oh, nobody responds to leads. I'm like, all right, what does that actually mean?

[A]

You proved it.

[B]

Yeah, sadly. And you know, the number one thing everybody says is what you said, which is, wait a minute, that's what the number was 10 years ago. I did a study 20 years ago. My brokerage did something 12 years ago. It's always like 50%. So that's great. You can go on social media, go viral, do all this crazy stuff, or you can just kind of call your leads back and you know, one of those is going to move the needle here.

[A]

You blew my mind with that last one. Have you spent any time with the actual client, with the consumer thinking about and studying how they view real estate agents? What are the biggest problems they're trying to solve? Because I spend most of my time with real estate agents and I find that there's very little consumer data being consumed by the real estate industry. There's all kinds of brokerage data, there's all kinds of brokerage tech, but there's a little gap in consumer info. What have you learned?

[B]

Yeah, no, the same thing. So I did another study, funded another research study where we went out to consumers. I hired a firm to do this where they went out to consumers who'd recently transacted. And the way that I like to do research is they did individual one on one, 45 minute interviews. Because you could do a survey, right? Like, and selecting a box or whatever is. That's useless. Right. But after 45 minutes, you're really going to drill into what matters and what moves the needle. Right. So and the overall question was, what do consumers really want in a real estate agent? And three words. I got three words.

[A]

Hang on, gang. We're about to gang. Don't worry about taking the notes. I'm taking the notes. If you don't get them, go to mreanotes.com and sign up. They come out every Thursday. I'm about to document this for you. So, okay, what are the three things the consumer wants?

[B]

Patient, knowledgeable, transparent.

[A]

Unpack them for me.

[B]

Patient. They don't want to feel pressure. Right. You take your time. I will Be here. I'll help you out through this process. Let me know if I can answer any questions you have. Just be really patient, knowledgeable. I've seen situations like this before. I've handled a ton of transactions in this area. You know, I've seen objections like this come up before. I know exactly what to do. You can trust me. I'm your. I'm an expert advisor here. And the last one, transparent. I mean, it's kind of. Kind of obvious, right? Just somebody who's. Who's going to kind of open up and not hide anything and share everything that's going on. And then lastly, the. Those are the three. And then the number one thing that consumers hate when working with a real estate agent is they just don't hear from them.

[A]

And really?

[B]

Well, I'm not saying they all hate that in agents, but that's like the number one thing they don't like if they face that situation. There's great agents out there. I mean, you and I have both worked with them, right? Very communicative. But the number one kind of thing that grinds people's gears is just when they get somebody who won't get back to them in a timely manner.

[A]

We looked at a survey the other day. Now, keep in mind, it was a choose your own adventure survey, but active sellers, 17% of them, wanted to be contacted every single day by their agent via text or phone.

[B]

That sounds awesome.

[A]

Every day. Because I look up and that's so different than me. Like, if I hire you to do something, I don't want to hear from you until it's done. I hope it wishes out. They want to talk every day. And so it might not be that they don't hear from them at all. It might just be because the cadence that they're expecting doesn't match the expectations that you set. And an expectation unmatched is a lie.

[B]

Yeah, no, that's a really good point. Yeah. And back to your question, Jason. Like, oh, is there technology out there? I mean, everything we're talking about, this is like the super interesting meat and potatoes of the industry right now. It's just. It's being communicative, being knowledgeable, being patient. These are all qualities of a good salesperson. A good real estate agent. This is not rocket science, Right? If your phone rings, call somebody back. If there's technology out there that can help an agent do that more efficiently, that's great. I'm being very general and vague about that because when I say an agent, well, there's one and a Half million of them. Right. Everybody's different. What I don't want to do is force everyone into the same funnel. I want to support everybody individually. And when I say help them, I don't mean, oh, I'm just going to outsource it all to AI. If you have an AI chatbot reaching out to your customers every day, your sellers every day, they're going to know, and it's going to make you look like an idiot.

[A]

By the way, friends, if you are going to do that, if you're going to use AI chatbots at all, make sure you do it totally compliantly. The consumer has to know they're talking AI. There's a whole list of rules to be TCPA compliant, which, Mike, we are passionate about on this program.

[B]

Awesome. Yeah, you got to follow the rules. You can't just shoot from the hip here. So I get it.

[A]

All right, last two questions for me. You teach college kids, and that's gotta be a labor of love. Teaching anybody something is a labor of love. Are you a teacher in your heart? Are you a teacher by default, a teacher by education, or is helping other people and just waking up and sharing knowledge? What fills you up?

[B]

Teaching is interesting. Before the start of every semester, I dread it. I'm like, why am I doing this? This is such a huge waste of time. What do I get out of it? It's a bugger in my schedule. I'm like, ah, I got it. You know, I just. I dread it. And then after I come home after the first day, you know, I remember why I do it. You just feel so good. It just feels so good. I'm not an academic. My dad was a college professor. I am not an academic. I'm not cut out for that. And, you know, the way that I work teaching, you know, I kind of go up, I teach, and that's it. It's part time. I'm not really involved in the bureaucracy. I focus on what I really love. And it sounds so cliche, but it's like, oh, I love working with students, but I do, you know, it's great. And it helps me, like, having to explain this crazy industry and ibuying and power buyers and brokerages to a fresh face of students every year. It helps me think better and think critically. And, you know, having to explain something to somebody is always a great way to understand it and to keep yourself in check so you don't kind of get ahead of yourself in any aspect. So, yeah, that's why I do it.

[A]

It seems to me. And if I get it wrong. Tell me. But it seems like you are on the quest for transparency and truth. Whether it's debunking companies financial statements or proving arguments or shining big lights where no one wants to see those lights, or looking for data on what's really happening out there. Has truth always been a central theme for you or is it more about the research of it?

[B]

It's a good question. Looking back, it's easy to say, oh yeah, truth. I mean, and not my whole career, not my whole life, but at least for this it is. You know, when I first started doing research on OPENDOOR Back in 2016, everybody had an opinion. They're like, oh, they're ripping consumers off. And I thought to myself, I'm like, are they? Let's do some research, let's get some numbers. Kind of like the stuff I shared with agents, you know. Oh, you know, consumers hate real estate agents. Do they? Let's see what they want. Or, you know, agents are really bad at following up with leads. Are they? You know, so it's these interesting questions that get me excited and get me out of bed and yeah, that's related to truth.

[A]

Okay, so as you've been doing it, you've gotten to know brokers, you've gotten to know real estate tech, you've gotten to know real estate agents. Have you fallen in love with the people in the real estate industry? Because here's what I'm going to. I'm going to make an observation. Yeah, there's nobody that spends the amount of time that you do learning about an industry and sharing that information with the people in that industry unless they care passionately about those within it. That's my observation. If I missed it, tell me.

[B]

No, I think that's right. And yeah, I think I have fallen in love. Going to an industry conference is kind of like going to a high school reunion. You just see all these people, right? You're like, hey, how's it going? You know, and you know, I don't bump into people in my everyday life who really care about, you know, lead follow through percentages and mortgage attach and all this stuff I nerd out about. But there you're like, you know, in this industry, you're surrounded by people who speak the same language. We all have this weird disease, right, where we like, we really like this industry. Although, you know, I would caution anybody to, you know, if you want to start a company, I don't know that this is the industry to start in.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Do something easier. This is, it's so Complex.

[A]

But it's so damn rewarding when you get it right. That's what it is.

[B]

It's rewarding. At least my perspective is it's rewarding because it's hard.

[A]

All right, final question. What percentage of the industry mispronounces your last name? Just a guess.

[B]

70%.

[A]

Fair. I'm gonna go 80. Mike, you are a friend of the industry. Our people are gonna want more of your voice in their head. Where can people find you? How can they get more of you?

[B]

Oh, yeah, I have a website, mikedp.com youm can sign up. I have a mail, a newsletter mailing list where I send out my research so you can get on that. And then I have a podcast, too. It's called context. You can check that out.

[A]

Well, I'm a fan, man. Thanks for everything you're doing for real estate agents everywhere we serve. Appreciate you.

[B]

Absolutely. Jason, my pleasure. Thanks.

[A]

I'm depressed. I'm depressed. Just here, by the way. Great guy and I love him, and we can talk about all the good things. But, gang, 50% of the leads never got a single phone call. And it's not just the Internet leads. He went to open houses with his team, and they're never contacted again. It's unbelievable to me in an industry where real estate agents say, Jason, the hardest part is generating leads. The idea that half of them that are generated go absolutely unresponded to it blows my mind. I gnaws at me. It's something that I'm going to be thinking about and laying awake tonight. And the number one thing they don't like is not hearing from their real estate agent. That makes sense to me, gang, if you're in a relationship with someone, matter of fact, don't try this at home. But imagine if you did. You just don't talk to your significant other anymore. You just don't talk. You just stop talking. I bet you it's not going to work out. That's what they're saying. And they want the conversation cadence to match the expectation that was set. So two things come to mind. If you're not setting a communication cadence expectation, they're always going to be confused as to when you're going to contact them. I think it's a hallmark of the best real estate agents on the planet that their clients know when they're going to talk, what they're going to talk about and how often it's going to happen. And then what do the clients actually want? Friends. They want us to be patient. They want us to be there when they want us to be there and they don't want us to push us. And remember Gary Keller, if you're new to the program, he wrote the book the Millionaire Real Estate Agent with Jay Papasan and Dave Jenks. And he always says that it's our job to be the best consultants to provide perspective so that our clients make the best decisions on their timeline. It's never on our timeline. Then they want us to be knowledgeable. They want to have confidence that we actually know what it is that we're doing. And then transparent. Let me just ask you. Patient, knowledgeable, transparent. Aren't those the same things you want in your life when you make giant decisions? It doesn't surprise me. But the way that he makes it so succinct, that's what I think the lesson is. And I think his take on AI is refreshing. He's not saying go out and do everything. He's saying do a few things. Number one, and it starts not on the computer, it starts in the world. You gotta go do great work. You gotta be a fantastic professional. Number two, you need to have the reviews online to document that actually happened. Make people tell your story. Then next, have some recordings, high quality, less is more. But tell the consumer exactly what your value is. Answer their questions. Have some recordings on social media, have them on YouTube, have them on your website. Share them with the world. Let the world know exactly what it is that you do and what your value is. And make sure they look great. And then finally have a niche. This idea that you're going to be everything to everybody. I'm the perfect person for the first time home sale. I'm the perfect person for luxury. I'm the perfect person if you're going through a divorce. I'm the perfect person if you're getting married. He's saying that doesn't sell anymore. Pick the market that you're going to service and then go home hyper at that market. I think he's 100% right. Here's what I find refreshing about Mike. He doesn't assume the conventional wisdom to be accurate. He asks the question, is that right? Here's my question for you. What parts of your business are you assuming you know the answers to that maybe digging in and looking at the numbers might change your perspective. Can I give you a few suggestions? Number one, how many total people are in your database? And of those people, how many haven't been spoken to in the last six months? Friends. You may think they're in your database and they're not. They're only there in name only. Go look at that data. And then number two, where are all your closings coming from? I hear all the time, Jason. I know my lead sources. I know my closing sources. Do you? When was the last time you sat back, went back the last 12 months, document every deal that closed and the exact source, and then looked up and said, now, am I spending enough time thinking about my top top three sources? If you're not doing that, you might be spending your time everywhere and it's not needed everywhere. Here's my final takeaway. In a world of opinion, Mike's decided to rely on research and data. Don't have opinions about your business. Have the data to back it up. Go forth and do likewise. There it is. That wraps another episode. Friends, I don't know what you're taking out of this. I really don't. I'll tell you what I want you to be taking out of it, which is these are the people that are having tremendously big lives, and the reason it's happening is because they're setting up the models and systems to do just that. Gary Keller told me that leadership is teaching people how to think so that they do the things they need to do when they need to do them, so that ultimately they get the things they want want when they want to have them. And that's what I want for you. You're all leaders, but it begins with leading ourselves. Hey gang, if you're enjoying this as much as we are, I want you to subscribe. Hit the button right now. Do it on YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We also send out a newsletter at the conclusion of every show to make sure that you get the highest points in the models and systems that were discussed. So if you want to sign up, I need your name and your email address. Head over to themillionaire agent podcast.com millionaire agent podcast.com enter your name and your email address, and every week that newsletter will be in your box. Friends, you just went on a journey. I hope that what happens between now and the next time we meet is absolutely wonderful for you. Thanks for listening. I'll see you next week.

[C]

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