← The Millionaire Real Estate Agent | The MREA Podcast
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent | The MREA Podcast
69. Crack the Code to Niche Video Ads on Social With Adam Hammodat
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Foreign.
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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. Have you ever heard of the book War and Peace? If you have, I would argue that the title could have been approved and improve on it today. We shall. Friends, if I was titling this show, it would be called From War to Peace to Prosperity. You are about to meet a solo agent hailing from the great state of California that does $40 million year in and year out. What's incredible about his story is he survived a war. You see, he was from Baghdad, Iraq, and after making his way out of that country during armed conflict, he manages to end up in California. And the life that he has carved is one that we can all marvel at. He became an absolute expert in how to use Facebook to generate some of the highest converting buyer and seller leads that I've documented. Friends, you are going to learn how to exactly how to do that. Sit back and buckle up. This is Adam Hamedat. Adam, how are you, sir?
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A
I'm doing great, man. Thank you so much for having me here.
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B
It is an honor for us to have you, my friend. You are a solo agent that does an absolute ton of business and we are going to unpack it in great detail. Before we do, I want to go all the way back. I want to understand how you found the greatest industry in the world. And I'd like to start in Iraq. Adam, when were you born?
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A
I was born in 1980 in Baghdad, Iraq. This is where I grew up until I was 25, actually.
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B
What's growing up in Baghdad, Iraq, like?
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A
At that time, we lived a great life. I had a great childhood. Things were going normal and I guess like when people, they haven't been to Iraq or haven't visited, they don't understand what is it like over there. And I think it was safe. People live a steady life, very mellow, and there's like a great social life. I think you don't feel like anything changes unless you lose the safety and the stability in the country.
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B
And so that sort of happens in 2003 when war comes to your front doorstep. What is that like? Did you get pre warning? Did you just hear it? I mean, what's it like?
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A
I think they almost gave Iraq almost years of like, we gonna come, it's gonna happen. So most of the people were expecting that something is gonna happen, and they were, I would say, like, prepared to a certain extent as far as food and shelter.
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B
So when bombs actually start falling in 2003, is it terrifying?
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A
It's very terrifying. We actually lived behind like a freeway, which that was the route where like the troops took to go into Baghdad. So we had to leave the home and we went to our second home in the middle of the war.
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B
What's that like? Because you don't know if you're ever going to see your home again.
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A
I guess most of the people were thinking like, it's either going to be like, too bad or too great. Because they were thinking like, life is going to be better, but we're just going to go through it for a certain period of time.
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B
So conflict happens and ultimately, thank gosh, you survive. What happens next?
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A
There was a lot of chaos in my town. You know, I had to finish college. It was two more years for me to finish college before I can do anything. We grew up in a very educated family. I'm from a family with doctors and engineers. I'm the only business guy in the family. So it's a must that I finish college. Those were the two years that we saw the true instability. We saw what we missed and we saw how good life was prior to the war.
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B
That's so interesting because this idea that life was calmer, or in your words, better before the war, when Saddam Hussein is in power and then you have this battle might be difficult for some folks here to understand, but after conflict, there was immediate confusion.
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And I'm not referring to like, favoriting like that regime, but I'm just referring to like the average person's life. When you have food on the table and you have safety. I think that matters more than anything else.
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Yes.
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A
And this is what people missed after the war for a certain period of time, for a good maybe like five to ten years, and you're in school.
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B
For two of those years. Are you thinking about real estate at all at that point in your life?
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Not at all. What are you studying, young kid? I was studying it, so I graduated from it.
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B
So you graduate, then what happens?
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A
The first thing I did was I wanted to take a vacation because it was two years of like a Lot of intensity and moving. And so I went to Jordan for a couple of months and it was just a vacation with a couple of my friends. And things got really bad in Iraq that I actually, my dad told me, just stay there, you can't come back, it's way too dangerous.
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B
So you leave to go on vacation. Two months later your dad calls and says, don't come back. It's crazy here, brother. Your house, your family, your mom, they're all still there. What are you thinking at that moment?
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A
It's definitely an experience that I still appreciate until today, you know, as hard as it sounds. But it made me the guy I am today. Made me more responsible, self dependent. I can just, I guess think about the most important things in life and then I guess appreciate them more. The first year I didn't have a job and until I found one, I found a job in a radio station in Amman, Jordan. It was a private English radio station. I grew up playing music. I'm a huge Beatles fan. And one of my friends recommended that I submit an application over there. Here I am in a radio station. A DJ in a radio station in Jordan.
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B
Did you love the job?
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It was amazing, man. And I quickly became like the assistant manager of the radio station in charge of the whole music of a radio station, doing the schedule, the ads. And they made me more involved in the sales and the marketing. This is where I started, like love that marketing aspect of the business.
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B
And during that time you meet your chosen and ultimately fall in love.
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We got married in 2009 because we knew we're going to come to the.
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B
U.S. wait a second, how do you end up even thinking about the United States?
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So being from that side of the world, because of what happened in Iraq, there was an option for you to submit an application to immigrate to the United States. So we interview and you go through the process and once you approved, you're just basically waiting on, you know, the time of your flight.
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B
What do you get? A phone call that says you're up, you're coming.
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Yeah, it was a phone call. I think it was like 40 days to get here. So I had a friend of mine who lives in Orange county, you know, I called him up, I said, hey, I might come there. I'm considering California. How's life over there? Obviously there was recession. Things were like going down here, like it was bad. He said, well, I can get you a job as a security guard, but that's what's available. And I'm like, if that's available, then I'll go.
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B
So you pack everything up, you get on a plane and you land in California and now you're a security guard?
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A
No, I interviewed with that security company and funny enough, we met a guy that was helping us with the paperwork. He said, your English is good. Why don't you apply for this insurance agency? A friend of mine, I'm like, sure. So I did an interview and submitted my application and they said, well, you just need to get your license and we'll get you going as an insurance agent. So I got my license and that was my first job.
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B
This is the craziest thing. So you come over and now you're in the insurance business.
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Yes.
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B
What do you learn in the insurance business that ends up helping you in the real estate business?
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I think everything is relationships. It's those maintaining those relationship. In the insurance business, a person can come and buy a quick policy from you that they need like right then and there to save some money. But the retention and the long term, I guess, renewal process and customer service and everything that comes in between, it's truly relationship based business.
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B
So when you get here and you start in the insurance business, is the streets paved with gold as so many who come to the United States hope it is? Is it success right off the bat or was it hard?
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A
I wouldn't call it hard. I would say like it was the adjustment phase that we struggled with in the beginning because everything is new, life is busy and kind of like fast paced in the US in general compared to like the rest of the world. So that was like the first challenge that I had. But then there was that ceiling of success that I just couldn't break. I tried to make more connections, got more referrals, hire more agents, just trying to run the business to the peak. But I just didn't see the growth. It didn't like change my bottom line. And I started thinking of something that I could do. I wanted a business or a job that if I can put more effort into it, I'll see the reward. I want to control my income.
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B
I love that. So what'd you do?
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A
I had a couple of real estate agents friends back then. So I started asking them about the business and they said, well, it's a great business. If you want to do it part time, you can. I said, well, 20k extra a year and I'll be fine, so I'll do it part time. And I took that license based on that.
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B
I totally get that. If I can make an extra 20 grand a year. Great. You now make Over a million dollars every year. So do you get in and just instantly start having success?
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No. I was on a team in the beginning, and things didn't go as expected. I didn't have a transaction in the first four months until I went to my KW office and asked them to put me with a mentor. And back then, the KPA was matched with a great guy. He was the reason that I'm on the right track today.
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B
What does he tell you or show you that changed your life?
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He made me shadow him. He made me look into how he runs transactions and how his customer service was like, out of this world, that if you do this, then you're always going to get business and referrals. And that was it. I was on my own after three transactions, and I just need to make it consistent.
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B
So wait before you tell him, because I know you're about to go into the model. So, friends, you know, this part of the show. Adam is going to tell you exactly how he generates enough leads to do the volume of business that he does. We're going to document it for you. We're taking the notes. You don't have to take the notes if you're driving down the street in your Teslas or in the new Escalade. Beautiful, by the way. You don't have to worry about the notes. You can get them at M r. Eanotes.com Adam, tell me exactly how you use social media to generate enough leads.
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A
So in the beginning, I looked at some ads, and there was a company that was running social media ads and specifically Facebook at that time, that was in 2017. And they give us examples of the ads that they run. And I wanted to test things out with them. So I did. And it was the three months that I subscribed with them. Everything was good. I loved the system. I loved the way that I interacted with these leads. And I just learned how to actually convert those leads to clients. But I saw a problem with the conversion ratio, and it wasn't anything that I was doing wrong. It was the quality of the leads. And I figured that these leads are spread out, they're inconsistent. The quality of them are not the best. So what I wanted to test was I wanted to advertise to the people who speaks my language, because I figured that if these clients are just like me, if they came here, like, you know, several years ago, they're going to need someone that they can trust. And in our community, there is a bad reputation for real estate agents. People think real estate agents are not the most Straightforward people or, you know, they lack integrity and whatnot. So I wanted to change that.
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B
So you identify this idea that you can generate leads at scale on social media, and then you decide that in order to raise the quality of the lead, you want to communicate with people in, quote, your language. When I say that, you don't mean your values, you mean in Arabic.
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A
Yes.
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B
Why?
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I figure there's two things that I can do while generating leads. One is to actually get the leads that are motivated that gonna buy and sell real estate now. And second of all, I'm going to show up in front of them all the time, whether they're going to buy today or later. My ads are staying over there in front of them all the time. Top of mind. I can be in front of them giving them my value proposition. And so that'll not only help me get the leads, but I'm also marketing to them at the same time, if that makes sense.
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B
Yeah, see, this is a big idea for me because ultimately, step one of your process is, what's your niche market? Social media speaks to everybody. Your niche market was people that speak Arabic. And I believe your thinking was you'll either have A, a similar background, B, you'll be connected by language, or C, you're actually mirroring their experience.
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A
I think people will want to have a conversation about business if they like you, but if they trust you, they'll do business with you. And that's all it took. It's trying to initiate that trust. And I think social media is really good with that because people are looking at you. You're seeing your body language and seeing your track record, what you did. You know, you can do those reels and those posts every day. And this could be more like your showroom. Right. Those ads are going to be acting like your sales reps. So they're going to go find those clients and bring them in front of you. Then they'll come to your page, they're going to look at your business page or Instagram or Facebook and they want to see some track records and they want to see some value. They want to, like, know you in few minutes.
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B
So let's go through this. So step one is identify your niche. You decided to go after people that speak Arabic and are in a certain geographic area. You told me that step two was to craft the message.
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Yes.
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And figure out what problem you were going to solve for them. What do you mean by that?
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In the beginning, I only introduced myself and advertise basically my services. But then when I heard Gary Talked about loafers. I went back and I created those messages. I wanted to see what problems do they have in the current market right now and create videos around them. So address the problem and create a MOFR around it and then give a call to action for them to contact me so we can solve that problem together.
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B
So walk me through an example of this. Pick a problem and then tell me what you might do with it.
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A
So when interest rate went up, programs like the 2:1 buy down or 3:2:1 buy down showed up. So people were scared to get interest rate that are almost double what they saw two years ago. So my videos were we have programs that can lower down your interest rate for a year or two years or three years. And that could be the door for you to home ownership for now. And then you can go from there.
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B
And you're doing this in Arabic. You actually have Arabic words written under you in the video so that they can read and they can listen to you. Walk me through the actual ad itself. Because you're not hiring editors and doing B roll and you're not doing any of those things. This is a very simple approach. How long is one of your videos?
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A
Usually between 10 to 15 seconds. It's straight to the points and you're just basically again like you're addressing it like the other one, which is pretty effective. There's no website that can combine all the new construction in our market. So I'm out there all the time. I know what new builds are out there. I have them in sheets. So I say if you want to get all the new construction in your city or in your county, you just need to contact me. And then they click a button, they put their information, name, email and phone number and it will be sent to me.
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B
It's important if you're going to run this model that you consult with local attorneys and make sure that your opt in for these communications is 100% compliant. So Adam, you've chosen your niche, you've created your message, you've then done the next step which is create the solution to the problem. In the example you just gave, you've aggregated all of the new construction information. In the first example, you've come up with the mortgage hacks to help them save money. So you're presenting a specific problem and then offering them a specific solution, is that right?
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Yeah, that's correct.
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B
Then you told me the next step is to follow up quickly. Actually it was funny in the pre interview you said people make it to this point and then the wheels fall. Off the wagon. What do you mean by that?
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A
The first ad that I did, I didn't even get to call people on time because, like, people were actually calling me. My phone was like blown up. But then we quickly figured out that people will forget that they clicked on a message. So the people that we didn't contact in the first few days were like, oh, I don't remember clicking on your message. Maybe I did. And some of them will do. So we learned that if you don't call them within the first two hours, then most likely they'll forget about you. There'll be way too more ads in front of them. Especially when they click on your ads. The algorithm will show them more of the same type of ads in front of them, and you'll probably be forgotten. So you want to be quick on that.
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B
I don't know what it says about humans that they can't remember what they did two hours ago, but I know that experience is 100% right. Let me ask you this. I'm keeping the video 12 to 15 seconds, which. It sounds so short, man. Are you sure?
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A
Yeah, I mean, it goes like this. Interest rates are pretty high these days. I have programs that can lower down your interest for the next two years. If you're interested, click Learn more and I'll contact you with more details.
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B
So here's my question. The numbers on this thing are pretty astounding because your average sales price is such that the cost of these leads leaves you an amazing margin. How do you think about how much you spend on it? How much does it cost you? How many of these incoming leads do you get? Talk me through the math of this.
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A
I get about, I want to say two to four leads a day. The quality of them are, is really good. Like, I would convert at least like 1 out of 10 and sometimes more than that. So like, a 10% conversion ratio is pretty high for like online leads. So it really depends on how much do you want to spend on it. But the ROI is very high on those. I would say, like, you'll at least get 10 folds of your money with online leads going that route.
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B
10X.
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A
Yeah.
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B
That's fantastic, dude.
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A
Yeah.
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B
So if I do this, what am I going to do wrong? Like, save me the time and the effort, man. What's going to break first? What mistake am I going to make? Where am I going to go wrong?
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A
Right now? Like, people are very focused on how to convert and how to get attention online because people are on the phone all the time and you don't want to sound like everyone else. So it's important not to sound like any other realtor. The hook is everything. So how do you start with a video is probably 90% of the problem.
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B
Tell me more.
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A
So if you're gonna sound like, hi, my name is Jason, I'm a real estate agent, and like, you spending, like, 10, 15 seconds. And I think their attention span is no more than 3, 4 seconds. So they'll figure out, oh, this is another real estate ad. I'm not interested. But if you get to their problem quickly and get to the point right away, this is when they actually get their attention.
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B
Genius, dude. That of everything we've talked about, that's a piece that every single person can go put into effect right now in their business. That's brilliant. Does this work better for sellers or buyers?
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A
Usually for buyers, because the algorithm will help the buyers more since they're on apps like Zillow, Redfin, and whatnot. Those like search apps. So the algorithm will suggest more of the same content. They're browsing online. So the algorithm will put more real estate ads in front of it.
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B
So one of the reasons I wanted to do this show is because a lot of the people that think online leads. They think teams, because teams have so many people that can call and so many people that can follow up, and someone has to place the ad. But you're a solo agent, man. I mean, sure, you have an administrative assistant, but you're running and gunning. You are actually calling and talking to these people.
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A
Yes, I figured that. Those connections that you build, they don't necessarily convert the same day. Maybe they'll convert in, like, two, three months, and maybe they convert in six months. But that first connection, once they feel like you're genuine and you're coming out of contribution, you really want to help in the end of the day in their homeownership journey, then do you establish some sort of trust that they probably want to come back, do business with you more? You definitely can have an isa, and I do have that, But I feel that conversion from the agent because they're seeing your name and you're talking to them at the same time they saw your track record. There's so many pieces that the agent will do in the marketing that will be connected when you talk to the client.
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B
Spot on. All right, Adam, I want to switch gears. There was a gentleman named EPI Kuros, and he was a philosopher, and he bought a villa in ancient Athens, and he created a beautiful garden, and he would invite one or two people over his best friends to talk philosophy. And it became known as Epicurosa's Garden. We'd like to join you to our garden to talk about life. Will you join us?
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A
Absolutely.
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B
It isn't lost on me that you fled your home because of conflict, and today you help people buy homes. Is there a connection there? And what does the word home mean to you?
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A
I think home is a feeling. It's a place where you express yourself when you feel like you're being yourself around the people you love. And that's home to me. Like, it's never the location. It's more like what those memories look like, what those times that you're living looks like. That's. To me, that's home.
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B
You and your wife have been on an amazing journey together. You have kids, you run a big business. You all came from one half of the globe to the other half of the globe. What's the secret, man? When you look up, y' all are business partners and life partners. What would you tell us about being in a good relationship?
- [23:55]
A
I love one of your videos when you said, like, there's no real balance. There's work hard, play hard, and that's what I believe in. And we addressed that from the beginning. We knew it's going to take me, you know, a few years to build that business to a certain extent where we can call it stable. And she was fully supportive. She was fully understanding of what looks like, and especially, like, growing. Having three kids that are all, like, around the same age. It's fun, man, but it's a lot of chaos at the same time.
- [24:25]
B
A big part of your business that we didn't unpack today is agent referrals. You receive a lot of referrals from agents all over the country, usually in the luxury space. Why do you think you've been so successful in that arena?
- [24:38]
A
I think the relationship with the other agents is exactly like nurturing relationships with your contacts in your sphere. These actually are my friends, so we hang out together, we get together a few times a year. We know each other very well, and we know the businesses that all of us run. So we mastermind together. We know the quality of each other's, and we know when we refer a person to them and receive a referral from them, we know what it means. So when I send a referral to Jason, I know Jason quality. I know Jason's customer service and execution, and I can relay that to my clients when I do that referral.
- [25:15]
B
You are one of the founding members of KW Arabic, which was a Community of real estate agents that all had a language in common. What did you learn on your journey of mentoring and starting that group?
- [25:28]
A
What did I learn is that people always seek the people who speak their language. They understand their culture when it comes to those transactions. And I see it more on the buy side than the selling side. I feel like the buying side is more daunting as an experience for a buyer to actually go through it. And I feel there are two types of people. They're that type that goes on Zillow and Redfin, and he will wait until they see that house that they like, and they'll jump on it, and it doesn't matter which agent that they'll work with. And there's the other type of people who see this as an experience that they think they need an expert that guides them through that, and they need someone that they can trust to work with them on that. And I think this is the value of KW Arabic, where people will look for agents who will understand their culture, who will understand their backgrounds and help them based on that.
- [26:24]
B
Before you came to the U.S. did you know this concept of the American dream? Was that an idea that you knew of?
- [26:30]
A
No. I knew I wanted to build a good life. I wanted to be successful. I want to prove myself, and that's all I knew. I wanted to make it big, and I had big dreams, and I still do.
- [26:41]
B
Adam, I think you're going to be uncomfortable when I say it, man, but you're kind of my hero, and I'm going to tell you why. It's one thing to grow up in a neighborhood or in an area and then sell real estate in it. It's another thing to move to a new city and start to sell real estate and even another thing to move to a new state. But I know few people that have moved to a new country who've adopted a new language and then move through the ranks of the industry like you did to reach the top. And I gotta tell you, you inspire me every single day.
- [27:11]
A
I appreciate you, man. You inspire us all. We learn from you daily. We love being in business with you.
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B
There it is, friends. Adam, thanks so much. I can't even imagine it, honestly. I'm sitting here and I'm listening to everything that he's saying, and I'm putting myself in his place as a young person trying to find their way in life. Who goes on vacation and then gets a phone call. It's not safe here. You can never come back home. I leave a pause only to let you just Imagine what that call must have been like. He talks about it with such a calmness and so nonchalant, and then somehow manages to find his chosen. They randomly pick California because he thinks he can get a job that he actually never ends up taking, only to come here and raise this incredibly beautiful family and be so grateful for the opportunity that's been presented to him, yet have such a thirst and hunger to seize more opportunity. You see his Facebook method, It sounds unique to him in the moment because he does it in Arabic, but it's one that can translate for all of us. Number one, find your niche. Now, for Adam, he chose Arabic speakers. But I got news for you. Niches are all around us. You could find people that want to simply invest in real estate. You can find people that love playing a certain sport based around real estate. Heck, you could focus on lifestyle properties, like, I want to have a property that allows me to fish. All of these things are niches. We have heard from other people on this show who say, I represent people only who are going through divorce because I want to be there at the toughest time of their life. My niche used to be representing professional athletes. Once you find your niche, we simply have to have a very clear message. The fact of the matter is you have very limited and short attention spans from consumers. Adam is going to do his entire Facebook message in 15 seconds or less. Once you have it and you've nailed it, run the ad. And then here's the part that all too often we fall down on. When somebody reaches out, make sure you follow up with them. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, jason, it can't be that easy. Friends, you just heard it from someone who's doing it. It's actually that easy. 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 when they want to have them. And that's what I want for you. You're all leaders, but it begins with leading ourselves. If you're enjoying this podcast, I want you to click the subscribe button anywhere that you get your podcasts. We want to be the voice in your head every single week. And every week we're dropping new content. We also send out a newsletter at the conclusion of every show to make sure that you get the highest points and the models and systems that were discussed. So if you want to sign up, I need to you your name and your email address. Head over to themillionaire agent podcast.com millionaireagentpodcast.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.
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C
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