Did you know that the average buyer in the market right now believes that 20% down is mandatory?

In fact, when you talk to buyers, 80% of them believe that you need 20% down.

The reality is that most buyers are putting, on average right now, about 10% down. And of course, we know as REALTORS there are lots of programs where buyers can put way less than that.

You’ve got FHA at 3.5% down. Via USDA, buyers can get 0% down depending on your market. And of course, you’ve got to be a veteran in some cases for VA programs.

But there are also a lot of down payment assistance programs across the country.

In every state, every county, every city, there are down payment assistance programs, and most buyers are completely unaware that these are available.

80% of buyers will qualify for some kind of down payment assistance, yet a very small percentage take advantage of it.

Here’s one quick tip for you that can really help you reach a lot of buyers in your market and give them a great resourc...

Hey brokers, team leaders, I’ve got a question for you: when was your last wow moment when it comes to marketing for your firm?

When did you roll out a piece of digital marketing — maybe a new sign design, new branding, new flyers, something fresh and exciting technologically? Maybe it’s a new website or a new social media skin. Something that wowed your agents.

If the answer is you can’t remember, or it was sometime last year, I’m going to suggest that you commit to doing this once a quarter.

Once a quarter, you should be rolling out a wow moment for your agents where they’re like, “Whoa, that is cool. That is really exciting.”

This keeps your company fresh. It keeps it exciting. It gives you a retention tool, and it gives you a recruiting tool at the same time.

Then the question becomes: what is it?

We’ve got to go in search of it. We’ve got to look for people outside of our company, ideas, strategies, marketing pieces, branding pieces outside the company, and be in tune and sa...

If you're a broker or a team leader, one key thing that's going to make a difference in your ability to keep agents and recruit agents is your ability to deploy AI.

If you're not using AI in your business model, you could be at risk from the brokers and team leaders out there that are really getting heavily involved.

And one of the simplest things we can all do is give our team members AI they can deploy.

What does that mean?

Just a prompt that they can use in their everyday business.

I'll give you an example. We just rolled out an AI prompt for writing ads—super simple—that agents can use to create emotionally compelling ads every time they have a new listing so they can create some amazing ads.

Yeah, it's super simple.

And we just rolled that out to our coaching team.

We also gave them a way to evaluate themselves and how well they are showing up with AEO—answer engine optimization—not just SEO.

We gave them a way to measure themselves on a visibility scale and a 90-day plan...

The late, great Lou Holtz had a way of speaking. If you’ve never seen him speak, I recommend you go check him out on YouTube. Incredible speaker.

But one thing he taught me was that the way people buy is they ask themselves three questions—the essence of these three questions.

First of all, can I trust you?

Can I trust you?

How are you showing that people can trust you? Online reviews. Written recommendations. Testimonials. Can I trust you? Number one question I have.

Second question is, are you good at what you do?

Are you good at what you do? How are you showing that? Are you showing that you're actually getting the job done, or are you getting what I call resistance from your own sphere of influence—not doing business with you or referring you on a regular basis?

Why would that be?

The reason is you're not showing them you're good at what you do. You're not saying, hey, I sold this. I got this pending. I'm out here working every day. I'm working, working, working, and you're...

Brokerage owners, team leaders—I know that you're recruiting every day because you're supposed to do that to build your business. I know you're doing it.

And when you're doing this, and you're setting aside one hour a day for recruiting, who are you targeting? Well, who you should be targeting is the people that are going to be the most receptive to your message.

And often, we just target the top producers in the market, or we target a certain group of people that has done this much production over this number of years.

But let me give you another target: “Gap Agents.”

What's a gap agent?

This is an agent who has not closed a deal in the last 90 days.

They have closed deals in the past. Maybe they've been a top performer. Maybe they were a consistent 3 or 4 or 5, 6, 8, 9 top producer.

But for whatever reason, in the last 90 days, they have not closed a transaction.

These folks will be much more receptive to having a conversation with you because they're looking to be rescued. T...

If you're a brokerage owner or team leader and you're saying to yourself, “hey, who should I target in terms of recruiting in my local market,” I'm going to give you The 20% Rule.

This is something we should all be aware of: There are people that are more likely to move than others in your market area, which falls in The 20% Rule.

Here’s what The 20% Rule means:

People that have had an upswing in their business by 20%, or a downswing in their business by 20% over the past 12 months.

So let's look at the downswing folks. The downswing folks are looking to be rescued. It's a perfect opportunity to be calling them because who do they blame? They never blame themselves.

There's never going to be a time where they say, “well, I didn't do what I was supposed to do.” They're always going to say, “well, my brokerage should have given me better marketing or better support or better training or better leads. It's their fault, not my fault.” It's just a natural tendency of what agents do.

A...

It happened, you were able to set a recruiting appointment.

Now what do you do when you’re going to meet someone for the first time at coffee or lunch? Do you immediately launch into your pitch?

That’s the worst thing you could possibly do in your first meeting with a potential recruit.

The first thing you need to do is build rapport and trust. One of the best ways to do that is by understanding who you’re talking to — doing a deep dive and some intelligence research on the agent before the meeting.

What does that look like?

Obviously, you can Google them. You can look at their social media accounts. You can talk to other people in your office about what they might know.

But here’s an easy strategy most recruiters miss: dive into their current inventory.

Look at their listings. See how long they’ve been on the market. Look at their price points. Where are they focusing? Go back and look at the trajectory of their business. Are they up or down compared to last year at this time?

Hey guys, for brokerage owners and team leaders out there, sometimes you hear that you should be recruiting nonstop every day, really intensely.

As a company that focuses on recruiting and coaching, we will tell you yes — you need to invest at least one hour a day in active recruiting if you want a real trajectory change in your business and to take it to the next level.

But here’s the thing:

What’s more important than the intensity of what you’re doing is the consistency of what you’re doing.

Consistency beats intensity every day of the week. The fortune is in the follow-up.

I want you to think about the runway for the top agents in your community. Maybe you moved companies at some point in your career. How long did it take you to work up to that decision?

As an experienced agent, it probably didn’t happen overnight. It likely took weeks, maybe months, maybe even years to pull the trigger.

What we have to understand is that it’s not about our timing — it’s about the timing of t...

Brokerage owners and team leaders, I have a quick quiz for you. How many social media posts have you put out in the last seven days?

I ask this because we’re constantly preaching to our agents about the necessity of being visible with their database. When we’re visible—highly visible—we’re more likely to create transactions. Visibility matters.

In fact, I would argue that visibility is more important than ability.

You can have an agent who’s fantastic at negotiating, marketing, working with clients, and solving problems—and they’re still not closing transactions. At the same time, there’s another agent in your community who’s terrible to work with, a poor negotiator, and yet they’re closing a ton of deals.

What’s the difference? Visibility.

This second agent is everywhere. They show up on every feed—Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube. They’re highly visible.

Meanwhile, the agent with great ability isn’t closing transactions because no one sees them. Visibility trumps ability. U...

Hey guys, is it better to be a renter or a homeowner in today’s world? Especially with the rise of digital nomads and people wanting maximum flexibility—being able to live anywhere and work from anywhere.

There’s a strong attraction for that lifestyle, especially for Gen Z. Some in real estate worry: “Will Gen Z still buy homes like Gen X did?”

The reality is in the numbers, and we need to educate them.

Here’s a stark comparison: the average homeowner has 43 times the net worth of the average renter.

Average renter: ~$10,000 net worth

Average homeowner: ~$430,000 net worth

The reasons are many, but the number one factor is leverage.

Let me give you an example. The Wall Street Journal recently published an article comparing real estate to the stock market. They said if you had invested in the S&P 500 over the last 30 years instead of buying a house, you would have made more money.

That’s misleading, because they ignored leverage. Let’s break it down:

Imagine someone gives you $...