Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's say a friend of yours let you know that an out-of-state developer might be thinking about doing something with some land out on the east side of town. How long would you follow up on that opportunity without a response and not knowing what that opportunity was going to be? Well, treasure Davis followed up for two years and eventually turned it into an opportunity for her, herself and her team to develop the marketing, sales, and product strategies, not just of a new housing community, but of a new city, Mayberry, Colorado. That's just one of many great stories you'll hear as treasure reflects on her 20 years in the real estate business and more than a dozen years of building the number one team in Colorado Springs. She's done that with her original assistant and the initial agent that came alongside her. So she shares that team building story. She shares key people, processes, and technologies that allowed it to happen, including a 226 item task list, 20 years in the making. Further insights into working with builders and developers and so much more. Here's my conversation with Treasure Davis on real estate team os,
Speaker 2 (01:03):
No matter where your business is today or where you want to take it, you'll get there faster and more profitably with an operating system. Welcome to Team Os, your guide to starting, growing and optimizing real estate team. Here's your host, Ethan Butte,
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Treasurer. I can't believe we had to come to Las Vegas to sit down together. We're both from Colorado Springs. Thank you so much for making it happen.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, so we have a standard opener on the show. It is what is a must have characteristic of a high performing team.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I would say that a top performing characteristic is adaptability. If there is anything that we've learned over the last three years, it's that you have to be adaptable and flexible. For sure.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Yeah. Talk about those last three years. I mean, you don't have to go in great detail about all the twists and turns, but characterize that for you personally as the leader of a good size team.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think that when Covid first came out and now reflecting back on it, there was a lot of uncertainty. There was a lot of angst, there was a lot of nervousness, not only about keeping our family safe, but how do we still help people that need to buy and sell and how do we come alongside of them in a way that's good for everybody? And for a while in Colorado, we were deemed ential. We couldn't go do anything, couldn't even put flyers in boxes, couldn't do any of those activities. And yet we still had people because we're a really strong military town, we still had people that had already moved and that needed to sell their home. And so for us, that was a really unusual time to be learning. Now when we reflect back on the pictures, like, oh my gosh, the resiliency and the adaptability that we showed as a real estate industry and really everybody across the world, but in real estate, when they said, well, in order to show houses you need to wipe down every house between showings with bleach, and you couldn't get bleach, the bleach wipe. So we're like, okay, well we're going to figure this out and how are we going to show houses and how are we going to do all this? And we adapted really well, and I'm really proud of our industry and how we kept people safe and that we took it very seriously and we didn't really blow it off. And yet then it turned into one of the best housing markets that people will say we had in a long time. And so then adapting from being suited up in hazmats to then
Speaker 1 (03:40):
My phone won't stop ringing and can't stop running,
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Stop. And then you're like, we're going to list it on a Thursday. We're going to review offers on Monday. You're going to get whatever you want. And then now flipping back into what's a normal market for us and adapting back into all of that in the midst of an election year in the midst of NAR settlement changes. It's just been a lot. And I think that it's really being adaptable and surrounding yourself with people that when you have that fear that pops in or am I doing this? What do I need to do? Surrounding yourself with people that are like, we got you. We're here too. We understand. Let's do this together. And I think that is really where the magic happens in real estate.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And I assume you're talking a bit about your own team, but I would also assume you're also talking about your own network of other team leaders and other agents.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yes. Whenever we come to events like this, I told my husband last night, it's like a high school reunion, but we just saw each other two months ago because you're able to connect and really form true friendships that I can literally pick up the phone and call so many people across the country and the world and be like, I need help with X, and they're willing to help. Same on my side as well, and that's where the magic happens.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah. I would love for you to share for context what brought you into the real estate industry. What were the first couple of years, when did team occur to you? And then we'll kind of take it from there, but just walk us up to that.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Yes, that is an unusual story.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Okay, good.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, so my husband and I were both working in a medium security male prison.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (05:29):
We did not meet there. We did not meet there. I get that question a
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Lot. Yeah, you met your husband in prison
Speaker 3 (05:35):
And I'm like, no. But we were both working for the state of Colorado and then my husband had a sprinkler business. We had always been entrepreneurs, so he had a sprinkler business, he worked for the state. I worked for the state and I had a wedding store, so I did wedding consulting, wedding planning, had a wedding store downtown Salida, and it was fun and magical and all the things. And I actually still talk to some of the brides that I helped get married, which is so fun because that was such a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Now they have families and
Speaker 3 (06:10):
20, 25 years ago. And so we were doing that and we were working four jobs and we were just trying to make ends meet. I had had a daughter and I had some difficulties having her. So I ended up, once my leave ran out from the state, I ended up taking a step back from that because I needed to be there to focus on her. She was born at 32 weeks and she was in the hospital in Colorado Springs for, we were in the hospital a total of nine weeks, four weeks before and then five weeks with her. And that was before, dare I say, the era of cell phones.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
I can't even imagine a day without it. But that's when we did that. She's now 21 and they had them, but they were big and boxy and all that. And so we were doing that and we were just like, gosh, we need to get to a bigger city. We need to have more resources. We need to do some different things. And my father-in-law at the time was selling real estate in Colorado Springs. And every time I called him, he was at a baseball game. He was at a hockey game. He was just living his best life. And I'm like, gosh, the struggle is real for us in this small little town where my husband is fourth generation, we live on family land, we're related to everybody in town. And I was born in Colorado Springs, but raised in Kansas City and came back and was like, there has to be more out there for us. And so my father-in-law's like, you should get your real estate license. And I was like looking at houses. That sounds fun.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
It feels like that's one of a few different ways. It always starts
Speaker 3 (07:53):
Right? Fast forward, I'm like, it has nothing to do with that. That is a very small piece of it. And so this is when you could do stated income loans. And so we did a stated income loan, bought a home in Colorado Springs, moved, left our house in Salida, rented it out, left our state jobs that had great benefits, great medical, great everything. Sold both of our businesses and moved to Colorado Springs. And we thought, here we are. Here we are. And my father-in-law was doing a network marketing and he decided that he did not want to sell real estate anymore. And I was like, well, that's okay. I'll take your database over and I'll pay you a referral fee. That's okay. And he was like, oh, I don't have a database. It's all right here. And that was the first time I was like, we're in trouble. We are in trouble.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Almost legit, starting from scratch
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Zero. Even though I was born in Colorado Springs, I wasn't raised there, so I didn't have a network. I didn't have people to rely on. And so I went to my broker who I'm very thankful for to this day. And I said, okay, we left our state jobs. We can't easily go back to them. We bought a home here, stated income. We have some savings, but not enough. And so what do I do? What do I do? And he said, you're going to have to outwork people and you're going to have to get gritty and you're going to have to do things that you don't want to do, and you're going to start off by door knocking and you're going to start off by doing open houses for sale by owners, and you're going to do the things that you don't want to do. And I was like, I'm here for it. Let's do it. And so looking back at that journey, I'm like, wow, how so many realtors fail in that first five years is because they really don't know what they're getting into. And really the three reasons that I feel that I was successful is one, I had great family support.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Two, I had an amazing broker mentor, and that's so crucial for real estate. And three, I was willing to outwork other people. I was willing to do the things that other people were like, I don't really want to do that. There's very few people that are like, I want to cold call people and I want to door knock. Most people are like, I don't really want to do that. There are some that love that, but that's definitely not the majority.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
No, it's not the norm. And there are a lot of excuses or reasons not to do it.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
And so for me, I was like, I'm willing to do those things because the reward and the dreams that I have for my family are going to be so great. And so that was the beginning of our journey. And looking back, I'm about to hit 20 years in real estate. February will be 20 years.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Cool.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And I look back and this is my era of reflection and gratitude,
Speaker 4 (11:01):
And
Speaker 3 (11:01):
I'm like, it's been an amazing journey. And the one thing that I'm the most proud of is my very first client that obviously knew she was my first client. I had to get mentorship for every little thing I did. I need to do this contract. Hold on, let me come back to you. And I literally still talk to her to this day. And I'm really proud of that because it's never been about a transaction. It's been about coming alongside people and their path and their journey of home ownership. And it's something that I've always taken very seriously, even though when I first got into it, I was like, well, this'll be fun.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So I mean, there are a couple of directions I want to go, but I guess I'm going to turn what you just shared there into a question about you and what you've been able to implement within your team, which is a new agent on your team probably isn't having the same experience as you did years ago. This idea of needing that patience and grace and trust from a client. As you turn with all these questions, you have all these questions, but I assume you've built an organization where a new agent to the industry that you've taken into your team, assuming that that's someone that might join your team that's
Speaker 4 (12:16):
True,
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Has more support such that it's probably a lot quicker.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
It is definitely a lot quicker. We have spent time and countless hours and taking the time to build authentic relationships. One of them was Zillow, for example. We've built that when they used to send emails of people looking to buy or sell, that's literally how far back we started. And through doing a good job and being authentic and being on the same field and playing well together, that has led us into that partnership just as one of them, for example, that we're able to help people build their database quicker, faster, with more high intent people than people could traditionally circle dialing, cold calling, door knocking. So it's a much different process than it was then. But that has come from years of building those relationships and leaning into what the market's trending and what's coming up, and just really keeping a pulse on it. And so for our new agents that come in, it's really been able to hack them to have success a lot sooner than a lot of people that go the solo route or decide that they're not going to do
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Leads. Some of the hard work you had to do.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
When did team occur to you? So you get some traction, you do the hard work, you learn a lot, you have some good clients that had that patience and grace with you as you're getting your feet under you. When did team occur to you and what were the first couple of steps?
Speaker 3 (14:01):
Yeah, so actually I was in your presentation yesterday and you said thank
Speaker 1 (14:07):
You for being there.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
I was happy to be there. Yes. And you were saying that teams occur when there's too much opportunity. And for me, that was it. I was doing 120 transactions as a solo agent and I was like, gosh,
Speaker 1 (14:23):
Do you have an assistant?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
I had an assistant.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Okay, good.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
I had an assistant.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
I'm just wondering how much of your relationships and your own health you were putting at risk in that time.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
A lot. Yes. Yes, a lot. I remember I would call her and be like, I cannot do more than three listing appointments in one day. I'm too chatty. I want to build a connection way too much. I can't do more than three. And I look back and I'm like, how silly. But at that time I was like, this is where I'm at and this is what I need to be, and I still need to be present for my daughter. Again, that's where it comes back to family support and surrounding myself with a tribe of people that would come alongside of me so that when I was present, it was very quality time.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
It
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Wasn't quantity, but it was very quality. And so as I was doing that, I had an assistant who's actually still with me, which I'm very proud of that fact. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
How many years? Ballpark?
Speaker 3 (15:21):
She is going on 13 years with me, me.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Cool. That's great. She
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Started off as a part-time assistant. She loves to tell the story that I was part-time assistant and her first week I was like, okay, you got this. There's other people here that are going to help you. I'm going to a convention in Vegas. Call me if you need me. We got this together. And she was like, I didn't even know what I was doing, but I was like, look what we built. And so I was in the middle of a transaction, sorry, I talk with my hands. I was in the middle of a transaction and I friended the other agent on the other side and she was not friending me back. And I was like, why? We're getting along so great. Everything is perfect. Why is she not doing that? And so then on the day of closing, she finally accepted my friend request. This is like she's actually still with me and just celebrated 11 years on the team yesterday.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Oh, cool.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
And so she finally friended me and what she posted was that she had just closed her first transaction. She had come from the world of property management. And I called her immediately and said, I had no idea that this was your first transaction. You did an amazing job. I just want to say congratulations, and I would love to go to coffee with you just because you're a stellar agent and I want to build that relationship. And so in her mind, she'll tell you that she was thinking about recruiting me to her company, and she was like, I'm going to make money off of treasure. And I was like, I'm not recruiting anybody. I'm just wanting to say congratulations. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Don't connect and learn and
Speaker 3 (16:59):
Have
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Another friend in town.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Absolutely. And so we connected and had a really great visit, and then I was like, Hey, I have opportunities that I can't take. Do you want them? Because you did such a great job. And she was like, absolutely. And she's like, do you want me to join you? And I'm like, no, no, no. You stay at your company. I'll stay at my company and we'll do this at an arm's length. I'll refer you, pay your referral fee to my company and we'll call it a day. And we did that for probably six months. And then she was like, I want to join the team. And I'm like, oh, we don't have a team. We don't do that here. And
Speaker 1 (17:35):
That was you and an assistant? Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:37):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
And
Speaker 3 (17:37):
I'm like, oh, we don't. I know teams have been around for a while, but that was really when they weren't really a household name.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
And so she was like, no, I'd like to come over and join your company. And I'm like, no, I don't know about any of that. And so finally she was like, listen, by the time that I pay this referral fee to you, which wasn't much, but when I pay this referral fee and then I pay my company split in all of this and put money aside for my taxes, there's not much left. And I was like, well, that's probably fair. Come over, let's talk about this. And so then she joined the team and that was the beginning of our team. So I always tell her as we're building, I tell both of them. I'm like, this is all because of you two. This is not, I was bucking this every part of the wave
Speaker 1 (18:25):
For better and for worse because this problem is because of you. This opportunity is because of you. We would've
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Never done it without you. That's right.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
It's funny.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
So it's been amazing to build it with two amazing, strong women that I'm really proud that we are really best friends and we've built something really amazing altogether. But it started because of them, not because of me. I was like, I'm perfectly good doing this. This is great.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
Well, where are you today? Let's reset as we're wrapping 2024 about where are you today, however you want to characterize it, staff, agent count, structure, culture. What does the team look like? Right now
Speaker 3 (19:12):
We have 10 admin on our team. We're very staffed admin heavy right now. They're the best admin team we've ever had, and that's really hard to have. That takes a lot of trials and errors and mistakes and lessons and all of that. We have 15 agents on the team. We are in recruiting growth mode, and I'm still in production. I'm a coach for Tom Ferry. We have the development called Mayberry
Speaker 3 (19:48):
And still running the team. The team will do roughly 420 transactions this year. And what I think that the thing that is really important for us is as we built this culture, we were really focused on our core values. A lot of times people have core values up and they're like, well, they're just up on the wall. We have to have them. We have to have a purpose. We have to have a mission. We have to have core values. But for us, it really has been a driving force for us. And there's been some challenges and some things that we've learned along the way, but our core values have really made us who we are. And also the other thing that's really made us who we are is always assuming best intentions of other people. That has really driven us to be where we are and kept us really organic and authentic and good because having a team is living breathing ecosystem, and it can thrive one minute and have challenges the next minute. And it's really important to figure out how you're going to deal with those. But for us, I would say that's really the structure of what our team looks like today. And I'm really proud of the team that we are today because reputation matters,
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Reliability matters, coming alongside your clients and doing what's right all the time, even when people aren't looking matters and when the team is your name, which we could do a whole podcast on that. There are definitely pros and cons of that. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Sure. A couple
Speaker 3 (21:35):
The cons of that,
Speaker 1 (21:36):
And I'm sorry to interrupt that. I mean, it's obviously when your name is on it, it needs to reflect who you are and what you stand for and the integrity, just feel it and hear it in the way that you're talking about it.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
So the pros are that you don't have to worry about any,
Speaker 1 (21:51):
I'm sorry for folks watching and listening, it's the Treasure Davis team.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
It is, yeah. Which I've tried to change it several times. Okay.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Because
Speaker 3 (21:59):
I've been like, I don't want it to be my name. When I started, it was Leanne who was the first agent on the team, Angela, my assistant, who's still on the team and myself. So it was just natural to just call it the Treasure Davis team. It was just us. And then after getting into it for a few years, I'm like, oh, I don't want this to be about me. And so I've tried to change the name several times and Leanne always says that's like when Garth Brooks changed his name to Chris Gaines, you just can't do that. You're just Garth Brooks.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Right.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
And not that I'm obviously on the same level as that. It's just the definition of changing your name so drastically. And so for me, I never wanted it to be about me. I never wanted it to be like, look at what I have done. Because I really,
Speaker 1 (22:57):
It's a team. Team is one of those four words.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It is a team. It isn't Peyton Manning and he's amazing, but it's the Broncos. They all work together toward a united goal,
Speaker 3 (23:13):
Which is to win the Super Bowl. That is their goal. Same with us. We set a goal based on everybody as an individual, but then come together to win and achieve that goal together. And while I didn't play team sports, I am very pro sports and I'm like, no, we're a team. This should not be about me. So I think the cons are that it makes it about you. And I think everybody in real estate has some sort of an ego, but when you do a lot of self-work and a lot of self-reflection, you're like, it's really not about me. It was never about me. I don't need my name up there. I don't need the trophies, I don't need the accolades. I really need authentic, true relationships with people, whether they're mentors, coaches, clients. That's really what's important to me. And obviously there was an ego timeframe, there was an ego era, but now reflecting back and it didn't serve me well. And once you make it to number one, there's really nothing up there,
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Right?
Speaker 3 (24:27):
There's really nothing there. So it's like if you're not surrounding yourself with great people along the way, once you get there, it's even lonelier. And so for me, I would say that's a con is you make it about you. It's kind of ego-centric, which serves some people really well.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
If someone meets you and talks with you, they're going to know that even though that's the name of the team, that's not your motivation that will be obvious to anyone who's paying attention. At the same time, it creates an impression from the outside for someone who doesn't know you, it
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Does. And you have people that you're trusting and you're relying on and you're assuming best intention, that they're having a great experience with the other realtor on the other side, with the lender, with the vendors, with clients. And when they don't do it the way that you want them to do it, then it's your name on the line, which Colorado Springs is a big small city.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
That's exactly how I describe it.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Yes,
Speaker 1 (25:27):
It's a big little town.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
It is. Everybody knows everybody. And during covid, that was never more apparent because that's how you got your offers accepted was your reputation to close your reputation, to communicate your reputation, to take good care of the details, to get it to the finish line. And that was never more apparent during that time. And so that has always been at the forefront of who we are. But when it is your name, that's a little bit scary because you're putting your trust and faith into other people and other people's experiences and other people's interpretations of what's going on. And so that is the one thing that we will never lose sight of. We're not perfect, we're never going to be perfect, but we're going to make sure that we're always taking the best care of people, the best that we can. And if not, we're going to make it right.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Yeah. Owning the mistakes and making them good. Okay. Kind of a broad high level question. The show is real estate team os. Os is operating system. And I describe that as the people, processes and technology that we put around ourselves typically to put our agents in dollar productive activities more often. But just step back in general, even farther from that and just say people, processes and technology. When we take the story that you've shared so far, which is I had a great assistant who came alongside me. I had this great agent who I really liked and respected, who basically helped or forced the start of the team to now building this organization with a couple few dozen people in it who you've built something including core values, like an operating principles that allow people to go out into the market and represent your name and your reputation in a way that you feel comfortable and confident in. Again, with knowing that it's always imperfect at some level. What are a few key people, processes or technologies that you've put in place in that window from three people to where you are today that allow you to create something that replicated or made repeatable? Some of the things that you were doing, whether that's training, whether that's a key position. Well, what are a few things that you put into place that allowed your name to go out into the field embodied by other people and you feel confident in that?
Speaker 3 (27:56):
First the people is surrounding yourself with people that fill in the gaps that you have
Speaker 1 (28:04):
That
Speaker 3 (28:04):
Bring
Speaker 1 (28:05):
You to what were some early ones for you? What were some of your, as you had your legs under you, you knew how to do the business and you're like, I now have the opportunity to fill in. What were some of your weaknesses or gaps that you wanted to hire in?
Speaker 3 (28:18):
When I get under pressure, I turn very analytical, and that's not always a thrive, especially in a fast paced business.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
And so having someone come alongside of me, my assistant who can see my pitfalls and come alongside to the great thing about it now is I'm like, Hey, remember that house we sold in 2012 and it was the blue house on the corner and they had that little dog. And she's like, oh yeah, 1, 2, 3 Banana Street, the Smith. And I'm like, how do you do that? That is definitely my gap. I can tell you everything about them, but sometimes those fine details of what was their address, right, she knows because I'm like, oh, I'm going to be in that area. I want to stop and drop something off for them or whatever the case may be. So I think it's looking at what the gaps are. So for me, uploading documents into compliance, I don't want to do that. That's not the highest and best use of my time. And when I'm stressed and I do get analytical, that's not the thing I want to be doing.
Speaker 4 (29:25):
So
Speaker 3 (29:25):
For her to come alongside and really meet me where I'm at and come from a place of how can I support you today and be a hundred percent confident and secure in that support role, knowing that that's how she also felt fulfilled was impactful. And so between us, we really were the dynamic little trio as we built into a seal team, which you spoke about yesterday. But I would say kind of being authentic and true and figuring out what are your gaps and what do you need people to fill in and do, and having different personalities and being okay with it. Because if you both have the same personality, then one of you is irrelevant. So just making sure that you're finding different people based on the profile. So for me, I'm a really strong driver. My assistant is very detailed in the things that she wants to do.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
And then the agent, Leanne on our team is very extroverted. She likes to talk. She likes to have that kind of connection where when people first are getting to know me, I'm actually pretty quiet and I like to sit back and kind of watch what's happening. And then as people really get to know me, then I do open back up and then I feel comfortable to share and be vulnerable and be authentic. Otherwise, I just kind of sit back and kind of observe. So I think it's surrounding yourself with people that have different personalities from you. And then as far as the processes go, we have always said that if you do things more than three times, you have to build a process around it. And for us, it started off by doing a one page checklist of what we're doing and what we need to account for, to now over 20 years.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
It's now built to when we go under contract for a buyer, for example, it's 226 tasks that we do to move it through that process. And that's been just learning and documenting and processing and saying like, oh, we learned that. Okay, let's do this again. Or being on the ethics board and seeing where things went a little bit rye, and obviously not focusing on the agent, but saying, let's learn from what happened to them and make sure that we're putting in safeguards to make sure that that doesn't happen to us. So that's definitely the processes. But it starts off obviously very simple where you're writing it down, now we have it built into boards and task list and all of that. And then, so it was people, processes
Speaker 1 (32:11):
And technology.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
Technology technology has always been for us, our CRM and a lot of people will say, well, I don't want to do high volume. I don't want to do high volume because I want to have that high touch with my clients. We do too. And that's why we have
Speaker 1 (32:30):
Serum allows more high touch.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
Exactly. Because it organizes my day. So I'm having that high touch and things aren't slipping through the crack crack and I'm not having to remember them. So from the very beginning, that was the first thing that we have always utilized at a very high level is our CRM. And it sounds so basic, but lots of people have one, but they don't use it to a high level, and it really does hack and level you up in so many places,
Speaker 1 (33:00):
Helps you prioritize your time in, and gosh, that's part of your origin story. Tell me more about your class. Let me tell you about those clients. It's all in my head. Yeah, really funny. Okay, so you mentioned maybe earlier, and I do prep work in advance these conversations. I want you to feel like I know you in advance and I want to structure a more interesting conversation. So I do work. So I saw Mayberry as a, it's a tab at the top of your website on your homepage, and it also goes to a completely separate site. I'd love for you to talk about that project, how it came together. It's not something that we've talked about on this show before. Although we've had many conversations about different ways to, whether you want to call it diversifying revenue or diversifying your lead sources or your opportunities. I think this is an interesting one. So when I saw it, I was like, I need to ask you about it. I'm glad you mentioned it earlier. So tell us what Mayberry is and how you got involved with it and what was interesting about that to you.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yes, so I get asked this question a lot.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
Oh, good.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Because it's something that realtors are very interested in is how do you work with new construction? How do you get in with builders and developers and all of that. I started off with my first developer in 2008.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
And when we started, I had never worked with a builder developer, so obviously I had to go back to my broker a lot and say, what do I do? How do I give the best service? How do I lean in with value? What does this look like? And then obviously, sadly, during that time, the builder did claim bankruptcy because the market was too tough and got overextended too quickly. But I learned a lot. And he is a phenomenal, phenomenal guy. He was really a builder by trade, not necessarily a developer. And then I did work with two bigger builders in town, and I came alongside of them, learned some very important lessons along the way because the way that builders and developers see it is there is a conflict of interest if you represent more than one typically and holistically. But in my viewpoint, I didn't see that that was a conflict because I was coming alongside of them and listing the houses for their clients that needed to sell in order to buy because they knew that I would meet the timeframe that they needed to not extend closing as a general rule.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
Obviously there are some caveat to that, but being really authentic and honest about what it's going to take to sell the house, and not just in my words, buying a listing. I wasn't there to buy the listing. I was there to get their home sold for as much money as I could. But being very honest and authentic through the process. Because for me, I've always respected that in my personal life as I would rather people be honest and upfront with me, give me options so then I can make the best decision with my husband and I of what works the best for us. And so that has always been my approach is to never tell people, but to give them options and say, here are the options. Here are really the pros and cons that I've seen. It's your decision what you want to do, but here's what we're going to do. And so I started with those two builders, learned a tremendous lot about it. And then my commercial broker that I used to buy my commercial building called me one day and said, Hey, I know this guy that tried to sell some land out east. We weren't able to sell it back then, but now I think he's going to do a development on him. You should give him a call. And I was like, okay. But from all my years of tremendous follow up, I followed up with him for roughly two years
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Before
Speaker 3 (36:46):
He called me back. Fast forward, what it tells him now is that I have great follow up because I followed up with him and he was not returning my phone calls or my text messages, and I had him in my CRM and I was thoughtful about my approach and thoughtful about what I wanted to say, not knowing what the opportunity was going to be.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
So you weren't calling for the third time and saying, Hey, I'm just checking in. No. Okay.
Speaker 3 (37:14):
No, just
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Want to make sure.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
No, I was very thoughtful about this is what the market is doing in Colorado Springs. I know you're in San Diego and the market is different. This is what the market's doing in Colorado Springs. It's a very different market.
Speaker 4 (37:29):
Just
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Wanted to give you this update.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
And
Speaker 3 (37:31):
I was very thoughtful about how I reached out when I reached out and the messaging around that. And so when he was finally ready to sit down, I was like, even if he does not move forward with us, I did a great job because that was a lot. And we met and I took time to prepare to research to know what we were doing. And so we sat down and he just laid out his plans of what he wanted. It was going to be called Ellicott Town Center. And immediately I was like, that name is not going to work for people in Colorado Springs. That is not going to pull them out there. So we started brainstorming names and ideas and what to do. We started talking about what was going to work in the marketplace. And because of my relationships with other great brokers in Colorado, and I love to say there are great brokers all over the country, Colorado has some great brokers. We were able to do focus groups to decide what product would sell the best out there. And what we know is that we do have more hailstorms typically than ever before. And so having,
Speaker 1 (38:41):
Especially on the east side of town,
Speaker 3 (38:43):
Especially on the east side of town, having garages that people could actually fit their cars into, having places for people to have recreational vehicles, RV vehicles attached to their home, we knew was something that hadn't been done in the marketplace yet at a scalable level that was affordable. That's
Speaker 1 (39:01):
One of the things by the way, that I really respected about it out of the gate. I mean, I've been in town for 18 years, and so I've seen the growth and of course the rise in prices. And when I saw the number that it starts at, I'm like, this is air quoting here, affordable housing. I mean, it's not, anyway really nice.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Yes. When we started off
Speaker 1 (39:22):
With a type of buyer in mind, this is really great
Speaker 3 (39:24):
And focused on the military buyer,
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Focused on us keeping space command and needing to make sure that people had homes that they could live in because some people don't want to live on base. Some people want to have different opportunities, and we wanted to be the resource for that. So we wanted to have a wide demographic, but we really clear on who our demographic was. And so thankfully the builders, developers really listened to our kinds of thoughts because they knew we had done a lot of research. It wasn't just like, well, I think it was like, here's the research that we've done. Here are the focus groups that we've done. This is really what we think we're going to do. And so then coming alongside of them and meeting with them on floor plans and what people like and hearing when we do the parade to homes, we just finished the parade to homes and hearing people say, I really love that there's no wasted space, and I really love that everything is very functional and that this is going to work well for our families. We love the laundry being connected to the excuse primary bedroom. That is all very nice things. That is what I'm the most proud about, is coming alongside of them and really being with them since really 2018 is when we started, and we have roughly a hundred families in there with 40 to 50 under construction right now. We also have a rent-to-own product, which allows people to take the leap from renting into home ownership, but having them do it at a slower
Speaker 4 (41:08):
Pace
Speaker 3 (41:09):
So they can get the feel of it and make sure that it's good for them. And if they decide after that 10 months or 12 months that they don't want to do it, then they don't have to. They can move back into renting. But it gives people the opportunity to look at that and see if that is the route that they want to go, because some people do and some people don't. But it's really about meeting people where they're at. And so it's been an amazing project to be a part of. And it's also been a really strong learning lesson for sure, because this is the first time we've been involved from the floor plans, naming things, all of that. That's been tremendous.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
That's great. I love that you were able to be involved from the very, very beginning and influence it in that way. I also appreciate that folks from out of town leaned into someone who knows the town super well. As you and your team do, where does this fit for you relative to the rest of the business? Obviously you had some groundwork, or not groundwork, but experience in working with builders, but you essentially created the opportunity for yourselves. What drove you to that? I mean, because certainly a lot of other things you could have been doing.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
For sure. I've always been interested in new construction, and I loved working alongside the other builders that I've worked with. And they were all three so different. This one has been from the ground up and it's actually, it's our own city now.
Speaker 1 (42:40):
So
Speaker 3 (42:40):
We're actually Mayberry, Colorado now.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Interesting.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
Cool. So that's
Speaker 1 (42:44):
A whole nother, there's a lot of detail. There's
Speaker 3 (42:46):
A lot of detail, but a lot of times realtors are like, well, how did you get it? It was literally just in passing, I think he's going to make this into a complete community. You should call him. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 1 (43:00):
I'll
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Call him. I'll follow up. And so that's really, it's just being listening for an opportunity, not waiting for it to land on your lap. Because a lot of people would've given up after the first six months of no return, phone calls, no emails, no, anything like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (43:17):
Totally.
Speaker 3 (43:18):
Or just a quick one of like, Hey, we're not ready. We're still in development phase. We're not there yet. No problem. I'm here when you are. Can I still keep in contact? And then when they did come to town, it was really in my viewpoint, knocking their socks off by us focusing in so hard on the details. For example, we were like, oh, let's take you to some other communities. Let's rent a bus. Let's have a little happy hour when we get there. Let's have these tours planned out so that your investors know what they're looking at as well
Speaker 4 (43:49):
Based
Speaker 3 (43:50):
On our Colorado Springs market, and let me do the legwork for that. So when they come, they feel like it was really worth their time. And that's really what led to such a great opportunity. But you're right, it's all about creating those opportunities for yourself, not waiting for them to come for you.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
Yeah. Gosh, we could have spent an hour just on that topic alone. I have 10 more questions, including how much of your team participated in that? How did that fit into the mix? We don't have time for this in this conversation. I have three more questions for you. They're kind of fun. They're pairs, so you only have to answer one or the other. I may or may not hear the Kansas City Chiefs. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
You will, for sure.
Speaker 1 (44:32):
Okay. So the first one is, what's your favorite team to root for, or what is the best team you've ever been a member of yourself?
Speaker 3 (44:40):
I mean, I'm a die hard Chiefs fan.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
That's why I was surprised you didn't use Mahomes in Chiefs earlier when you said Manning and the Broncos,
Speaker 3 (44:47):
Well, I want to be respectful of color or
Speaker 1 (44:50):
The, yeah,
Speaker 3 (44:50):
I want to be respectful of Colorado. But I was raised in Kansas City, born in Colorado Springs, diehard cheese fan when they were losing and no one wanted to be there, and they weren't winning anything. And so now it's fun to be on this side of being four and oh right now and really having a great team set up. And what I love the most about it that I want to cover really quickly is what I love about football is I love that they all have coaches.
Speaker 4 (45:21):
I
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Love that they all have multiple coaches. And I feel like anytime you're playing or doing business at a really high level, having coaches and having mentors is everything. They don't do it alone. And neither should we in any profession, in any career, coaches and mentors is literally everything. The other thing that I love about the chiefs, and I'm just using them as an example, but any professional sport is the amount of time that they practice off the field versus on the field that tells us that we can't be practicing on our clients. We have to be doing more role play, more masterminds, more education, more networking, more masterminding off the field versus on the field. If we're going to have a difficult conversation, it's important to come alongside someone and say, okay, I'm going to have this difficult conversation. Can I role play this with you because I'm not going to practice the first time on my client
Speaker 1 (46:17):
And creating a culture where that's normal. And people are like, yes, I would love to do that with you.
Speaker 3 (46:20):
Yes, and it's vulnerable and I can mess up and you can help me, and you're not going to judge me or think anything less of me. That is the secret sauce. And that's why I love professional sports so much is because I look at those principles and I'm like, that applies to everybody if they put their ego aside and really lean into getting 1% better every day. And having worked with a couple of professional Bronco players and then having events with Bronco players and just listening to how it works in the NFL, it is very enlightening and very like, oh my gosh, this is hardcore. And we have the ability in real estate to make great money. So it's important to not think that we can do it alone.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
Yeah, man, I'm so glad you added all that. That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (47:12):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Okay. One of your most frivolous purchases or a cheapskate habit you hold onto, even though you probably don't need to,
Speaker 3 (47:21):
That's a whole nother conversation all on its own. My most frivolous is I bought a really fancy sports car. The story behind it is kind of sad. However, it has been a really great journey. So my dad, if we have time for it,
Speaker 4 (47:46):
My
Speaker 3 (47:46):
Dad had a Porsche nine 11 convertible my entire life. He loved the car. It was creme de la creme. Fast forward, my dad was moving back to Colorado Springs to be with two of the three of us girls, and my dad sadly died in a car accident in his Porsche on the way up to Colorado. The point of that story is that the last time I talked to my dad was on my birthday, and he never calls on my birthday, which is totally fine, but he called on my birthday and he's like, I'm coming up. I'm going to be there. We're going to do this whole thing. And I had been looking at a Porsche because I wanted to do cars and coffee with my dad, and I was like, I'm going to take my Porsche and you're going to take your Porsche and we're going to do this together, moving up here, and it's this whole thing.
Speaker 3 (48:33):
And so I called him, he called me on my birthday, and I was like, yeah, dad, I think I'm going to buy this car and we're going to do cars and coffee. And so the next day I went to buy the car. And so I got the car. I picked it up when I went to the dealership to pick it up, my dad's car was on the showroom floor right next to the salesman's desk. And I was telling the salesman, this is amazing. This is my dad's car right next to my car. And there's the bow, and they take it off. It's this whole production. And the next day, my dad passed away, and I'm sitting there with this car and I'm like, I don't want this car. I do not want any piece of this car. This car is so much sadness for me.
Speaker 3 (49:16):
And so we went down to New Mexico to say goodbye, and we came back up and I told my husband, you have to take the car back to the dealership. I do not want this car. And we called the dealer, the salesman, and I was like, I cannot have this car anymore. And he was like, I totally understand. We had did this whole thing about my dad's nine 11. And so my husband was driving it back to the dealership like, I'm never driving this car again. And he was driving it back to the dealership. It was a beautiful Colorado day, no wind, no snow, no anything, and a rock hit the windshield on the way down to the dealership and cracked the windshield, which means they will not take the car back. I now have the car.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
Yeah. And have you made peace with it and celebrated it in a different way, or is it just sitting somewhere?
Speaker 3 (50:09):
No, I have made amazing memories with the car. I have really taken it as a way to honor the car. And when that rock hit the windshield, I was like, that's my dad saying,
Speaker 1 (50:20):
You're supposed to have this car.
Speaker 3 (50:22):
You're keeping this car and object, pure end of video. You're going to keep this car, you're going to love this car, and it's going to be a journey that we'll still share together. And so that has been beautiful, but that was a frivolous thing that happened. But what I learned out of that is even though things don't turn out the way you want to, it can still be a beautiful journey and a beautiful path. And also always take the time to fully be present because you really don't know
Speaker 4 (50:51):
When
Speaker 3 (50:52):
It's someone's last moment, we were in a restaurant, we were getting ready to do all these things, and I was like, okay, dad, I love you. Thanks for calling. But I was like, had I known I would've stepped outside, I would've had a conversation. I would've gone about the night, but I was like, okay, dad, I love you. I'm busy. I'm with all my friends, our family, all of this. And so that's one thing that I really reflected on is take the time to really live in the moments and be thankful for the moments, because you never know how long you have. So sorry to turn this into a bad moment, but it really is a beautiful moment. Now living in it now, I'm like, it really is beautiful. And when I get into the car, I'm just like, I'm living this legacy just like my dad did.
Speaker 1 (51:35):
Yeah,
Speaker 3 (51:36):
It's
Speaker 1 (51:36):
Really good. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (51:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (51:39):
I almost don't want to ask my last question, but I will anyway. Which is, what is your favorite activity when you want to rest, relax, or recharge, or what is your favorite activity when you're investing time in learning, growing and developing?
Speaker 3 (51:53):
Say that one. No, just kidding. You said that so fast. So Colorado,
Speaker 1 (51:57):
It reminds me that I maybe need to make up new closing questions I asked, but in any case, no,
Speaker 3 (52:01):
It's great.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
Rest, relax and recharge your room. Grow, develop.
Speaker 3 (52:04):
Yes. So rest, relax. I'm Colorado, so I'm outdoorsy. I'm a summer sports girl, not a winter sports. So kayaking, hiking, paddle boarding, a hundred percent all day long every day. That's all I want to do. Resting or learning is masterminding. Networking, being around people that are ahead of me in the journey that I can learn and grow and learn from their mistakes, their challenges, their wins, to hack the system a little bit more and leverage myself in ways that I'm not seeing because I'm only living in one little Colorado Springs bubble,
Speaker 4 (52:43):
And
Speaker 3 (52:44):
There's such a big beautiful world out there that I want to be able to experience it, and that helps me to do that. So yes. Are you summer sports or winter sports?
Speaker 1 (52:56):
I just like to run and hike, and I'll do that all year round.
Speaker 3 (52:59):
And
Speaker 1 (52:59):
I'm not like, yeah, I am very minimal with equipment. I only buy shoes, basically. Shoes and layers.
Speaker 4 (53:06):
Shoes
Speaker 1 (53:06):
And layers. And it's outside. And sometimes it's familiar stuff in town. I live five minutes from Strat and Open Space and Cheyenne Canyon, so I'm in there all the time. And then of course, all the other stuff that's within an hour or two of us, which is fantastic. So I'm usually on my feet and I don't have a lot of equipment.
Speaker 3 (53:24):
That's good. I'm more kind of fancy. I'm going fly fishing. I need all the things I need. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (53:31):
Cool. Well, I so appreciated the opportunity to spend this time with you. Glad to talk a little bit local. That was especially fun for me, and I really appreciate how much reflection you've put into these experiences such that you've turned them into lessons for yourself that you can share with others.
Speaker 3 (53:46):
Absolutely. Thank you for the opportunity. And what I caught from us talking is that we're going to do a second one on new construction.
Speaker 1 (53:53):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (53:53):
Because that is a great topic that I would love to dive into more with you.
Speaker 1 (53:57):
Yeah. Especially in the team context.
Speaker 3 (53:59):
Absolutely. Cool.
Speaker 1 (54:00):
Coming sometime soonish maybe. Cool. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (54:05):
Thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 4 (54:23):
Thanks
Speaker 2 (54:24):
For checking out this episode of Team Os. For email exclusive insights every week, sign up@realestateteamos.com.