Episode #72: Millennial & Gen Z Agents are Doing Things Differently

[00:00:00] There's lots of reasons to be a team member on someone's team, but there's also lots of other reasons why you should be solo. Financial is one of them. And two is also having the confidence, the creativity and the wherewithal to start your own brand. You can be a party of one. You don't have to have all these agents and assistants and marketing people behind you to go out and impress buyers and sellers. No, quite the contrary.

[00:00:26] I think buyers and sellers like it more when they're dealing with you and you're like, I do all that. Like, I put this listing presentation together. I created this brand. Like, I'm into customer service. I want to build my business on relationships. I think people respect that more.

[00:00:43] You know, if you come in for the presentation and you say, hi, I'm Tim Garrity. I'm with the Bruce Babalino team. You know, the person's going to be like, well, who are you? And why am I not on? Well, I'm not talking to Bruce and and who's Bruce anyway? He's like my first question is what is Babalino? Is that Greek? Greek. Definitely. Definitely.

[00:01:05] Welcome to the podcast dedicated to real estate, insurance and building your business. Join us as we take you along our own business building journeys with additional wisdom from our network of local and national experts. Welcome to Bricks and Risk. This episode is brought to you by Premium Finance Brokerage.

[00:01:34] Premium Finance Brokerage offers a high touch, specialized lending experience coupled with cutting edge technology. Stuart and his team can be reached at premiumfinancebrokerage.com or at 866-381-6501. Sean, you've been partnered with Stuart for years. Why is that valuable to you and your business?

[00:02:00] Stuart and his team, they have a tagline that says global reach, local touch. And that really sums up the best parts of PFB. They have access to all the banking options that's going to get you the best rate. But the local touch, which is customer service for our agency, they're going to go above and beyond and offer that white glove service that you're not going to get anywhere else. I love it. You want to reach out to Stuart? Information below.

[00:02:38] Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of Bricks and Risk. I'm TMG. And I'm Sean Mooney. You couldn't think of anything more clever than that? I don't know. Not in the mood today. You couldn't have said that? Shawnee boy Mooney? Meh. You still a little tired from last night? All along the Shawnee River? Remember? Oh yeah. Siding a... That's a good one. I think you're still beat from the happy hour last night. Let's call it like it is.

[00:03:08] Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Should have been drinking wine like me in a bar. Perhaps. Yeah. Not. Never. I love it. Dylan, here's my man card. I'm going to order a Cabernet. Sorry, you were drinking cider. So, come on. All right. Because they didn't have stateside orange. Let's go tough guy. What are we talking about today? No, they really didn't have it. They only had pineapple and black cherry. I understand.

[00:03:38] Today's topic, folks, is millennial and Gen Z real estate agents doing things differently. Yeah. How are they doing things differently? Why are they doing things differently? Yep. And is it effective? And how did they use these different tools to kind of find their lane in the real estate game?

[00:04:05] This one's for you, millennials and Gen Zers out there. So, this is going to be fun. But before we get into it, we have to read another listener watcher review. This one comes from G Money 7875 and it's titled Great Interviewers. So, G Money said, I loved being on with these guys. They ask thoughtful, intentional questions and draw out the best information for the audience. A great listen!

[00:04:36] Thank you very much, G Money. Thanks, G Money. We know who G Money is. 7875. Yeah. All right. Can we disclose who it is or no? Let's keep it a mystery. We've always kept it a mystery. A little anonymity. We encourage you to go out there and figure out who G Money is. And if you find out who he is, you email the show. Yes. Then we can show your email of the show as... Bricksandrisk at gmail.com. Remember that. Here we go. All right.

[00:05:05] So, starting off in this topic of millennial and Gen Z real estate agents, one thing outside of what we're going to talk today that I have heard, just kind of like through the industry, you know, people that have an overview of residential real estate across the U.S. is that a lot of people are saying that agents are getting younger when they come into the business now. Can we define... Hey, Dil, can we like shoot up a thing? I don't even know what a Gen Z is.

[00:05:34] I don't even know what a millennial is. Can we, like when we run this video, just... I'm going to say millennials somewhere around like 1980, 1981 to, I don't know, somewhere in the 90s. Wait, what are we? You and I are Generation X. Okay. We're Gen X. Got it. So, we're right. We're the young Gen Xers. Yeah.

[00:05:59] But what I was talking about was like people who have their finger on the pulse of what's going on in residential real estate today. I mean, you don't need a college degree to get a real estate license. Yeah. So, you could be 18 years old and just take the classes and get your license. You can get it while you're in college. This could be your college job. So, what you're saying is all of the industry rags, all of the people that are in the know on the real estate industry as a whole

[00:06:26] are saying that more and more younger agents are coming through. And not only are they coming through at an earlier age, but I think they've really thought it through. Knowing that... I've said this before on the show, and I also used to say this in my training at Copper Hill Real Estate. You know, time is your friend. Time is on your side in residential real estate. Because if you do it for a long period of time and you're consistent and you have a good outlook, good marketing,

[00:06:55] you have relationships, like you know how to deliver good customer service, like it just gets better over time. So, technically, the earlier you start with the proper mindset in place, the earlier you'll hit a point where you're really doing well financially. Well, that, by saying that, includes an assumption that these people are going to come in, be consistent, do the right things. Do the right things. It's true. And over time, they're going to be great agents. Yeah.

[00:07:24] You cited this statistic before about the flame-out rate of real estates in general. Yep. As being... So, it's 87% of agents... In the first three years. ...who get their license are in the industry and out of the industry in less than five years. So, they get a license, maybe they're out in a year or three years or five years. But 87% of people who actually get their license are in and out in five years or less.

[00:07:55] I... Maybe we'll look this up, but I want to see how that number is applicable to... Like each group. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's interesting. Because it would be interesting to see that if the Gen... What are they? The Millennials and Gen Zs, if that's like shifting more towards like a 50% rate. I have no idea. Yeah. I don't know either. Or does that hold true? Like 87%, 85% of Gen Z Millennials. Yeah. Yeah. Want to look that one up.

[00:08:25] Okay. Cool. So, one of the things I wanted to start this one off with for Millennials and Gen Zers out there is that younger agents are evolving the residential real estate industry. This article came courtesy of Inman News. It's a fantastic resource. If you're in residential real estate and you're not a subscriber to Inman News already, please check it out. Some people can get it for free through a realtor association. Some people have to pay, so it just depends. Yep.

[00:08:51] But the reason they're saying that these younger agents coming in are evolving the real estate industry is they're evolving it for the better. And really, it's because they're focused more on professionalism as well as being service-minded to their clients. And here's the example I'll give. Sometimes people say that there are agents in residential real estate who are a little bit more transactional. Like it's more of a numbers game for them.

[00:09:20] Like make lots of calls, send lots of postcards, knock on lots of doors, meet lots of people, and then you'll have a conversion rate based on that. So if I talk to 100 people, maybe I had appointments with five and three of them turned into closed transactions. And if I did that in one month, guess what? Three transactions in a month is pretty damn good. So there's people who sometimes tend to look at things more transactionally. Then you have agents that are very similar to myself.

[00:09:48] I've never really looked at my own residential real estate business that way. I've always looked at it more. This business is going to grow for me through relationships I already have, as well as the new relationships I'm going to build, usually through the people that you already service. Yeah. So you're just looking at like repeats and referrals. That's kind of like the goal. Um, what's your take on that? Would you agree with that generalization that let's call it the younger agents, if they have

[00:10:16] that mindset that they're evolving the industry? So I guess I would look at it. Is it, so the question I would say, is it the Gen Z and the millennials or is it just the technology that's available for agents now? And are they just more apt to using the available technology? Well, explain that.

[00:10:43] Like, why do you think the technology would play into them being more professional and service minded? So I don't think it, I don't think it plays towards that specifically. Okay. I just more meaning if you're online and these kids are online more than most, um, they're,

[00:11:05] they're, it's more intuitive for them to be using the phone as a tool versus someone who's 50 or 60 years old. It's true. Right. Yep. They, they grew up in a time where they had a phone. Right. Their own books. Whole entire life. Yeah. Right. Right. So they would be more inclined. Number one, they're more inclined to use the technology, but they're better at it

[00:11:34] than most. Yeah. So I guess I'm saying is, are they moving the industry? Like, is it, is it this generation of millennial Gen Zers that are moving the industry or is it the technology is moving it and they're just the most equipped to be like embracing the technology to be more professional, to potentially improve communication, let's say,

[00:12:02] or potentially just get out there in front of more people, you know, video content, blog content, you know, whatever, audio podcast content. They're probably more inclined to be more comfortable on video. Yeah. Because the phone's always there. They've, the TikTok and Instagram, the selfies. Um, I mean, you're very familiar with selfies. Very much so. Um. So much so that I have to tell you to stop. Right. Would you stop taking pictures of yourself?

[00:12:29] Too much, too much, posting too much of yourself online. Um, but even to the point where the, the technology, you know, we talked about, you know, you saying this office is going paperless. Right. They don't even know what. They don't even know what a paper office is. Right. It's true. So, so they're just so much more equipped with the technology. There's so much more. That's a really, really good point.

[00:12:57] So as the real estate industry tries to keep pace, they're the ones that are like, yeah, I got this. I know how to do that. I can pick the problem. I can learn this, you know, where if you have, and you see this, I see this in insurance because it's very similar. Trying to give an older person a change with technology. Yeah. It's very hard. It is. Yeah. Like. It's hard for them to adapt. It's hard.

[00:13:26] Like, and the resistance for that kind of stuff is very high. One, one example I can give of that is there's a form in Pennsylvania called the seller's property disclosure. It's like 13 pages long. Yeah. Like hundreds of questions. Yep. And you literally have to like check boxes. You know, what kind of heat do you have? Is it gas? You know, is it electric? Like you're literally checking box, box, box. And I find that the older generation hates this form online because they're just like, oh,

[00:13:55] I didn't know I was supposed to click there. Like I missed that question. And I still see some seller's disclosures that are written. Like so much so that the agent is very understanding of where they are. And they're just like, look, I'm just going to print this out for you. And then you can fill it out. Here's what I would do. With a pen. Here's what I would do. Or a mechanical pencil. If I was a real estate agent. Yeah. And I was dealing with older clients that were selling. Needed to fill out this form. That form is terrible.

[00:14:23] I would create my own Google proprietary form. And so it's literally one question at a time. So you literally do that and then have a Zapier connection to feed that information into. If that's possible. It's possible. A thousand percent possible. And so you take the Google form. So you're not like having a PDF and you're like, what is this? What year was it? No. It's on a Google form. You're on your computer.

[00:14:52] It's one question. Bigger questions. And then as soon as you respond to that question, it's like a slide deck. So then it's the next question on there. And it allows. Someone steals your idea now. And they start making Google forms for seller's property disclosures. I bet you it exists. I bet you there's. And I'm going to look this up. You know I am. Yes. Someone that has created that form to make it easier for someone to fill that out.

[00:15:22] And then you take that Zapit right into the state form and have them sign it with all the information that they just filled out. Yeah. It's possible. Don't know how we got there saying that. Yeah. Neither do I. Just more on technology and Gen Z millennials not knowing what a paper office is. Right. And them being able to adapt and older agents resisting. Yep.

[00:15:48] And not really being inclined to accept the technology. Yep. It's a good point. So the article on Emin, it basically had six topics that focus on how the younger agents view the industry and how to succeed. But what I did in typical Timmy G fashion form is I wanted to break it down a little bit tighter. I don't like going beyond like a top three usually. You know that's how I roll. You're a big fan of the top three.

[00:16:18] I'm a psycho. Yes. You know, I got to make things a little bit more organized. Yeah. Structured. I don't like long-winded bullshit. Like, that's truth. All right. I'll agree to that. So I broke down the top three. So here was my first one that I thought was great from the article is that it said the millennial and Gen Z agents, they're very big into building personal brands. Yeah.

[00:16:45] And we've talked about this many times on Bricks and Risk. I've gone back to when I first started in residential real estate 15 years ago, and I created my own personal brand as a solo agent, which was called Philly Urban Living. And it's because I was living in the city. I was talking about the lifestyle. I was talking about the resurgence. You know, go to this neighborhood and do this. This neighborhood is being developed for these reasons. And I was basically doing content marketing before content marketing was super popular.

[00:17:14] But the reason I think this is so great that the younger agents are looking at this, it really goes back to our authenticity episode that we just released like a week ago at this time. Yeah. And the reason I think this is smart is the younger agents are realizing it's not about the brokerage.

[00:17:35] So if they go choose a brokerage to hang their license with, because that's what you have to do when you get into residential real estate, especially in Pennsylvania, they're like the brokerage isn't going to be the face of my business. I, as the agent, I'm going to be the face of my business. And I pick whatever brokerage supports me best. My business, the support I need, the tech I like, the split I like. You know, we're going to go into a future episode.

[00:18:03] A few from now, we're really going to dive into some of that. And Dustin Brougham recently had a post about that exact thing. What's up, Dustin? If I find that, I'll try to link it through. It was very good about agents understanding that when you're working with a client, the client does not care who you are associated with. It's not about the brokerage.

[00:18:31] It's about the relationship that seller or buyer has with that agent. Give me that. Give me some perspective as like a consumer. You know, you tend to buy real estate here and there. You've sold real estate. As a consumer, how do you look at it? What do you think it's like today? Is it more about the agent or do you think the brokerage, like the brand, holds weight? So what I'll say is that it's very similar to insurance.

[00:19:01] Most of our new business comes from referrals. Yep. When it is coming from a referral, the person that's referring isn't saying, go talk to Sean. He writes with Progressive. Progressive is going to do a great job for you. Progressive is a great company. Go work with Sean because he writes with Progressive. It's more likely that it would go down for that person to say, hey, we just signed up with Sean. Go work with him.

[00:19:31] Oh, who did he sign you up with? Oh, I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. Sean just... I know. It's through Sean. It's through Sean. Right? It's Stu's episode. He kind of talked about that. What's up, Stu? Stuart Shepard, premium finance brokerage. Go look him up. Superstar. So it's more of that relationship with the agent, right? It's not so much who the real estate brokerage is.

[00:20:01] Like, what bearing does that have on the client selling the house? Well, sometimes, you know, there's all different kinds of brokerages across the U.S. Again, we're going to break this down in a future episode, but the categories I like to put in there... Yeah, but I'm not even saying a specific... I'm saying, if I'm going to list my house, am I going to say, I really want to find a Keller Williams agent, then call Keller Williams and say, hey, Keller, who do you got? It doesn't work that way. No.

[00:20:30] I'm going to say the high, high majority of times. There are some people that, I guess, put stake into brands or maybe a local office. Like, let's say there's an office right down the street and they don't know a real estate agent. And they're like, I don't know if I want to go online and like do all the research myself. Maybe I'll just call the local office and be like, I'd like to talk to one of your most productive agents. It's very rare, but there are still leads. I'm sure that happens. There are still leads that drip in. Yeah. Again, rare.

[00:20:56] But the vast majority are people that are wanting to work with an agent, a specific person, and the brand, the brokerage behind it is over the last... And at some point when you and I started, it had a lot more meaning. Yep.

[00:21:17] It could have been more of a determining factor when people were choosing to work or want to work with this brand or that brand. Nowadays, in 2025, not as relevant. Yeah. Do you know what's interesting about this? And I've talked about this on past episodes is I've made the example like if I'm representing you and you are looking to sell your home and you say, Tim, can you help me sell my home? So obviously, yes.

[00:21:47] I am going to be the one to give you a listing presentation. I'm going to be the one to pull the comps. I'm going to be the one to give you an opinion on what our asking price should be, what the strategy is behind that asking price. And I'm going to tell you what I have done, how long I've been in the industry. Have I done sales around this neighborhood? You know, you came as a referral from another client. That's all agent forward. You're selling yourself. Yep.

[00:22:13] And how is your presentation branded? It's to me. Right? Yeah. But not everyone thinks like that. There are plenty of agents, which brings me to my point from earlier. I call them like you have the a la carte brokerages, which are probably like more like the cloud based brokerages, say, like, take what you need to support your business.

[00:22:35] And then you have like the all inclusive brokerages, someone like the long standing older brands that they want to lead with their brand. Not really with the agent. Like they control the signage, they control lots of things. But I think that that's where this kind of like comes together. Yeah. Because as you have a time in 2025 where the brokerage means less than it did. Yep.

[00:23:01] That means that what's going to mean more is the personal brand. It is. And then that's why I assume that some of these numbers in terms of the rise in the younger real estate agents is because they're much better at creating a personal brand. Yep. Way better. Way better than me. Way better. Way better than my folks age. They're just suited towards it.

[00:23:30] So I think that with the technology, being able to create that personal brand, it's kind of a an industry that is going to work for them. Yep. And I put a point here like, don't get me wrong, folks. The brokerage still matters, but it matters more as like it helping the agent build their business. Yeah. It's more behind the scenes. Well, it means more to the agent. Yes. Less to the consumer. Less to the consumer.

[00:23:58] And for an agent, there's lots of reasons why you choose a broker. The financial structure, the marketing, you know, maybe you like the brand or they just happen to have lots of marketing tools or templates. And then the learning opportunities. Who are some of the agents that I'm going to be able to like talk to on a regular basis? Or do they offer classes? Do they have events? Do they do, you know, coffee meetups? Like, do they offer Zoom training? Like, these are all reasons why the agent would align with the brokers.

[00:24:28] That doesn't necessarily transfer to the consumer these days. I had a great conversation with South Philly Vinny last night. What up, Vin? About his decision to move away from a team model. Yeah. Take it upon himself to start really his own brand. Yep. And kind of start to, like, develop his real estate business. Yep.

[00:24:58] For him, around him. And he says it's been amazing to make that move in part by talking to you and steering him in that kind of direction as to go solo. So, I'm very pro solo. Like, if you're a young agent, millennial, Gen Z, I'm a big fan of saying, like, start solo. Start looking into a personal brand. I don't know if you should just, like, jump into it and, like, try and do it yourself.

[00:25:27] Like, DIY if you're not equipped to do that. But someone like him who's experienced, who's got it down, and is not afraid to get on the phone and be on social and be out there networking and meeting people. I mean, it seems like from an outsider's perspective, he's doing the right things and probably made the right decision to do what he did. Yeah.

[00:25:49] And one piece of why he made that move, too, he's like, look, if I did this transaction that I just did under the structure of the team, he's like, I would have made, like, 60% of what I'm making right now. And again, like, here's the thing. There's a value to teams. There is, like, camaraderie, culture, like, opportunity to learn directly, leads, you know, open houses. There's lots, you know, your own little brand within the team. There's lots of reasons to be a team member on someone's team.

[00:26:16] But there's also lots of other reasons why you should be solo. Financial is one of them. And two is also having the confidence, the creativity, and the wherewithal to start your own brand. You can be a party of one. You don't have to have all these agents and assistants and, you know, marketing people behind you to go out and impress buyers and sellers. No, quite the contrary. I think buyers and sellers like it more when they're dealing with you and you're like, I do all that.

[00:26:45] Like, I put this listing presentation together. I created this brand. Like, I'm into customer service. I want to build my business on relationships. I think people respect that more. You know, if you come in for the presentation and you say, hi, I'm Tim Garrity. I'm with the Bruce Babalino team. You know, the person's going to be like, well, who are you? And why am I not on? Why am I not talking to Bruce? And who's Bruce anyway? He's like, my first question is, what is Babalino?

[00:27:16] Is that Greek? Greek, definitely. Definitely. Definitely. But also the point here, the second point I had about personal brand is really they believe their own personal brand is more important than the national brand. Just for the reasons we mentioned. So, like, if you're going to start solo and you believe in personal brand, like you're doing it for the right reasons. You want to have a say in what that looks like.

[00:27:41] Like, if you want to be hyper local and you want your brand to be like, let's say, based off a section of Philadelphia, like a neighborhood or a suburban town in and around Philadelphia. That's what I call like the hyper local deep approach. Like you're saying, I'm in this area and I am the go to guy or girl in this area. Yeah. Or you can go a little bit wider to start and say, you know what? Like, I focus on greater Philadelphia because maybe, you know, the suburbs and the city just as well.

[00:28:10] And if you're building your business on relationships, you're going to go to different locales. You're not just going to all do it in the same neighborhood. So it just depends. It's like South Philly Vinny. I'm sure he does deals outside of South Philly. He does. But I think what's great about that brand, like him going so deep with that, like he's big into like supporting small businesses. Yeah. Like he goes out and does it himself. He meets people. But he really is. He's like, look, I want a good portion of my business to come from South Philly. Yeah.

[00:28:39] That's why he gave that brand, you know, it's a moniker. But if someone in his network comes to him, they're not going to say like, oh, Vinny, like I already know you. Do you only do South Philly? They can just look on Zillow and see like what other deals he's done. Like it's pretty easy. Hey, everyone. This is Tim, your favorite bricks and risk co-host. But don't tell Sean. I hope you're enjoying this episode and I'll get right back to it in a moment. Our audience grows through word of mouth.

[00:29:07] So if you would please take a moment of your time and give us a review on the platform you're on, that would be fantastic. Please also help spread the BNR word by sharing your favorite episode with a friend. We greatly appreciate your time and trust. Now, back to the show. Let's go to the second point of this.

[00:29:31] Millennials and Gen Zers, why they're evolving the residential real estate business is they're also driven by client relationships. So the first one I pointed out was they're into building personal brands. Yep. Now they're also into the relationship part of residential real estate, which is really, as we've said, that's the foundation of our podcast.

[00:29:54] Because all the small business advice, the boots on the ground, the tactics, the experiences that you and I share, we believe that relationships have built both of our businesses. So that's what we've been sharing with our audience. How does that resonate with you in terms of this younger generation? You had mentioned the technology, the technology. You had mentioned the fact that personal brand makes sense, lead with you, not necessarily the company.

[00:30:22] What's your feedback on that one? I think it makes sense just from just looking at it from my perspective to think that it's easier for those younger types to build relationships and work those relationships for business rather than relying on, you know,

[00:30:49] cold calling or some of those other leads from their team. Give me leads, you know, feed me something I need to eat. Yeah. I think they are. And again, we're painting with broad brushstrokes. We are. But I think it makes sense. So what the information you're presenting seems to resonate with me and does align with what I would think these younger generations are doing.

[00:31:14] Yeah, it really I like going back to like past episodes so I can kind of like tie two together. This reminds me of the Garrett Maroon episode, which you'd probably agree with me. I feel like that was the episode where we were like we were finished with Garrett. What's up, by the way, man? We were done. We were like, wow, that was that hit home on so many things.

[00:31:39] Like we always say like one or two nuggets out of an episode, like there were like 30 in that one for you and I. Just because we all see eye to eye on that, the three of us were just like totally. It was. It was you and I have this premise of the way that we have done business over the last 20 years. Yeah. And so we started our businesses like this. This is what we've built it upon relationships.

[00:32:05] And then Garrett was sort of the crystallization of, yes, hey, guys, that's what I do. And here's here's how I'm successful in doing it. And this is where I started as a realtor. And I grew my team. And now I'm here. So it was kind of like took that and and kind of validated. Yeah. Like justified kind of what we were already like loosely talking about. And then it really kind of firmed it up.

[00:32:33] I feel like once we did that episode, which we're forever grateful to you, Garrett, we were just like, that's that's really what we're what we're doing here. Trying to teach people. We're trying to share information. We're trying to help people who are in business, who want to get better, who go to the podcast medium, as you and I have. Yeah. To seek advice. Like, how do I get better at my craft? Like, how do I make a little bit more money? How do I spend less time? You know, how do I go on vacation more? Like, how do I delegate? How do I scale?

[00:33:01] Like, there's lots of different things you can do. Yeah. And that episode was definitely the one. But for this particular one where it says they're driven by client relationships, one of the points it said is that they're relationship focused, not transaction focused. So try not to misunderstand that. I'm not saying it doesn't matter to do transactions. It absolutely does. You don't do transactions. You don't have a business. Right. But. But how are they derived? How are they derived?

[00:33:32] Yeah. And how is the agent looking at that client? Are they looking at that client's like, look, my job is to convert, to get something under contract and then keep my head above water. If I can keep my head above water, maybe I get a seven out of ten. Okay. And they're like, seven out of ten, I'm fine with because I want to get the deal done. I want to make my money. I want to move on to the next client. So piggyback off that. Yeah.

[00:34:00] I think this is just me making some, you know. Mooneyism. Mooneyism. Because another part of the technology portion of this business makeup is that before technology. So if you rewind the clock 20 years. Agents were never held to account. It's true. Okay. Okay.

[00:34:29] So when the technology, when the online platforms, when the Google reviews, when the information started to become shareable. Public. Yes. There may have been a shift on how you're treating your clients. That's a really good point. Right? Yeah. Because they could hide it before. Absolutely. No. If I do this deal and I get the deal and I get the commission check and it's a terrible home for my client.

[00:34:58] Who are they going to tell? Their brother and their sister? Right. Right? Yeah. It's true. When the online platforms come about and the technology now allows this information to be shareable. Like Bob Bobolino. Bruce Bobolino. Bruce Bobolino. Bruce Bobolino. Let's get it right. Did a terrible job for me. If I ever had to buy a house again, I would never use him. Yeah. Boom. It just, it, there's accountability now. Right.

[00:35:27] So now if you are a little bit more transaction focused, like if you're just like, I'm just getting deals done, whether they have a good experience or a bad experience. That's not really my concern. I want to get the deal done, get paid, move on to the next deal. Unfortunately, 99.9 out of a hundred people are going to go online first and start looking at real estate, whether it's for sale or for rent, before they contact you or you as their buyer agent or their listing agent.

[00:35:57] Right. And therefore they can run into your stuff. So now the accountability level is much higher. Much higher. So it's forcing newer, younger agents to play that game. Yeah. It's a different game. You need to be accountable to your client. You need to represent them. You need to have a relationship with them. Right. And so that's all, if you're getting into real estate now, that's really all you know. Right. So now they have to play that game. Yeah. Which is great.

[00:36:26] I mean, which, which creates a better foundation for these agents. Well, that's, you know, this is the game that you and I like business is a game. I mean, some people say life is a game. I mean, there's, you can look at it any, which way you want. There's a board game life. There is. Yeah. You get married and you know, you pop the kids in the back of the station wagon, you cruise around, you make money. But it is, you know, business is a game. Real estate is a game. It just depends. What kind of game are you going to play? How are you going to play it?

[00:36:56] There's lots of different ways to play it. But to your point, what is strategically best for you in the long run? Because if you're getting into real estate, if you're a millennial Gen Zer and let's say you get your license, you get it in college, you get it out of college, whatever it is. You're 22 years old, you're 20 years old, you're 24 years old. Like you had a long career ahead of you, 40, 50 years.

[00:37:22] And if you like real estate and you want to stay in real estate for your career, then this matters. Because if you take it and you just look at it, it's all numbers. I'm numbers based. I don't care about the end result. You will be out faster in today's day and age than you got in because eventually people talk. And it doesn't mean you can't meet more people and you can't give subpar service and close more deals.

[00:37:50] But eventually, over time, that's going to catch up to you. And the last thing you want is, let's say, 30 reviews, 50 reviews, 100 reviews on Google that are like three stars or less. Then people are going to be like, there's a lot of people who are very upset with this agent about working with them. Why would I ever talk to them to do my transaction? And it doesn't have to be, we're not talking, and this is generally speaking, just business. Business. Right?

[00:38:20] So if you have a halal food store, right? Bruce Babalino's halal. Right? Okay. Bruce has his halal store, restaurant, and it's bad food and it's bad service. He's probably going to go out of business in the near future. Do you like halal, by the way? Do you ever get the halal with the chicken and the rice? I haven't done halal in like six and a half years. Oh, dude. So good. I've kind of given it up. They're all over Philly. Oh, yeah.

[00:38:49] They're great. Anyway, keep going. So yes, it's applicable to real estate, but it's also applicable to insurance or any other real business because everything's more visible. Yeah. There's more accountability to a business owner nowadays than ever before. And I agree with all that 100%.

[00:39:11] Another point that they made on being driven by client relationships is they had said also the younger generations, the millennials and Gen Zers, they're into client appreciation. Which again, not a lot of people did that decades ago. It just didn't have to. It was just a different time. It was when the brokerage was more in charge and they were like dishing out leads and people would just run out, close deals, make money, go home with their family. And that was like the business.

[00:39:38] Now, client appreciation has become more important because that's also what helps maintain and strengthen those relationships. It enhances it. Over time. Yeah. I mean, I do this stuff. I just did it yesterday. What did I do without me even saying what I did? Spin the wheel. I do the wheel of names. I get all my top people, the people that have really supported my business, whether I've worked with them or their friends, family, their coworkers, referrals, let's call it.

[00:40:06] And I literally every now and then I'll do the wheel of names. I'll get a couple of gift cards and I pick three winners. And then did D'Amico slip you a 20? They did not. Yeah. Well, the wheel of names cannot be bought. Does not lie. I don't control the roulette wheel at the casino. So why would I control? Just asking for the general public wants to know. Okay, cool. Just so you know, the wheel of names cannot be bought. Cannot be bought.

[00:40:38] With client appreciation, like here's some of the things they do. They have client events. It could be something small. You could just say, you can invite like two of your best clients to say, how about breakfast? Why don't we walk our dogs together? Why don't we get our kids together? Why don't we get the families together and go out to dinner? Like it could be something like that. Yeah. Or you could do a client event that's bigger. I'm inviting 100 people in my network. I'm going to have sponsors. I'm going to have it at a restaurant or a bar or a park. And I'm going to make it a big event.

[00:41:07] I saw someone near me. I don't know. I think it was a realtor, maybe a mortgage person or something. When the Eagles went to the Super Bowl. Yeah. The person, the business owner was giving out green light bulbs. Oh, that's smart. So like, so people could have it like their front light. Yeah. So like South Philly, if he's like, yo, I do a lot of business in these five blocks or whatever. Give everyone a green light bulb. Green light bulb and then like light up.

[00:41:37] Or he could do red or blue for the bills. Right. Yes. Yeah. But that was something, right? So something to like draw your name into this neighborhood and draw a little attention and enhance, you know, let these people know, hey, I'm an Eagles fan too. Like let's go team or, you know, it's something, it's an add on to enhance that relationship. Absolutely. So they talked about like client events.

[00:42:02] They talked about Popeye gifts, you know, dropping things off, you know, not even saying you're coming by and you're just hanging something on their doorknob or sending something in the mail, like a lottery, like a scratch off ticket or something like that, because they're into repeat and referral business. Like that's the point of relationships. Not only do they want to take care of their people and show them that they appreciate them, but reciprocity usually happens when you take care of your people. It just happens organically. Yeah. It happens naturally.

[00:42:31] Like if you take care of people the right way, they're going to want to take care of you in their own way. Yeah. And everyone does it differently. There's no right or wrong way, but it is true that reciprocity exists. It's a real thing. And then the third one that I thought was great out of the six, and this is the last one I'm going to share, is it said the millennial and Gen Z agents are really into embracing collaboration over competition. And here's the best example I can give.

[00:43:00] I've never worked for a large franchise national brokerage until the one that I work for now, which is Real Broker. And Dil, if you could go 1995 style and say, Tim is an agent at Real Broker. So we disclose that properly. I think the 1996 font might be a little bit more applicable. Yeah. Maybe like italics. We'll go with that.

[00:43:29] Franchise companies, let's say the bigger ones. They've been around for 50 years, 100 years. It doesn't matter. I'm not even going to name them. They have leaderboards. So they say, here are the top 10 agents in the office, or here's the top 1% of our agents nationally, or you're in the top 2% of teams nationwide. And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not knocking it.

[00:43:54] I'm just saying that old school brokerage mentality is let's pin one agent or one team against the other so that they want to beat each other. They want to be number one, not number two. You kind of are knocking it. I guess I am. Full transparency. Hey, I'm knocking it. Okay. Minor knock. Minor knock. There we go. Yes. That's more the competitive approach. Yep.

[00:44:22] So nothing wrong with it, but that's how they do it. It's just a different flavor. It's a different flavor. It's a different flavor. The collaborative approach, and I can understand why the younger agents are probably starting to gather toward this, focus on working with a company that looks at it more as like, we're all together. We're doing it together versus like, we're all these separate people cutting each other's throats for the next deal. The collaborative approach is very eminent where I work right now at Real. And again, this is going to sound biased.

[00:44:52] But what's great about Real is that they look at it that way. How can we all share things with one another so that everyone gets a little bit better? Because I think they're kind of looking at it as like, we want our brand, even though the agent stands taller, which they say all the time, we want our brand to be represented by agents who are more into helping each other than competing against one another. And there's a vibe with that. That's part of their culture.

[00:45:19] Like you can sense that you can go online, you can read about them, you can watch videos. I mean, there's also you meet an agent in the business, you're like, man, they seem like really chill, like very confident. They're more into working together than they are apart. They're not being salesy. And that kind of approach is more common. And to counter that, right? So what kind of culture does it breed when you have this, I'm number one, I was number one when we go, how dare you get number one?

[00:45:49] Right. It's a doggy dog type of culture. Yeah. And it certainly works for the brokerage because the brokerage is like, we're doing great. Well, no, they're standing back and like, look at these guys fighting over this business. You know, one's trying to outdo the other. The other one's trying to get, you know, this top number one rating for the state, whatever. Um, and so for them, it's great.

[00:46:14] Um, for the broker, maybe it's great because they're doing more business or trying to get more business or whatever. But again, it's just a different flavor, a different, um, kind of culture that some people may, you know, trend towards. And there are plenty of people who would rather be in a competitive culture than a collaborative culture because they thrive on competition. Yeah. You can relate this to sports. Like, again, we know we played sports growing up. Yeah.

[00:46:42] We know people who have played sports, you know, into college. Yeah. And you have to be competitive to be good at sports. Like you have to be, you can't, you can't just put your arm around your teammate and be like, let's do it. No, like it is as much as it is a team sport. A lot of the time you still have to be ultra competitive. Like you got to want to win. Yeah. So, and I think there is a place for competition, but here's one perspective.

[00:47:08] My perspective on why collaboration sometimes seems like a little bit better, a little bit more forward thinking is that cutthroat competition is usually based on fear. It's based on a little bit more of the scarcity mindset. Because if you're looking at it as like, I'm competing for resources. Like, I need to get that listing, not you. Then you're looking at it from there's only one listing to be had. You're looking at the same thing that the other agent is looking at. It's like, that should be mine, not his or hers.

[00:47:37] Again, plenty of people do business this way. That's not what I'm saying. But if you look at it more, it's like, I'm not focused on that listing. I'm focused on my people. How do I take care of my people? And then my people will bring me the listing. They'll bring me the need to buy. They'll bring me, they want to buy a shore house or a Pocono house. They'll bring me, they want to buy a rental property through me. Because it's more, you're attracting them because they know that you care.

[00:48:07] They know that you're, you're there for them. Yeah. Not to do another, not to steal the deal from someone else. And again, it happens, but the scarcity mindset, as much as we all have it at times, the competitive base culture is more focused on that. How do, how do we get them to fight for it over one another? Also, the one thing about collaboration, another positive point about it is that it creates connectivity. So think about it.

[00:48:36] Like, let's say you work at a brokerage and there's, there's 10 teams. And it's very competitive. Like they're ranking one through 10. Okay. Who's going to be one and who's going to be 10? If you're one, you're first. If you're 10, you're last. And they want people to kind of like duke it out, which means they're not going to be very friendly to one another. They're going to want to jump over each other for an opportunity so that they can get to number one. Then you get to the brokerage that's more focused on collaboration. And there's 10 teams.

[00:49:06] They're not keeping score of the teams. They're like, we got 10 really good teams here. How do we get together for coffee? How do we get together on a zoom? How do we do a podcast episode together? Like, how do we share assistance or marketing or ideas so that we all thrive as teams? And in, in that scenario, you're going to feel more connected to one another. I don't know the answer to that.

[00:49:33] And they're not on my team, but I know I can call them on their team because they're cool and they want to help. They'll answer my call or they'll answer my text. Gary V once said, uh, I want to build the biggest building in town, but not by taking out the second lowest or something like that. Okay. That's interesting. Like you can have your big building. I'm just, I'm just going to build this building higher. Yeah. Interesting. As opposed to, I have a building here.

[00:50:03] I'm just going to take the highest building out. Yeah, that's true. And then the collaboration part, in my opinion, is going to create a little bit more of an abundance mindset. Like if we're being collaborative and we're connected to one another, there's plenty for all of us. Like, how do we all get better? How do we all meet more people? How do we all get more referrals by working together? And a lot of that, I feel like the younger generation likes because it's very zoom focused

[00:50:29] these days or a mastermind or sharing best practices. Like maybe they consume podcasts like you and I just doing this right now. What are we doing? We're giving away free information. You may not agree with it, but we're still going to give it away. Well, it's, you know, I do this not every day, but probably on a weekly basis where I'm talking to other agents, you know, customer comes to me, Hey, can you, can you help this person? Do you have a, do you have a product? Do you have a coverage that would fit this?

[00:50:59] Because, you know, I'm doing that with, with different agents all the time. Yeah. And so, because I, I, you know, I have the mindset that there's enough out here for all of us. Right. And, and I'm better off. We did this recently with, this is great. Rob Schock. Yeah. Mutual friend. Rob A. Was buying a place. And so Rob was doing the mortgage and Rob Schock said, Oh, who do you use for insurance?

[00:51:27] And he goes, Oh, I use Mooney. To the client. To the client. Yeah. So Rob does mortgage, real estate insurance. Yep. And he's like, Oh, cool. Good. Yeah. Exactly. See, and that, that right there proves the point. Instead of being like, you know, I can do your insurance too. Yeah. Yeah. You realize I'm capable and you're already getting your mortgage through me. Do you want me to give you a quote real quick? And I can see if I can beat out the quote that you already have. That's again, that's more of a competitive mindset.

[00:51:57] How do I get it all versus saying like, I love that you're working with Mooney. Yeah. Even though he does it because he knows you're going to be better together than you are fighting over crap. You start talking and he's like, Oh, I'm doing the mortgage. Oh, cool. You know? And then we start talking about like the short stuff and Oh, do you have a market for this? No, I don't. But I use these guys. Oh, I don't use them. Like, can you get me connected? Yeah. So now like maybe he can get into a carrier that he's wanted because I can connect that.

[00:52:24] So it's like, yeah, it's so short sighted sometimes. Sometimes. That, Oh, I'm going to get this. I'm going to get the deal and I'm going to like steal this away. Yeah. Right. I won. Right. But maybe, maybe you won this, but you're missing out on something like way bigger. Yeah. And it's like, think about the backlash of that. So like, let's say he didn't, he didn't take the collaborative approach. He was like, you know, I can give you a quote too. Would you like a quote? And they say, sure. Oh, I didn't know you did that.

[00:52:53] And he gives him a quote and he beats yours. And then that client calls you back and says, Hey, you know, thank you for all of your time, Sean. I appreciate it. I think I'm going to get my insurance elsewhere. And you say, well, where are you getting your insurance? Oh, you know, the mortgage guy I'm dealing with has a company and he said he could also do the insurance. And then you find out who it was. Yeah. You're not going to want to do business. Yeah. I mean, I'd still, I mean, Rob is just tremendous guy. Talking about Rob. I mean, aside from, let's say it's not Rob. Right. Someone else.

[00:53:23] Then I'd be like, oh, yeah, forget it. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You're going to be, now you're going to be now as much as he made a little bit more money. Now you're twice as pissed off because you put work into it too. And you were like, we can work together. So it's just interesting. It doesn't happen obviously with everyone. Totally. Yeah. And then the final point I have here is that helping each other serve residential real estate clients better. Like if we're all doing the same thing, if we're all trying to collaborate and help each

[00:53:53] other get better, it actually elevates the standard within the industry. So like, let's say at my current brokerage, they're focused more on collaboration. They're looking at it as like, if these guys and girls collaborate more and work together more, then they're going to look better as agents as a whole. And then we're going to look better as a company. It's and that alone can increase your bottom line. So it's really like a triple win. Like the company's doing well. The agents are doing well.

[00:54:22] And then the clients are doing well. And the effect of that, in addition to those, is that you're also weeding out the people that don't want that. Right. And so what you're left with is the people that do want to be collaborative. Right. And those bringing in more collaborative people and then less people that are the, you know,

[00:54:51] short term, short sighted type of agent. Agreed. All right, man. Why don't you shut this one down? So we did the review in the beginning. If anybody would like to leave a review for the show, you like us, you want to give us five stars, go to Apple Podcasts, drop a review in there. Spotify, I think you can do it, but Apple's where to go. Find us on the socials, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, get subscribed there.

[00:55:19] And then also on our LinkedIn page, we have a nice community of over 500 people. We're at almost 600 now on LinkedIn. 600 people there. Great professional group of people that are all just listening and watching. It's awesome. So you can check us out there on LinkedIn as well. Awesome, man. All right. That's all we have for this one, folks. Thank you for tuning in again to another episode of Bricks and Risk. See you soon. Thank you for joining us on another episode of Bricks and Risk.

[00:55:48] Our goal is that you walk away with one or two valuable nuggets, and we greatly appreciate you sharing your time with us today. You can find all BNR episodes on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and anywhere else you get your podcast content. Until next time, keep learning and keep growing.