Digital RE Digest

2020 has been a whirlwind for the real estate industry, and many mortgage loan officers have seen their best year (income wise) of their career. In this episode, I sat down with Dan Hamilton from Northwestern Mutual. We dig into how loan officers need to start thinking about their own finances during this gold rush - how much should they be putting away, where should they put it to maximize return, and how to prepare for the upcoming reality of the market normalizing.  In my conversation with Dan, you'll learn: - How to manage money through the highs and the lows [1:45] - Advice for managing once in a lifetime revenue [4:30] - Why you should not put your savings into a savings account [7:25] - To play or not to play the stock market [10:50] - Are loan officers legit financial advisors? [13:45] - If you didn't get all that, get this [18:40]

Todd Feager is a branch manager for Top Flite Financial, where he and his team have a unique approach to building a successful consumer direct division. We talked about why he chose to go consumer direct over retail, tips for any retail LO wanting to dip their toes in consumer direct, where consumer behaviour is trending, why he only recruits from outside of the industry, tools for creating a dynamic culture, and more.    Todd and his team of 60 are expected to close over $300 million in 2020.    Learn more about Todd at https://topflitecd.com/our-team/

Chris Sauerzopf is the co-founder and CEO of SafeWire, a technology that protects real estate transactions from wire fraud (which we will get into), as well as the Co-Owner of World Class Title. He’s a real estate tech entrepreneur, a dad, a deep-thinker, a traveler, and overall one of my favorite people in real estate.   In this episode, we talked about how Chris juggles his time between being an entrepreneur, a Dad, a traveler, and how "time away" is one of the most important things he can do for his company and himself. We get into the details of wire fraud and how widespread this scam is. Did you know 1 out of every 425 real estate transactions has fraud?   We then talked about how his company, SafeWire, has built a very interesting technology to protect real estate transactions from these scammers.   Find more about SafeWire at www.safewire.com Jason introduces his guest, Chris Sauerzopf ...00:27 Chris talks about what entrepreneurship is and is not about...1:30 What is important to Chris- his daughter, enjoying opportunities, self-care... 02:00 “Fuelling the tank”- refuelling the self, going to Bali to learn yoga, fly-fishing, helps to be a better CEO, a better dad...2:40 Success is different for everyone...3:10 The importance of taking out time for self-care like daily meditative practice, setting an example and empowering others to care for themselves...4:00 There is a time and place for everything, needing the experience to realize what you want or what you do not want to do…5:55 What SafeWire is, how and why SafeWire came about, what Chris is doing at SafeWire and what SafeWire is doing about wire fraud in the real estate industry…6:43 Segmentation as the biggest challenge in real estate as an industry…8:20 Competing with up-coming companies with secure platforms that are eliminating all the segmentation…9:15 What scammers are doing…10:00 Scammers have added sophistication to their activities by partnering with hackers from India and Pakistan who facilitate complex phishing scams…10:55 Scammers activate forwarding rules in their victims’ e-mails…11:45 Scammers are from Nigeria, in partner with hackers from India and Pakistan…13:05 There is a process to recover the money if reported to the FBI via their website https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx within 3 to 4 business days …14:40 The FBI on average gets back 75% of the lost money; past 5 or 6 days, the money gets outside federal jurisdiction, it’s gone…14:55 There is no insurance and cyber policies for this kind of situation…15:22 2019 losses up 50% from the year before, $221M, according to FBI data…15:45 Phishing attempts up by 350% since Covid…16:20 How SafeWire protects the transaction…17:40 SafeWire was launched 2017 and has since then authenticated 40,000 buyers and sellers without any occurrence of loss…18:00 Given free to brokers and real estate agents SafeWire process flow…18:20 Get in as close to the beginning of the transaction as possible Bank grade multi-factor authentication (digital) Originally created not only for wire fraud but also as an authentication layer for a blockchain solution SafeWire transaction protection in the next 2~5 years…21:55 Offered on every real estate transaction Keep buyers secure Going into earnest money, using earnest money to authenticate buyers and offer assurance warranty, called SafeWire Assurance How to build tools and opportunities to empower real estate agents with technology…23:35 The company culture within SafeWire…22:45 Team is 100% remote from all over the world

Michelle Berman is a nationally sought-after Instagram Content Development coach, Owner of Berman Media PD and Creator of the Instagram Power Method Program. Michelle is an expert in understanding and utilizing Psychology to help people tap into the power of Instagram and its ability to be a lead generation source for your business. In this discussion, you'll hear: How Michelle got interested in Instagram (IG)...1:03 The biggest mistake content creators make on IG...12:00 How to create content that connects w/ your audience...17:05 Whether or not to post on your personal life...18:45 A new IG feature that will practically guarantee increased exposure...23:00 Why you don't need that expensive website...26:50 Whether you should have a personal or business profile...29:10 Should you have a hashtag for your business...31:55 Link to Instagram Power Method Roadmap: https://www.bermanmediapd.com/InstagramPowerMethodRoadMap Link to Michelle's Masterclass: https://www.bermanmediapd.com/masterclass

Jason Frazier is an award-winning marketer and national speaker with more than 20 years of expertise in marketing, social media, technology startups and venture capital, holding various C-level positions in the mortgage industry, and is the current Chief Strategy Officer for Equity Prime Mortgage.   In the first part of the episode, we talked about his journey with "75 Hard" where Jason went on a strict 75 day regime to adjust his lifestyle and mindset, and who he became after the 75 days.    In the latter half of the episode, we talked about where today's retail loan officer needs to shift their strategy to be relevant. The industry is rapidly changing, it's not the same business as 2006. Loan officers need to be building a brand and strategy that is hyper-local if they want to stay relevant.    Find more about Jason Frazier at mortgagexpodcast.com 

In this episode, I sat down with Jon Harp, team lead and Realtor with EXP. Jon has been driving leads since 2011, also known as the "good ol days of Google and Zillow."  Not much has changed on where he drives his leads from, but it's more about having the right expectations and systems in place.  Jon breaks down how exactly his team converts leads as such a high clip, where he gets leads from, and how nurturing the lead is the most important thing you can do to convert. 

It's more important than ever to be focusing on building meaningful connections with with our people. And even though we have tp keep our distance, building those strong connections can be done using the power of "social relationship marketing." Today I say down with national speaker and influencer, Sean Carpenter to talk about how we as RE pros can utilize social and digital tools to build and strengthen relationships in a social distant world. 

Consumer behavior is changing....Are we prepared? In this episode, we sat down with Fintech consultant, Dan Caldwell. As mortgage and real estate professionals, our industry is constantly being attacked. Billions of dollars have been dumped into the real estate and Fintech sectors to disrupt and push out the "person." Are our jobs in jeopardy?  We talked about how these emerging digital Fintech companies are gaining marketshare, expectations in over the next 24 months, and how we can prepare ourselves for the consumer shift to digital. 

Talkin Tech with Joey Thomas, VP of Marketing for MoveEasy, and Josh Uminski, Team Lead for Keller Williams! What tech tools do you need in your business in 2020? Here's our Top 15 Tech Tools for RE Pros that we talked about: 1. Evernote - Take notes easily from your phone 2. Clipping Magic - Remove background images 3. WeVideo - Simple video editing software 4. Trello - Organize your projects 5. YouTube Studio - Deep insight for your YT videos 6. Fiverr - Hire freelancers for design, videos, and more 7. Envato Elements - Stock photos and videos 8. Slack - Manage your internal communications 9. Streak - Get the insights of the emails you send 10. MoveEasy - Make moving easy for your clients 11. Buzzsumo - Curate trending topics for your own content ideas 12. Buffer - Schedule your posts to any social platform 13. Canva - Photoshop for dummies - Design made simple 14. Snapseed Studio - Make any photo "Insta-Worthy" 15. Drift - AI Chatbot for your website BONUS: Roof Maxx - Technology that extends the lifespan of a roof BONUS BONUS: BONZO!!

In this episode, we sat down with Chaz McNeice from SlyFox Marketing to discuss everything social advertising for real estate professionals. We talked about how re pros can leverage fb and instagram advertising to reach new audiences, drive leads, and build their brand. Loved chatting with Chaz!

In this podcast episode, we sat down with Amazon best selling author and national speaker, Katie Lance. Katie has been teaching real estate professionals how to manage their social media for over a decade. In this episode, Katie talks about how RE pros can navigate and leverage social media during these uncertain times.  Make sure to give Katie an Instagram follow @katielance. You can also check out her book #getsocialsmart on Amazon. 

In this episode of the Digital RE Digest podcast, we sat down with Patrick Zangardi from Zangardi Studio to talk content strategy for realtors and loan officers. We talked different types of content (to grab attention), how to produce video content (with ease), content strategy for engagement, best tools for creating sticky content, and more. Here is the content calendar we talked about towards the end that you can use to organize your content strategy>> https://zangardi.com/content-calendar/

In this episode, we dig in with real estate agent, Jennifer Kessel-White who, despite only being licensed for two years, has built a wildly successful business by focusing on building an attraction based brand. We talked marketing and brand strategy, building an Instagram avatar, content, and she even gave away many of her secrets. Make sure to give her a follow on Instagram - @lkwhometeam

In this episode of the Digital RE Digest, real estate agent and Tik Tok ninja Andrew Hursh talks about how real estate agents can take advantage of Tik Tok for their business. 

We sat down with Barry Habib, owner of MBS Highway and real estate industry influencer and expert. We talked about how agents and loan officers can prepare for the new business culture, post COVID-19, forbearance, and opportunities. Note: This interview was recorded on April 30th, 2020.