Tom Grisak's Podcast

Of all the things I've tried to accomplish in residential real estate, building a successful team has been the most challenging. A team where everyone is happy, everyone is producing, and it's a beneficial relationship for all involved from the admins on up. Erin Hickman and I have built a very strong team of 8 agents and 3 admins ($57 million closed and in title through April of 2022) but it's taken us ten years to do it. We're going to talk about some of the things we try to do and some of the mistakes we've made along the way.

These are crazy times. Almost every home we see coming onto the market here is getting multiple offers. Buyers and their agents are doing everything they can to get their offer moved to the top of the heap and one of those things are escalations. I'll explain what they do and why we don't like them.

Pricing Homes In A Torrid Market by Tom Grisak, Luxury Agent

How to Become a Great Agent? Become Disciplined by Tom Grisak, Luxury Agent

In this blog I'll be sharing the things I love about residential real estate. I'll also make comparisons between the average salary of professionals and agents within our Keller Williams Allen Tx office. You might be surprised how those match up with professions which require a minimum of 4 years of college and usually another 2 to 4 years of advanced education.

I'm a 38 year veteran of both residential and commercial real estate with a wealth of knowledge. Since statistics show almost 90% of new agents will be out of the business within two years (NAR) I thought I might provide a little help. I'm a luxury agent in the Dallas area and team leader of The Grisak Group, the #1 team in our Keller Williams Allen, Tx office. My production in 2021 was $47 million within my sub-area of the MLS, which I've been the top agent for 21 straight years. Our team sold $106 million in 2021 and our office sold $1 billion. This blog and podcast is designed to take you from a brand new agent to a luxury agent if you're in an area that supports that. I'll have real world experiences of what worked, what didn't, and much, much more. My blog site is at greatagents.blog and if you'd like to visit our website, the address is grisak.com

One of the best ways to stay out of trouble when selling a home is to avoid including the personal property within the contract of sale. When you do that, you're opening up a potential can of worms that actually kill the sale. I'll explain why, when it's appropriate to discuss selling the personal property, and how to do it to keep you, the agent, out of trouble.

As a Realtor, you're going to be tested throughout your career. You'll have to make a judgment call whether to do something that benefits you or your client. It's inevitable. Very early in my career I was tested. It was at a time I really needed the sale and I was dealing with a shrewd investor. I had two choices, keep my mouth shut, not worry about explaining to the investor there might be a problem, and let the transaction play out. OR, I could do the right thing, make sure the investor was aware there might be an issue and give him a chance to terminate the contract. I did the right thing and made sure he knew there might be an issue. As it turns out I never made the sale and to make matters worse, the investor held a grudge against me because he lost his earnest money. But there was a silver lining. I had proven to myself at a very weak moment in my life that I would always do the right thing and never be tempted to place my interests ahead of my client's. And I never have.

I visit with Lucas, Tx mayor Jim Olk. We discuss the improvements at corner where the Lucas Food Store is located, the potential of a roundabout, the recent city council top of cell towers on private property, the failure of the city owned fiber proposal, and new development activity among other things.

Audio Only - July 24th Allen And FLP Market Update by Tom Grisak, Luxury Agent

Curious how the Allen, Fairview, Lucas, and Parker real estate markets are doing now after the 3 month Covid shutdown earlier this year? You might be surprised

Fairview's new mayor, Henry Lessner, was nice enough to sit down and discuss things like the ongoing water project, Lincoln Properties and the Fairview Town Center, the new Billingsley development at 75 and 121, road updates and his vision for Fairview, Texas.

Appraisals are often one of the great mysteries of real estate. If you're an agent, you understand how important it is for a property to appraise, yet we have no say where the value comes in. Ironically, we often know the market much better than the appraiser. A poor appraisal will kill a transaction and we've all had them. So what are the rules appraisers have to follow? How much latitude do they have when comps are difficult to find? What happens when you get a poor appraisal? Is there any recourse? Karen Beaty with Beaty Appraisal here in Fairview will tackle some of the questions I put to her. She's an excellent appraiser, highly regarded, and I've had to rely on her in the past when I needed help with an opinion of value.

On September 1st, 2019 the Texas legislature has mandated that homeowners must pay the insurance deductible for a new roof. It cannot be "absorbed" into the cost of the roof by the roofing company. This has been a "wink, wink, nod, nod" way of doing business in Texas for as long as I can remember. But that's all about to change.

Have you ever been curious about the differences between commercial and residential real estate? Are you a new agent trying to make a decision between the two career paths? I can tell you first hand, these two disciplines are as different as night and day. I spent my first 14 years of real estate working strictly commercial and my past 20 years have been strictly residential. You might be surprised at some of the differences and it might give you some food for thought about the path you'll take.

Lovejoy ISD is a school district serving parts of Allen, Fairview, Lucas, and McKinney Texas. It's considered one of the top three public school districts in the entire state of Texas, year in and year out so this was an important hire by the Lovejoy school board. Dr. Goddard was previously with Lovejoy ISD and was very highly regarded among parents, teachers, and fellow administrators. They are all thrilled to have him back as their superintendent.

Darion shared with me some of his successes as mayor of Fairview, some of his unfinished business, and his vision of what Fairview will look like in the years to come.

This is an interview with Tony Prutch, one of the most popular builders in the Fairview, Lucas, and Celina area. In four years, Tony has built his company into a well oiled machine. He shared how he started out, built his company, what he has working right now, and where he thinks the future is in the custom home industry of north Dallas.

Steve Dinapoli is Fairview's most prolific developer of late. He developed the wildly successful Oak Meadows and Three Oaks, both in Fairview. He has a third development under construction called Harbour Oaks. This provides a little insight into his history and future within Fairview and especially Lovejoy ISD.

This is our first podcast, but we'll be following with them on a weekly basis. We're going to discuss the Collin County real estate market, especially in Fairview, Lucas, and Parker, Tx. You'll hear everything from our negotiating tips, how we price our listings (especially the difficult estate properties on acreage), things to watch out for on contracts, and countless other topics I've been saving up over the past 34 years of my real estate career. We'll also have some interesting guest speakers. Once we go live, you'll be able to call in, but until then, any topics you'd especially like us to discuss, just let us know. tom@grisak.com, 972.359.1553 And don't forget to subscribe to our weekly activity reports by email