The Bender Continues
Everyday bros talking about how life goes!
The Bender Continues
Real Estate Pulse FT. Austin Marks
Unlock the secrets of navigating Florida's shifting real estate climate with our special guest, Austin, a seasoned real estate professional. We promise to provide you with valuable insights into the latest trends and challenges in the market, from the impact of the NAR settlement on commission fees to the evolving preferences of homebuyers in flood-prone areas. Austin offers his expert perspective on how these changes affect both buyers and sellers, shedding light on the critical role of negotiation skills and the influence of technology platforms like Zillow in empowering consumers.
We explore the vibrant Tampa Bay real estate scene, where lifestyle, location, and education are key drivers of property decisions. Discover how families are moving away from flood zones, drawn to neighborhoods like South Tampa and Odessa, known for excellent schools and expansive properties. Austin also shares a glimpse into the luxurious side of the market, highlighting the allure of Odessa's high-end homes with their private lakes and equestrian roots, and how these amenities are reshaping buyer preferences in light of insurance concerns.
Delve into the fascinating world of luxury smart homes and the art of staging, as Austin reveals the latest in modern amenities and the transformative power of social media in real estate marketing. Learn about his journey in the industry, from joining a brokerage to building his own team, and the invaluable role mentorship plays in achieving success in this dynamic field. As we wrap up, Austin takes us through a day in the life of a real estate agent, sharing the balance between spontaneity and structure, and the importance of building trust and relationships with clients. Join us for an episode packed with insights, trends, and personal stories that bring the world of real estate to life.
How about the fact that Davion posted that next year will be like the 10-year reunion for you guys, yep?
Jonathan Strahl:That was pretty crazy.
Kenny Massa:It is. I didn't even think about that. I didn't see it, me neither.
James LaGamma:10 years 10-year reunion. As far as graduating, Coach Austin's going back.
Jonathan Strahl:That's crazy. Do we do that, coach Austin?
Ryan Selimos:We got a Coach Austin, yeah, running backs coach. The guy who went to North Dakota after OG I don't know how. He's going back to Stetson.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, they just hired him Interesting the big dude. No, no.
Jonathan Strahl:He's a little guy actually. If I remember he was small, but he was like oh, I remember who he was Coach Austin.
Austin Marks:I know, it took me a second. He was a great coach. I got concussions.
Kenny Massa:Can he play, or One of the Dakotas? Yeah, they should just be one state.
Ryan Selimos:But yeah, basically enough people Live in fucking both states To be attacked. Feels like the Dakotas Right now Fucking, freezing outside yeah.
Kenny Massa:Okay, how cold is it by you, austin?
Austin Marks:Like 40s.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, it's like 40s here.
Ryan Selimos:So, it's snowing there in Florida, huh, 40 degrees basically.
Jonathan Strahl:Yeah, it's pretty cold, nice, the rain, the rain was terrible, that was terrible.
Ryan Selimos:We appreciate you skipping the big holiday in the Tampa area of Gasparilla and being here with us. I know you're looking forward to it Very excited. We appreciate your support. What's he going by himself?
Kenny Massa:Heather can't go. She's like pretty pregnant he's going with clients.
Ryan Selimos:It's where the real estate oh that's not leaving my house.
James LaGamma:Yeah, Austin how are you skating around A RESPA Section 8 violation? What Getting kickbacks?
Kenny Massa:Oh yeah.
James LaGamma:How do you do it? How do you get such a nice Life, toys, toys, alcohol, meals while not violating law?
Ryan Selimos:Wow, you really just what do you mean. This is a great start. You just changed the whole tone of the conversation. Alright, Austin, you're on Yikes.
Kenny Massa:I haven't started yet. We have Shut up. This is not, this is going in. Austin has killer lines. I haven't started yet. We have. No, we have started.
Ryan Selimos:We're recording. Shut up. This is not. I've been on my phone the whole time. This is going in Austin has killer lines Cut.
James LaGamma:I have a fucking question.
Ryan Selimos:Go.
Kenny Massa:There is changes in the industry, though, right Like there was that whole law that passed last year that had to do with, like, one side paying for all the fees and all that kind of stuff. And then also, oh, the NAR settlement. I don't fucking know what it's called. I'm not in real estate, that's why he's here. It's a NAR settlement.
James LaGamma:Go ahead. Talk about the NAR settlement.
Austin Marks:Yeah, so basically what happened was traditionally a seller would pay both the commission fees. So if one of you listed your home let's say the commission is at 5% you would pay your listing agent the person listing your home 2.5% and then you'd offer 2.5% to a buyer's agent to bring you a buyer to the table. A lawsuit started with some lawyers thinking that real estate agents were colluding and kind of marking up that price to work together. The idea behind it was like if one of us was in a lawsuit with another one, why should I have to pay my lawyer to represent?
Austin Marks:me and why should I pay like your lawyer to represent you, or you should pay your own representation and I should pay my own? So from there the lawyers ended up winning a massive class action lawsuit. They went after all the big brokerages, because those are the ones with the money, and then they changed the rules. So let's say, one of you wanted to look at a house tomorrow, and this was a year ago. I could go in the MLS and be like okay, 123 Main Street is offering 2% or 2.5% to me, and I would just know that ahead of time. It doesn't really make a difference to me, because what matters to me is that the client likes the home. But at least you know you would get compensated a certain percentage through this transaction if it were to go through Versus. Now all that has to be completely removed and we just have to approach the listing presentation a little bit differently of saying, hey, you know, sellers, this is where we're at today, this is what my fee is, and I can give recommendations on what I think you should do.
Austin Marks:As far as like offering that commission as an incentive, it has made things challenging because most of the time on the buyer's side, you have a lot more expenses, right? So you're putting a down payment down, you're paying for appraisals, you're paying for an inspection, you're paying for surveys, you're paying for closing costs, you're paying for a lot of things. And so now, on top of that, you have to be expected to pay two to two and a half, sometimes up to 3%, to your buyer's agent. The buyers usually don't have that cash on hand and it's always been nice of kind of the circle of way or the way it works as far as the seller paying that. And then you know, when you buy you don't have to worry about paying your agent.
Austin Marks:So that aspect has changed and I'm seeing a little bit of everything, like some sellers are still open to offering that incentive to a buyer's agent because they know the buyer's agent is bringing the people to the property. And then I've had other situations where the seller is like I'm not paying the real estate agent on the buy side because in my eyes I think that they're only just opening a door and letting somebody in. So now there's like two negotiation periods to a real estate transaction. One is between the seller and the buyer as far as agreeing on price, and then now on those deals where the commission isn't set up front. There's a second negotiation period which is basically becoming between the seller and myself and the buyer's broker, the buyer's broker wanting to get paid a certain amount.
Kenny Massa:So it's definitely adding more complexity to the situation. I feel like it slows things down too, though, from just wanting to go see houses. The one thing that I saw like when recently purchasing a home was that it was um, but just more challenging to like line things up and go, because people want to know that information first. I guess like, yeah, what are commissions being paid and whatnot? It's kind of a pain in the ass, in my opinion.
Austin Marks:Yeah, I agree, I think, um, I thought it was a great, uh, like a decent system beforehand, because there's like, if you sell a house, right, it kind of stinks, you're paying that commission on both sides, but then after you sell, you're typically going and buying something else, right, and it's kind of the circle that just keeps going around and around and it, in my eyes, kind of balances out over time. Now, you're right, it does complicate things. It's like, as the real estate agent, I always put my clients first of making sure, like, is this a good investment for you? Like, it's not about me and you know, trying to get a deal done, it's about, like, does this house work for you? Does the payments work for you? Does the neighborhood work for you? And now, unfortunately, it is adding in that element where agents are like well, how much am I getting paid?
Austin Marks:I recently just went through my first transaction with that where the seller didn't want to offer a compensation to a buyer's agent and the buyer fell in love with the house and loved the house and we negotiated price and we, like seller and buyer, found a middle ground that worked for them and the sellers were excited.
Austin Marks:And then the buyer's agents were like, well, how much are we getting paid? And I had that conversation of like, unfortunately, sellers are not offering compensation, and so then it became a whole nother negotiation that went on for like two days of basically just the buyer's broker rightfully so trying to be compensated on the deal and the seller's not, and then we finally found a middle ground. But like you said, kenny, the deal itself was put together a couple days before and then the other couple days after were just between the broker and myself and the seller, which unfortunately, I think hurts the consumer, because the consumer was very excited about the house. They got the price and the terms that they wanted, but the deal could have potentially fallen through if it came down to the broker not willing to take a lesser commission on it.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, it's kind of wild, because if someone's excited to purchase a home and then all of a sudden they have all this shit going on in the background and it's like not really a tasteful element towards the transaction, um from a from a time when you're supposed to be happy and excited about purchasing a new home. So from the buyer's perspective it's kind of yeah, it's kind of um.
Ryan Selimos:It adds a flavor of like on enjoyment to the process and it sounds like the buyer has no involvement, like they have no control over the situation. They've made a decision, they're ready to buy everything within their control. They've checked those boxes and still it might not happen.
Austin Marks:Yeah, that's tough yeah, yeah, well, and there's other things. Like there's a lot of real estate agents in tampa. There's like 8,500 greater Tampa Bay area, so all three counties, there's 8,500 agents. So I mean I would never do this, but maybe it's an agent that's like a little bit more desperate or like only does one transaction a year. Like imagine they're your realtor. You don't know if you're trusting them to send you properties and maybe it's in like your dream desirable area and they ask, hey, is there a compensation on this? And the seller says no, maybe that realtor doesn't send you that property and maybe you could have missed out on something that you really liked because the realtor didn't know how to negotiate for themselves or didn't want to go through that Um.
Austin Marks:But I will say um that the shift um in the market with like all the apps and technology does help the consumer a lot. Right, with like Zillow is basically a version of Instagram for home shopping, so the consumer can use it. Before, traditionally, the agent right Is finding the properties and sending it to the client to look at and things like that, or printing it out and sharing it with them. But now, most of the time, like my clients are sending me properties before, like I can even get it to them. So I'll see, oh, this property just popped up, let me check, like the disclosures, or is it priced? Well, is there anything wrong with the house? And like they're already sending it to me before I'm even reviewing it to send to them because it's popping up on Zillow or they're just looking at it constantly. Um, so that's a good point.
Jonathan Strahl:Hey, austin, you mentioned like desirable areas in the greater Tampa Tampa Bay area. Like for someone who's in your shoes, what are you seeing and what are you? What do you feel or what do you see as the most desirable areas and where individuals are trying to move to, and what you support?
Austin Marks:Yeah, great question. It's really just based on preference. I'll say the biggest thing right now is people want to avoid flood zones just based on recent storms and fear Just based on, like recent storms and fear these last two hurricanes. I think it's like you know, the hundred year storm, yeah, in parts of Florida, but mainly Tampa as far as like how hot the water rose so that that kind of struck a lot of fear in people that I had clients about a house last year. Great area would never think anything would happen and then there was some water in the neighborhood and they're like, yeah, we don't want to do that again, we want to sell and move. So the properties that I have that are not in flood zones are a lot easier to sell. I get a lot more activity on those, the ones that are in flood zones. People become a little bit more skeptical about them and concerned about them, especially if they're older. The newer homes are built up higher in elevation and up to code and things like that, which are helpful, but it's also price. Like, um, flood insurance is is going to get really expensive. So very similar to california and fire insurance. It just gets to a point where it's super high and unattainable and people can't afford it. Yeah, and then also, john, kind of what you're saying too, like it's all preference.
Austin Marks:Like the past couple of years, I used to get so many people that just moved from all over the country, like New York or Midwest or California or Texas, like it was all these people from out of state moving to Florida and they didn't know what area. So it was always kind of like breaking down, like what is your lifestyle Like? Do you want your the beach or do you want to be down like downtown Tampa, close to everything, or do you want to be in the suburbs, like similar to Orlando? You have all these different pockets that are for different kinds of lifestyles.
Austin Marks:Um, now I'm just seeing a lot more people like locally move around. So sometimes maybe it's people that move to South Tampa because they want that lifestyle, they want to be in like near downtown or the lightning stand, like there's so many developments going on. There are people that want to be in like downtown St Pete because they want to be close to the downtown area. Or you get people like Heather and I live like 20 minutes outside of Tampa, like in a suburb area, because it just kind of matches our, our needs and what we're looking for. So really just depends on what people's lifestyles are, but I see people just move around locally all the time.
Jonathan Strahl:Interesting. That's a good point.
Austin Marks:But you guys have done too.
Jonathan Strahl:Yeah, do you so Mountain or mountain Mountain Dang? Yeah, do you so not?
Ryan Selimos:in Vermont, not in dang. Hey, at least you got hills an old groveland baby represent.
Jonathan Strahl:Geez, hey, uh, austin, when you like, if you're uh an individual who has a family or you have kids, right, um, where are in tampa some of the better like school zones or districts? And I'm sure when families come to you that's probably a popular question.
Austin Marks:So I'm just curious what that looks like yeah, well, the first question is are you looking at like public schools or private schools? Um, and depends on the area too. So, like South Tampa, they have great public schools and they have in certain areas and they have great private schools too. Um, a lot of my market has been North of Tampa, so it's been in an area called Odessa and Lutes and West chase area, which is just more probably 20, 30 minutes North of South Tampa. South Tampa is very competitive. There's a lot of agents, a lot of higher priced homes, so that's where everyone kind of flocks to, and I've just been fortunate enough to find a niche in this area where there hasn't been a ton of competition, which has allowed me to scale more over time. But, with that said, in my market that I know really well, yeah, we have great public schools, so a lot of people like that area. For once, not in the flood zone, you get some acreage and then great public schools as well.
Kenny Massa:Let's start to talk about the properties a little bit more that you sell, because I think that's what is your unique kind of value proposition as an agent. Right, you talk about 8,500 agents in that greater Tampa area, but if you look at the size of the homes, the cost of the homes, the areas, you do have that niche in the Odessa area and surrounding spots and a lot of those homes are like they're all luxury we can consider them like luxury, high-end real estate. For the most part, I would say everything that you touch is of that you know seven figures or more kind of region. But tell us a little bit about those properties. Like more land, I know a lot of them are lakes. A lot of them are thousands of square feet.
Austin Marks:They're big properties yeah, um, yeah, it's, it's definitely um, the thing that people love most about odessa are the acreage, um, the size of the lots and lake frontage. So traditionally that area was like more equestrian. So they have like larger parcels, like there was one that got listed the other day for like 5 000 square feet on 22 acres, um, and you're only about an hour and a half or so from Ocala, which is where that world equestrian center is. So you can live in Ocala or you can live in Tampa. So because everything and then make that drive, uh, and then the other thing is the lakes.
Austin Marks:So that's just something that I personally really like and so it's been really fun to be involved in and easy to sell, because that's the lifestyle that I grew up with. Or we go to Lake Placid or Claremont or things like that. That's the stuff that I enjoy, so it's easy for me to sell that aspect of it. But, yeah, tampa is very spread out and so it just depends on the lifestyle you want. So that's just how my business has snowballed and, yeah, it's mainly based off of acreage and there's larger homes out there, but they have larger homes in South Tampa, but it's just kind of more, you know smaller lots and being more centrally located, if that answers your question.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, they just seem like a little room in those areas, uh-huh.
Austin Marks:Wasn't that kind of what you did too, Kenny is? You wanted something with acreage, and then you just kind of found a pocket where that market was um similar area.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, I guess kind of like. So we're in wellington, which is like equestrian based too, kind of. So I feel like follow the horses if you want land.
Austin Marks:Yeah, so that's like the perfect example that I use if I get people that relocate from a different part of Florida or maybe like Miami or South Florida. They're like what is Odessa? Like I've never heard of it and I'm like the best way I could explain it is like a Wellington to Fort Lauderdale or West Palm, right as you, you still are close to things. You're not. It's not like you're out in the middle of nowhere, like you're still close to, like Publix, starbucks, but you're like right on the edge there to where you have acreage or lake frontage. Like some of these lake houses, you can have a huge house on water for a good price compared to what you know a waterfront property would cost in South Tampa. But you're on an acre or two acres and you're not in a flood zone and personally I would rather have the lake and, just you know, have your own dock go out there. You don't have to worry about storm surge or, you know, big waves or anything like that aren't?
James LaGamma:um, some of those lakes, uh, private lakes too. They're not even like open, like public ramps and that kind of stuff too, so that makes it even added bonus. Yeah, yeah.
Austin Marks:Yeah, the I mean the vast majority of them are private Um Lake Tarpon is a massive Lake. It's like 5,300 acres. That one um has public access, but all the ones in Odessa that I know of are private, which is great. So the biggest one is, uh, 430 acres, which holds the highest price point, which is interesting too. Right, it's just like the market just determines the most desirable lake to be on. This is like the one to be on, and the prices reflect that, but it is private. So there's like two no, between like 300 or 400 homes on that lake, but it's like you only see a couple people on the lake at a time.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, that's awesome. That's a really unique aspect. You're only going to be on a lake with people that are living on the lake, basically, or associated with the homes on the lake, which is so cool.
Ryan Selimos:It makes sense though, right, you come to Florida for waterfront property. All the storms, everyone came here for beachfront, and the storms have really, with insurance, kind of moved people away from that. Lakefront gives you that lifestyle from a different angle, and we've talked about Lake Placid where your family is now located. That area is blowing up. I think lakefront is definitely you're starting to see in a lot of areas, but the next couple of years it's going to continue to boom.
James LaGamma:Well, I mean, you're seeing a lot and I know Austin, you can attest to this A lot of the major cities that everyone lives in. In Florida you've got your Fort Lauderdale, miami area. Everything's been expanding out from there and so where all those lakes actually are didn't have access to amenities like local grocery stores and stuff that were easily accessible. And because everything is commercializing and spreading out, it's making that a little bit more appetizing to a borrower.
James LaGamma:Because before like Austin said, these are a lot of horses and ranches and stuff like that. You still go drive around the middle of Florida. You're just seeing houses in random locations why would someone live here? But eventually that random house is going to be closer to a Publix and then closer to a Walmart and then it's going to be like well okay, now that there's this lake, that's here, the value is going to explode.
Kenny Massa:Yeah, and as that commercial stuff is easier to access, it just attracts more people, and then that's when they start dropping those huge developments, and then it just explodes from there.
James LaGamma:It just keeps going. That's actually what we're experiencing in Claremont. It was know farmland for the longest time. You still kind of keep going west from Orlando and it still is farmland. But they've brought, we've got, a Costco now. It just opened up last year, like maybe 8 months ago. That was huge and now everyone goes there. So it makes things a little bit more attainable, like it's only like a 15 minute drive from, like the um city limits of Groveland. So yeah, it's, it's wild, but I, you know, I still feel like I'm away from the hustle and bustle of Orlando, which is nice, which is still 45 minutes away from me, and it makes sense too.
Ryan Selimos:You know Austin talks about all the different individuals he was working with, his clients coming in from different states, and now you're miami's, you're orlando's, you're tampa those areas you're on top of each other's now. So, yes, people are moving out. They want more space. They're willing to make that commute to get an acre, two acres, where in orlando or miami those areas you're maybe getting half an acre or a third at similar price points.
Austin Marks:So now it's going to bring all that development yeah, I just get people that, just like we we've all done, around, zillow, as you said, like a certain price point, and then you just keep like clicking dots and the next thing you know you keep kind of moving, let's say more north or south, whatever, because you don't necessarily know those areas, you just think the dots are close together. I think that's what happens. Like I had a gentleman call me from Miami the other day asking about a property I had listed and I think he just had set, uh, the house was listed for 3 million, I think he just had a price point set for that and he was probably looking in maybe Miami or South Tampa, and then like just found his way and it was like wait a second, this is like a 6,000 square foot house on an acre on a ski lake for the same price I'm looking at for like a penthouse in downtown or whatever it is. What is this area? But that is, um is one of the parts that I feel like I have to always explain to buyers that aren't familiar with the area, right?
Austin Marks:So that same lake house, I showed it to a party that was like, oh, this area is just way too rural for us, like we can never move out here, we're not interested, and I'm like well, you're five minutes from our like most popular freeway. That takes you 15 minutes to get to the airport. Your closest Publix and Starbucks is 10 minutes. So that's why I'm getting more like local people and that's why those like properties or bigger properties typically sell faster. It's because I get like the $3 million ones under contract right now. I went under contract in 12 days because the buyer is from South Tampa, so he knew the area as soon as he saw it. He loved the house and was like yeah, I'll buy it. Like I know the area, but to someone that's like just driving down or visiting from like New York, they're like where am I? Like am I in the woods? And you're like no, if you know where you are, you're, you know, 15 minutes from the airport and super close to everything.
Kenny Massa:I think people want to go to those big city areas because you have one ease of access, right Like you can just literally like New York you can step outside and you can be in 50 different restaurants in five minutes. But also, I think, especially the bigger buildings, the penthouses, like luxury is just baked into your lifestyle but it doesn't mean that you can't access luxury amenities at your home in a 6,000 square foot home Like. You've probably seen some crazy stuff inside of some of these homes that you've either walked through and toured with potential buyers or you've been the selling agent on Like. Can you give us examples of some maybe like luxurious amenities that you've seen built into these homes, because I've seen some pictures of them and you know, on lakes, probably boathouses and things like that.
Austin Marks:Yeah, um seen some really cool stuff. Um one, I saw a house that he had um an automatic screened Lanai, so it was on the lake and so he he his covered, like his pool wasn't covered, but his outdoor patio had a roof over, and then like the walls around it and so he would leave it open so, you know, he can enjoy an unobstructed view of the lake or the pool.
Austin Marks:But in the evenings if, like, the bugs got bad or he wanted to put a the screen in, he just push a button and then the cage would basically come down and put a screen around all the walls. Um, you know, if he's eating outside, or something like that. Um, docks I've seen, you know, um, like two-story docks so people can jump off of or have multiple boat slips. Um, what else?
James LaGamma:um, I mean the backyards that you have on some of these are are just it looks like a spa resort. They're gorgeous.
Austin Marks:Yeah, a lot of these homes are like smart homes too. Yeah, like everything is done from the phone. So, like the last one the biggest sale that I've had he bought the house, he put a ton of money into it and it was like every possible thing you can think of was done into it, and it was like every possible thing you can think of was done so like on his phone. He could walk into any room and turn on and control the tv with his phone. It didn't matter, you didn't need a bunch of remotes, he just controlled it from that phone garages, air conditioning, sound system, which was like in the house, in the landscaping around the house and on the dock. So if he was like on the dock, he didn't want to listen to music on the dock he could just sync it up to his phone.
Austin Marks:Um, trying to think of what else? Um, generators are pretty big too. With properties or those bigger houses now, they'll just set up a really big generator and a propane tank so the house can run on it. Um, a lot of stuff, though, just comes down to like architectural design too, of like you know, I had one where it was a beautiful kitchen, and then they built a butler's kitchen slash pantry behind the kitchen so like that's where you would put like pots and food and if you had people over, so that the kitchen is just more of like an art piece and an entertaining space and then all like the dirty dishes go in a separate hidden.
James LaGamma:Yeah, that's cool. How old are these homes? Yeah, how old are these homes? Are they, like uh, been around for a while or are they relatively newer builds?
Austin Marks:Um, most of them are like early two thousands, sometimes mid two thousands. Um, but that's a fun thing about real estate is it's like it's so unpredictable. Um, you know, I can't. I've tried to apply similar like data trends that I know Kenny applies to his business, and I just can't. There's no common factor. So, like I could, I've had anywhere from someone you know, like the Butler's kitchen house I was just talking about. They built a custom house in like 2020 and they lived in it for a couple of years and they just decided they wanted to sell it for whatever reason. And then again I've had other people that have lived in the house since 1990 and their kids moved out and now they're downsizing. So I will say there's huge demand for newer homes and new construction homes, but they just don't come up very often. I'm seeing a lot more of people buy like an older home than they renovated or take down walls and try to modernize it that way.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, so, austin, you found your niche market right. You're passionate about it, but you obviously didn't start. You weren't selling these homes when you first started. So, like to a new real estate individual who's trying to make that leap, they're on their own journey. What would be your advice and can you kind of share how you found, you know, this niche that you're now pretty successful in?
Austin Marks:Yeah, I think, like any industry, mentorship is really important.
Austin Marks:So I always had an interest in real estate. Um and I joined a brokerage that my dad got his real estate license and did, like um a transaction and recommended joining this brokerage. So I joined the brokerage and then through that, through mutual connections, of just wanting to find a team just you know, we've all been in, we all played in the same football team. So I wanted, like that camaraderie aspect. Um, I didn't want to just be alone and trying to figure this out on my own. I wanted to be a part of something and part of a team.
Austin Marks:So I got connected with a team that just happened to specialize in luxury real estate. I didn't realize that that's what I wanted to do or that's what I was going to get into, but I joined that team and the way that teams work in real estate is you'll have a split set up with them. So, for example, I'll sell. If I sell something, I get 60 or 70 percent of the commission check and then they get a portion of it for that mentorship and helping. So I did that for a couple of years and through that I learned a ton. It helped accelerate my process of learning how to talk to these luxury homeowners, how to market to them how to sell the properties, how to stage them, how to market them, and I learned a lot of that from the mentors that I had.
Austin Marks:And it just got to a point where I felt like I was outgrowing that team and decided it was time for me to take a step in a different direction and decided it was time for me to take a step in a different direction. But I really recommend mentorship or coaching or help, because maybe you are giving up a piece of the permission check or, with some coaching, you're paying for the coaching or, like a mastermind, you're paying for it. But it's an investment that accelerates the process. I've been in the business for five years and I'm now at a point where I think I have a lot of business coming in and leads that I'm looking to start a team myself and kind of expand that. But I don't think I would have gotten here or gotten into this price point this quickly if it wasn't for joining a team, giving up portions of revenue and just learning and just trying to be a sponge.
Jonathan Strahl:Hey, austin, that's a great point. I love the mentorship piece and it's awesome especially as like a friend group to see you succeeding and doing very well. I've got a question. We've talked about like being online and seeing pictures. You've mentioned Zillow a few times. You've mentioned marketing, the online piece. I find it so interesting of how real estate has evolved into what it is today. When you talk about the social media piece and being able to go on as a consumer and click to see what a price looks like, and you've used your marketing and your online social media very well, so walk us through that and just how much has that been a benefit? But also, is there a challenge to it as well?
Austin Marks:Yeah, let's see. The benefit has mainly been, I would say, for sellers. So the vast majority like 80, 90% of my business has been on the sell side. The listing side, which I like. I like taking a property and staging it and decluttering and adding different decor and taking those pictures and getting the nighttime shots and like really, really making it a marketable property and having it perform better than other properties on the market. That's something I'm passionate about and really enjoy. And so how do I do that with?
Austin Marks:The aspect of social media is getting great content, whether it's like the social media reels that are down to like less than a minute for consumers and pushing those out through advertising. Some realtors are very good with social media. I see stuff all the time of like their whole business is from Instagram and pulling leads and things like that, which I probably only had a couple leads like directly from Instagram where someone saw like a paid advertising and then reached out. But I think it's just more of continuing to show people what you're doing and staying busy and saying, hey look, you know I've listed another property, here's how it looks, and it's staying in front of people so that when the time comes in maybe like five years. They're like who should we call? And they're like oh, we've been following Austin on Instagram for five years and he's been pretty busy and he always puts out really high quality pictures and content Like I think that's the person we want to represent our house. So it's more of just staying top of mind.
Austin Marks:Everyone has different strategies for social media. I've tried to experiment with different things and just haven't necessarily been very successful, like the direct lead flow, but I think just the branding of trying to stay in front of people. But by posting that content on social media and advertising with it, it helps increase the view count, which also carries over to Zillow and increases the view count and save count on Zillow, which then in return I can go back to my sellers or a potential seller that I'm doing a listing presentation and say, hey, this is what I can do for your property and these are the amount of people we can get in front of. And these are the amount of people we can get in front of and most of the time they like to hear that compared to maybe an agent that would just take a picture and throw it online and just wait for someone to call them.
Jonathan Strahl:Yeah, I mean let's. I think it's it's so obvious, like at the end of the day for you, and probably what we could all agree on too. It's like when someone meets you, at the end of the day, what the goal is like you're trying to build a relationship and trust right, and that's what someone's going to go with and that obviously individual would be you, but it is just really interesting to see what you can grasp and consume online when it comes to just real estate. So interesting.
Austin Marks:Appreciate you breaking that down, just trying to stay in front of people. And I think the reason why I like real estate is I've never been good at like direct sales, like my, like Heather, she does over the phone sales. It's like boom, here's the pitch. Like do I convert this or not onto the next versus mine's, just more relationship building. So my like, one of my core values is value. How do I provide value to where it just doesn't feel like it's a sales pitch right, like if you walk into a home and you don't like the home, there's no way I'm going to be able to. Whatever I can pitch I can put together is get you to buy the house. So how can I provide value? And I think I can do a lot of that? Just through getting, if I'm representing you on the listing side, just getting the property in front of as many people as possible and representing it, you know, to the to its full potential. There was something else I was going to add, but Got another core value.
Austin Marks:Yeah, oh. So I think we've probably all heard of Ryan Serhant. Ryan Serhant is like like the biggest social media guy. He's been on like the Netflix shows and so he's very successful with his brokerage.
Austin Marks:In one of his books he said that people like to shop with friends and that is always something that like stuck out to me is like if you went into Nordstrom or Macy's or whatever and the sales rep was following you around like you should buy the shirt, you should buy the shirt, it wouldn't be enjoyable, right. But? And the sales rep was following you around like you should buy the shirt, you should buy the shirt it wouldn't be enjoyable, right. But if you went with like a friend and the friend was like, hey, this color looks good on you, or like it's just a fun experience and you're providing value, it makes it a much more enjoyable experience. So that's what I try to tailor it. I try to, you know, become an advisor, but friends with the client, so they can feel like they're shopping with a friend where they're comfortable and it's fun, but I'm providing value along the way.
Ryan Selimos:Love that. That's awesome.
James LaGamma:Yeah, Good perspective. Um, you got something right.
James LaGamma:You go All right. Well, I mean, I'm going to shift a little bit of the focus too. So you go Okay, cool, I'm going to go a little bit more towards my side of the world, um, in in this real estate transaction. So, do you, do you just? We talked about the market, we talked about the different homes and like what people like, what people dislike. So I, in the home buying process, do you genuinely see, when someone comes to you and you start to help work with them or find a home or or anything and I'm specifically starting from the buyer side, not the seller side yeah, um, do they always? Do they already have a lender picked out? Are they usually coming in with cash in your area? What, what's the? The financing?
Austin Marks:portion of it and how do you add value? Yeah, I haven't seen cash buyers in a while. Uh, they were. I was seeing them constantly. Um, I think because when interest rates were so low that people with cash were basically competing against free money and so it was kind of like an even playing field versus now, you know, people want to hold onto their cash or borrow. I know interest rates are high, but they would rather leverage that than spend the cash. So I haven't really seen a cash buyer in a while, versus I'm seeing a ton of them.
Austin Marks:And then, as far as when clients want to purchase a home, it really depends, because I have first-time homebuyers that come to me and they're like, hey, I want to buy a house, how do I get started? And that's just a different process. As far as just simplifying the process from A to Z, here's a lender that I use that I've had great experience with here's, who I recommend Versus. You know some of the affluent clientele, right, this has been like their 10th, 11th, 12th home. So they're very familiar with the process where they might've been doing it, you know, for the past 10, 20 years, and they already have a lender. So I have vendors. I don't necessarily try to push them onto people. If they're like hey, I already have a great lender, it's like great, you can use that lender if you feel comfortable with them and let's make it a seamless process. But for those that don't or are curious about the process, I have those lined up for people.
James LaGamma:And I guess you know what I've gotten from most of this and obviously our conversations is you're, you're generally more focused on the seller side, um, but for someone that seems to just find themselves, uh, being on the buyer side, often as a real estate agent, um, would you, would you say that that's another avenue that someone can look into? As far as relationship building, like, you've talked about how to create a strong relationship with the actual um seller and adding adding value and all that kind of stuff, or shopping with friends and stuff, but, um, a lot of the stuff, at least from the mortgage side, is right, the relationship building with real estate agents, builders and those kinds of things.
Austin Marks:So, yeah, um, that's an amazing thing with real estate is there's so many different ways that you can frame your business model. If you want to just work with sellers, or you want to work with buyers, or you want to work with investors, or you want to work with investors, or you want to work with first-time home buyers, or you want to work with, specifically, veterans using a VA loan there's so many things you can do and model your business and find your niche. I have seen great models between buyers and lenders where they're splitting marketing costs. So the buyer's agent is like hey, I do a ton of buyers, or I pay Zillow or Realtorcom for leads. You want to split this cost with me and you'll do all my loans. Or I have a team and we're primarily on the buy side. You can be our preferred lender, but you need to help pay for advertising. So I've seen all different kinds of models like that, where people just have their preferred vendors that they've used.
Austin Marks:As a realtor. I want the transaction to go smoothly and easy. It's an emotional transaction and so any bump in the road can cause issues as far as maybe the buyer has second thoughts about the house or the seller doesn't want to deal with that party anymore, whatever it is. So just making sure that you have a good relationship with the lender or inspectors or whoever it is, so that it's an easy process, that's my top priority.
James LaGamma:My last comment on um, or a question for you, is is have you seen competition in the marketplace from investment firms still trying to buy up homes and stuff?
Austin Marks:Not really. I don't know if it's just the market that I have been in Occasionally, like I have a house rented or rented for sale in the Odessa area. That would work, is like a great rental. It's under 400,000. So it would kind of meet that criteria. Some of these, but I don't really get too much. I get like low ball offers, like I'll just get an email from someone who hasn't seen it like years. You know I'll give you 50% of what you have it listed at and who knows if that's backed by one of those companies and they're just sending out so many of those emails until somebody bites. But I haven't seen it too much. It might just be the market that I'm in and maybe they focus on places like South Tampa or close to the airport.
James LaGamma:They're going to do first-time homebuyer type homes, first luxury.
Austin Marks:It's just hard to make the numbers make sense unless these hedge funds are coming in and buying it in cash and then turn around and renting it because the rent is so high. These hedge funds are coming in and buying in cash and then turn around and renting it because the rent is so high, but it's so high that, like, if I borrow money, I can't I can't make a rental deal make sense right now. Yeah.
James LaGamma:Yeah.
Ryan Selimos:Yeah, awesome. I was going to ask you kind of what's a day in the life or what's a week look like for you. It's not a typical nine to five, right? I feel like weekends is probably more your busy time, so you like to sleep in, so you're not up at you know you don't got to be in the office at 7am, you know what I mean To just take us through that journey of uh, of what you know a typical day or a week looks like, with all the craziness in real estate.
Austin Marks:Yeah, so it really um Very so. January to June is my, is like my busiest time. November, december is always super slow. Um, so that's when you know you try to take some more golf lessons, when you play a little bit more.
Ryan Selimos:But um, other than that, To meet clients and build relationships on the course buddy golf and then actually heather started playing.
Austin Marks:So I started playing a little bit and I've gotten gotten more into it. I don't know if it's like.
Austin Marks:As soon as I hit 30 I was like all right, we're picking up the sticks awesome you're always good at golf super fun in the calf, you know, just great shot, your aim's great, yeah, yeah yeah, I don't know if you guys have been seeing that, like john gruden went to barstool but he lives in avila, in tampa, so he's at that golf course all the time. So there's a lot of um, yeah, there's a lot of golf in Florida, um, but oh, the day in the life thing. So yeah, it really. It really varies Like. So today I have, you know, this is the podcast and then I have a couple hours where I've just got to finish um, a couple like email, admin stuff, and then I'm driving um about an hour North to do photos for a property from like two to six 30, and then I'll come home and then tomorrow I have an open house from 11 to two and then after that I'm showing our client like five properties, so that'll probably be from like three to six or three to seven Um, and then, you know, monday I might not have anything until, you know, sunday rolls around and then someone starts requesting to see a property or wants to schedule a call. So it is.
Austin Marks:It is interesting navigating the schedule. You just kind of go with the flow. But that's another reason why I'm looking into building a team and structuring a team, just having a little bit extra help as far as, like, hey, here's, you know, um, an appointment that you know is only an hour that I could leverage somebody else's time to to help me with that. So just going with it day by day. But yeah, it is, it's um, I mean, I, I love it. I guess some people might not like it, because it's just so 24, seven, but not if that makes sense, like you could wake up and be like man, I don't really have anything today. I can go play golf or maybe I'll go get lunch with a friend, but that could change. Somebody could call you and then you work when nobody else is working. So weekends is when people are wanting to have open houses done or go look at properties.
Jonathan Strahl:So yeah, it's like it's like almost you have the flexibility but you really don't. And, to your point, like you're putting in a lot more hours on the weekend than maybe, as Ryan hinted at. Like you're not working like an eight to five or a nine to five, which also in your world like there's I'm sure you can attest to this Like you want to be great and good at what you're doing. Like you got to have a little bit of accountability on your own end, right?
Austin Marks:Absolutely yeah. So I mean, the first thing I do every morning is just make a to-do list of, like, what's like top important things following up with clients, you know. And then there's just so many different hats I have to wear as far as, like, I still have to have a marketing and prospect aspect to my business, so like, okay, for these two hours I'm going to follow up with leads or send direct mail or whatever it might be, and then the other part of the day I'm following up and kind of switching to a management aspect of like, how are things going with the listings and calling clients and then doing showings, and so, as that scales more over time, that's why I'm looking to implement some help, just so that quality can stay there as the business grows Makes sense Cool.
Kenny Massa:Well, as we wrap up here, if there's one piece of advice that you could give someone who's looking to become an agent or be a better agent, what would that be, so that they could better their business?
Austin Marks:Yeah, I, uh, I would definitely join Austin's team. Um would definitely be like the mentorship route. So, as I had mentioned, there's so many different routes you can go in real estate, whether it's like I want to work with landlords and help them find rental or like investment properties, or I want to do fix and flips, or I want to do high-end homes, or I want to work with buyers, like kind of looking at the model that you want to do and then aligning yourself with a team or a mentor, because there are people that have been in the business for a long time and they're starting to get out and they just want to work with certain clients and that's someone where you could help them or be like an assistant and learn their business, cause that was the best thing that happened to me was being on a team and having great mentors that, like showed me you know how to market these properties and things like that.
Ryan Selimos:Austin, you've talked about right Building relationships, building trust, wanting to bring value, wanting to really make those dreams come true for individuals, whether on the selling or on the buying side. So kind of sell yourself a little bit. Where can people find you? If they want to reach out to you, if they want to connect you know and be a part of the Austin Marks experience, how can they find you? How can they reach you?
James LaGamma:How are you going to leave your marks?
Ryan Selimos:Oh my gosh.
Austin Marks:I do get called Mark. A lot, a lot of text calls there's an.
James LaGamma:S people. There's an S, hey, Mark.
Austin Marks:Just Instagram Austin Marks at Instagram or Austin Marks Real Estate on Facebook or Austin Marks Group website is there Awesome?
Kenny Massa:Awesome. Well, we appreciate your input on not only the greater Tampa Bay area but real estate as a whole. From an agent's perspective, we look forward to continuing to see you build your team as you develop a larger footprint in that Tampa Bay area and hopefully we see you across the rest of Florida and, who knows, maybe the rest of the United States.
Austin Marks:Oh yeah, so we appreciate it when you guys I love what you guys are doing with the podcast. The studio looks great, All the interviews have been great as well.
James LaGamma:Mass inbound studios awesome.
Kenny Massa:Well, thank you, we appreciate it. Thanks, austin see you guys.
