Latest / The Real Estate Agent Playbook / From Frustration to 20+ Countries: Nathaly Salas on International Real Estate

Transcript

From Frustration to 20+ Countries: Nathaly Salas on International Real Estate · The Real Estate Agent Playbook

0:02
today
0:02
I'm so excited to have a business partner of mine
0:05
within the Wolf Pack on
0:08
Natalie Salas
0:09
she is an absolutely amazing real estate agent
0:12
home based out of Chicago
0:14
but has taken the international real estate scene by
0:18
storm and the truth is
0:19
that I have these conversations
0:21
with agents who want to do international real estate
0:23
and it just kind of you know
0:25
they come into EXP or they don't
0:27
and they're just kind of dabbling well
0:29
Natalie has taken the bull by the horns
0:32
has been involved in the EXP global expansion
0:36
and is doing transactions in other countries
0:39
beyond borders and I can't wait for her to be on
0:42
so if you're interested in partnering with myself
0:45
and Natalie at the end of this
0:46
and you want more information on how to
0:48
become an international real estate agent
0:51
please reach out
0:52
all of her stuff will be booked in below
0:54
but I want you to have the opportunity
0:56
to get to know her
0:57
and if you're interested in going that route
1:00
let's partner up and let's get it done
1:02
so without further ado let's bring Natalie on
1:06
what's up Natalie how are you
1:08
hey what's up Jeremy
1:10
thanks for having me no problem
1:12
how's uh are you in in the States right now
1:15
or you somewhere else yeah
1:17
it's still warm in Chicago so I'm still here
1:19
okay perfect
1:20
it won't be warm in Chicago for very long so uh
1:23
we gotta get Natalie out into her uh
1:26
friendly confines
1:27
of the international real estate world
1:29
so first and foremost
1:30
tell us a little bit about where this came from
1:33
kind of your starting real estate
1:35
and how you got to this point
1:38
well um
1:39
I love sharing how
1:40
because I wasn't in the real estate space
1:42
before I started doing international
1:45
I was in the tech space and during my time of Covid
1:49
I left to Mexico and I wanted to buy a property there
1:51
because I was working remotely
1:53
and I was thinking you know
1:56
should be easy Mexico's I speak Spanish
1:58
you know it should be very seamless
2:00
but when I got there the uh
2:02
process was really painful
2:03
because I didn't know much about how it worked
2:06
in a different country so
2:07
my frustration was the one that took me
2:10
into the journey of discovering
2:12
I mean if you know how
2:13
how to buy internationally as a buyer
2:15
without knowing anything about it
2:17
so I just kind of recorded all my process
2:19
and that's how I started in international
2:21
because I was like if nobody is doing a job
2:24
you know
2:25
the job correctly or precisely or efficiently here
2:28
I mean who
2:28
who's owning this market you know
2:30
there was no one agent or realtor that
2:35
you know was standing out in the in the community like
2:37
so I can go and reach out to them
2:38
so it started out of a frustration
2:40
that I couldn't find a way to you
2:42
know to buy in Mexico
2:44
and I had to work with three different agents
2:45
and even then I I still didn't have a you know
2:48
a processing place that they take you through
2:50
like they do in the US uh
2:52
so I had to adjust and adapt quite a bit
2:54
and reading between the lines
2:55
so that was what everything started
2:57
and the story goes on but I
2:59
you know I wanna share yeah
3:00
absolutely that's
3:02
that makes a lot of sense
3:03
because I get a lot of people that talk to me
3:06
and they're like hey
3:06
I'd love to do international real estate
3:08
and I love traveling and you know
3:10
all the things and then all of a sudden it's
3:12
it's you know well where do we start
3:14
there's no licenses there's no this
3:16
so you've worked across 20 countries now and growing um
3:21
how did your journey kind of what okay
3:24
so we're trying to buy a property
3:25
you realize it was difficult
3:27
what was the turning point in
3:29
in really going all in
3:31
into this kind of new mission you have
3:34
so the funny thing is that because of that frustration
3:37
I had and
3:38
you know
3:38
there's no MLS in many countries outside of US
3:40
and Canada there's no order
3:42
there's a lot of things that you need to uh
3:44
guess sometimes so
3:47
finding a system was the one thing that was calling me
3:50
and and that's when I came when I came back to Chicago
3:53
I somebody told me you know
3:55
about EXP and the reason that I was paying
3:59
attention at that point
3:59
because I didn't want to get into real estate
4:01
you know as an active agent
4:02
it was more about I just have a pain point
4:05
I need I need some help I wish I can help more people
4:08
go into that place that I live now
4:09
it's in the jungle it's
4:10
you know
4:11
next to the beach it's in the paradise and I'm like
4:13
more people should know about this
4:14
because if they see the lifestyle
4:15
here is a fraction of the price of Florida
4:19
and then the lifestyle is very similar or the same
4:22
so I was like maybe I can
4:23
work on bringing more people to understand this
4:26
this place
4:27
but I didn't have a process a system technology
4:30
so I wanted to build MLS from scratch in Mexico
4:33
which was you know
4:34
a lot of work so instead of that I
4:37
somebody introduced me to
4:38
to my sponsor back then and that was they say
4:41
you know technology
4:42
you can work international markets
4:44
and all you need is your license
4:46
and I was like okay
4:48
I mean
4:49
and I went for my license within six weeks
4:51
I I passed the test and I'm like okay
4:53
how do I get in
4:54
and that was the initiation of the journey
4:56
just because of the technology piece
4:57
I was like I'm just looking for technology
4:59
to bring clients safely from one country
5:02
to another in this case it was just Mexico and US okay
5:05
so and then now we've
5:07
we've expanded on that which we'll get to um
5:10
so I mean as you kind of got into it
5:13
what was the biggest misconception um
5:17
you know you had
5:18
or that you see
5:19
now that you're expanding into these other countries
5:22
that agents have about helping someone
5:25
and on an international scale
5:27
verse a local scale that real estate is built up on
5:31
right we've all heard real estate's hyper local
5:33
so tell us a little bit about the misconceptions and
5:35
surprises that you came across
5:38
so the surprise No. 1 was uh
5:40
working with professionals that were no professional
5:43
so that was my my biggest pain still is sometimes
5:46
because when you go international and many
5:48
many of the markets are very similar
5:49
so Mexico is an example was my pilot program
5:52
you know like when I I had to go through it myself
5:54
but all the countries I was traveling
5:56
they had similar case scenarios
5:58
you know frustration on the buying process
6:01
not clear documentation
6:02
you don't know if what you're buying is
6:04
you know it's gonna be yours at the end of the day
6:06
there's a lot of fraud
6:07
you have to be super mindful who you work with
6:09
and even the attorneys can be also sometimes corrupted
6:13
you know sometimes they don't answer their phones
6:15
even realtors don't answer the phone
6:16
so going through this journey of like I
6:19
can't believe how how do you guys do business here
6:21
it was that wake up call that I'm like
6:23
so this is a frustration for me
6:24
it's a frustration for many people
6:26
but also there's a big opportunity
6:27
because there is nobody catering for this
6:30
and I was like well
6:30
I raise my hand I'm gonna go from country to country
6:33
to understand the process
6:34
and at that point I realized that
6:36
many of the countries were very similar to what
6:37
I was living in Mexico
6:38
and many buyers were having the same frustrations
6:41
so when it came to to the buyer side
6:43
I was like okay
6:44
if we create a community that we can know each other
6:47
we can trust each other within the real estate space
6:49
and the agents there that will create that credibility
6:52
trust and less fear
6:54
that buyers have when they transition abroad
6:57
and also from the agent perspective
6:59
it was a lot of uh
7:00
you have to work with the right agents not every agent
7:02
you know like
7:02
you know not all your agents are the same
7:04
some of them they don't
7:05
they literally don't answer their phones
7:07
they don't they do it part time
7:08
they don't care some other agents take it seriously
7:10
they do it like every single day
7:11
they they are very diligent on on the process
7:14
and those are the agents I want to work with
7:16
so then by having these connections
7:17
and the community building was how I was
7:20
able to get to know them in person
7:21
know how they worked
7:23
and also be able to set up a path for my buyers
7:25
eventually
7:26
that they will come to the different countries
7:28
and having the you know
7:30
the same mindset that
7:31
as if they were gonna buy in the US
7:33
okay yeah
7:34
that's that's an interesting concept because obviously
7:38
the license law is specific to each state here
7:42
and for the most part
7:44
everybody's fairly standard on that tell me about
7:48
you know Mexico
7:49
and these other countries that you're going into
7:51
and how that plays a little bit of a role
7:54
because you don't technically
7:55
have to have a license in a lot of these places correct
7:58
yeah and that's the issue
7:59
that's a that's a problem in a way
8:01
because I live in the Riviera Maya
8:03
since it's a busy market
8:05
anybody wakes up one day and they're like
8:06
I'll be a realtor today and you can be a waitress
8:10
a lifeguard a you know a tourist and you're like
8:13
I'm gonna do real estate
8:14
and the problem of that is that they risk the clients
8:17
that they are intaking into the
8:19
you know into the
8:20
into the world
8:21
because thinking that they can help the client
8:24
sometimes they don't do the diligence
8:25
that they need to do before
8:27
they offer this inventory
8:28
and the client is the one that gets in trouble
8:30
the client is the one that loses the money
8:32
and then sometimes the agents disappear
8:34
like literally they're poof gone and you're like
8:37
how can that be well
8:39
there's no regulation
8:40
a lawsuit in Mexico can take 10 years or you know
8:44
you don't it's not like here in the US
8:45
that you can have a problem and you sue somebody
8:47
and things get done
8:49
over there was more about good luck
8:52
you know find the right team ahead of time
8:54
and that that process needs to be very like dial in
8:58
because otherwise
8:59
the client is the one that gets in trouble
9:00
and that's I think
9:01
one of the main fear from buyers
9:03
on why they will go abroad
9:05
they they there is they're fearful of being
9:06
you know taking advantage of
9:08
or doing a bad investment
9:11
or being sold by somebody who is very
9:13
narrow minded onto whatever they wanna sell
9:16
instead of what the client needs
9:17
so I saw a lot of that back and forth over there
9:21
so we have to be super mindful of how
9:24
the lack of regulation can affect that clients uh
9:28
at the same time for at least for our team
9:30
we just don't want to have any agent
9:32
that just woke up and is an agent
9:34
we need to have make sure they have experience
9:36
they follow the the rules at least
9:38
you know that we're in the same mindset
9:39
that we have the same values
9:40
because sometimes we see you send a referral abroad
9:42
if you're an agent from the US
9:44
if you don't
9:45
know that agent or where that referral goes
9:47
good luck getting paid because they might not
9:50
they might block you
9:51
they might ghost you and they're like maybe three five
9:54
6 thousand dollars sitting there as a referral split
9:56
and the agent will not honor this the
9:59
the end of the the bargain
10:00
so that's super it has happened to me too
10:03
so I I talk from experience and frustration
10:06
of working with some agents that are not professional
10:08
so the lack of you know the the no MLS
10:13
the lack of the enforcement of the law
10:16
is really hard to to just go by yourself and be like
10:18
okay let me let me figure out
10:20
it's better if you do your research ahead of time
10:23
yeah absolutely
10:24
and that's I mean
10:25
obviously it's hard because criminals are criminals
10:28
right they're usually professional criminals
10:30
so you could
10:31
you could go down the rabbit hole and research
10:33
and do all of that so
10:34
what are some things that you've put in place
10:36
to kind of grow that obviously
10:38
and it sounds pretty organic riding
10:41
getting to know boots on the ground
10:42
that kind of stuff but what's
10:43
what's one thing you do to kind of set that president
10:46
and tone based on those partnerships
10:49
well
10:50
to me has been a bit of I would say manual because I
10:53
I go there physically and I spend time
10:56
and by spending time you will realize
10:58
and reading between the lines of what people
11:00
will tell you over zoom uh
11:02
you can
11:03
you can get to know people's personality how they work
11:05
how they operate their ethics
11:06
so to me has been spending time there in the location
11:10
for Mexico
11:11
I spend there regardless about five months a year uh
11:14
in the winter
11:15
and I spend time with agents and training them
11:18
physically you know
11:18
physically training them going with them uh
11:21
but also the
11:22
the plugging them into all the calls that we have
11:24
you know with
11:25
with our with our group in the Wolf Pack
11:27
and also with an EXP for compliance
11:29
so you just follow the rules
11:30
these are compliance these are the contracts
11:32
so many agents that probably didn't have that before
11:35
but they were working very manual
11:36
now they feel like they are saving
11:39
30 hours a week on not doing things manual
11:41
they have systems they have contracts templates
11:44
they don't have to go to the attorney
11:45
every single time for a template
11:46
for a contract
11:47
so it saves a lot of time to the agents there
11:50
and also they they appreciate the help
11:53
and that's why we've been taking ages
11:55
at the beginning was like really fast
11:57
and then you start realizing who you wanna work with
11:59
and who you don't wanna work with at all
12:01
and then you know
12:02
that starts shrinking and shrinking the number
12:05
so we got to a you know
12:06
you will shrink in size
12:07
but now I feel like we have better
12:08
quality of agents
12:10
and the ones that weed themselves out
12:12
because they're not professional
12:13
I mean that's just how it happens over time
12:15
I think every industry
12:17
yeah I mean
12:18
I think it's it's hard to change
12:19
especially from this perspective on both sides as
12:22
you know representing clients
12:23
as well as trying to get agents on board
12:26
with doing something completely different
12:28
I mean there's even a piece to it
12:29
where you get into a contract with a buyer and
12:32
or seller and they're like oh
12:34
that's not how we did it you're like no
12:35
but that's how we have to do it
12:36
and they're like oh no
12:37
I don't want to do it that way
12:38
you know they don't want to jump through those hoops
12:40
and I I think it's very similar with the agent side
12:42
so talk to me a little bit about
12:44
the agent attraction piece and
12:46
and how you've you know
12:47
kind of got them to buy into doing it the right way
12:51
even though it might take a couple extra steps
12:54
for agent attraction is being not so hard
12:57
because when we have systems in place
13:00
they I mean
13:01
the agents that are smart and wanna do things faster
13:03
they're like where do I sign
13:05
you know when it comes to let's say an a whole agency
13:09
that's a little harder
13:10
because they're set on their ways
13:11
they're more old fashioned
13:13
and maybe they wanna do things differently
13:15
so probably in there is is a harder conversion
13:18
but for the regular agents that are professional
13:20
and we kind of like click right
13:22
like we we have similar values
13:24
ethics and
13:25
and a discipline to to do this every single day
13:27
you know we do full real estate full time uh
13:30
they it's been easier to
13:32
to get them to to listen to us because in locally
13:36
if they're in a brokerage locally
13:37
wherever they are in the world Portugal
13:39
Spain Peru
13:40
Ecuador
13:41
they're local and the access to data is smaller
13:45
the same as the US
13:46
but at least in the US you can have more technology
13:48
you can get more systems
13:49
some of the kvkorex systems in kvkorex
13:51
they don't they don't make it to South America
13:53
so you have to use something different for Crms uh
13:56
but then the the process and the order
13:58
that's what agents like and also the expansion
14:01
so they're flying into a network 80 +
14:05
80,000 agents or more were right now
14:07
and they can send those referrals
14:09
and make the extra money that they wouldn't done
14:10
otherwise at home
14:12
so many of the agents that join through Mexico
14:15
they not pay attention
14:16
like where the client comes from
14:18
if they comes from Toronto
14:19
if they come from Chicago LA
14:21
wherever they come from they're like
14:22
are you selling your house
14:23
because they know that there's an extra
14:25
set of money that they have there as a referral
14:28
to another country which they can never do as a so
14:31
you know a small local brokerage
14:33
whatever they are so even within the US you can
14:35
but it's still fractionated in some agencies
14:38
so this is the I think
14:40
number one benefit they see
14:41
because it's an extra through two
14:44
three 4,000 dollars they can make on a referral
14:47
that they don't have to do anything
14:49
you know but connect to people for a sale or a buy in a
14:51
in a state in the US or on a province in Canada
14:54
that's the one
14:55
No. 1 attraction piece that people love to hear
14:58
and they they
14:59
they it doesn't even fit in their heads
15:00
they're like how is that possible
15:01
I'm like well yeah
15:02
you can make more money so
15:03
just make sure
15:04
you just listen where your clients come from
15:06
or where they're going uh
15:08
and then you can make that extra income
15:10
absolutely and so those referrals are huge
15:13
and once you send them one
15:14
then they're a little more likely to
15:17
to roll that through on the other side right
15:19
uh money talks
15:20
so yeah that's
15:22
that's super interesting and as you
15:24
kind of grown
15:24
and put together some systems and things like that
15:27
um so talk
15:30
talk to me about what you would say to an agent who's
15:33
locally here in The United States
15:37
has inspirations to go and sell real estate
15:40
let's say in Costa Rica or
15:43
you know Peru or somewhere like that
15:45
uh maybe they're from there maybe they're not
15:49
what's one thing you would say
15:51
and how can they position themselves to kind of start
15:54
start dabbling into actually making this dream
15:58
become a reality mm hmm
16:00
I feel like if any agent speaks
16:02
at least as another language
16:03
so you have two languages
16:04
you have a whole competitive advantage of
16:06
over anybody else I mean
16:08
everybody speaks English all over the world
16:09
but if you speak Spanish
16:10
French Russian that gives you an extra
16:14
you know
16:14
open door to whatever you wanna go with a you know
16:17
with with that market
16:18
you have to be super mindful also as
16:20
as you're expanding
16:22
or you probably are local to the US
16:24
and you might wanna do international
16:26
or you don't wanna be tied to one location
16:27
one place you know
16:29
unless you want to right
16:30
but if you wanna work remotely like me in Chicago
16:32
I just decided
16:33
I don't wanna spend any more winters here
16:35
so now I can decide my life how I see it fits right
16:39
like it doesn't really nobody can tell you what to do
16:42
you do what you know
16:43
whatever you your heart desires
16:44
so when you define what you wanna do
16:45
and where you wanna do it
16:46
and what are your favorite places
16:48
you can still work remotely
16:49
and still keep your business in the US uh
16:52
but you have to kind of transition
16:54
into a system that is more global
16:56
if it's more
16:56
if it's too localized and it's too enclosed
16:59
and your leads are gonna be stepping into
17:02
you know more than two agencies
17:03
it's gonna be a little harder for you to get paid
17:05
you might get paid less you know
17:06
less if you have
17:07
you're working with the two different agencies
17:09
so for those who are curious about
17:12
you know a little more of the freedom of location
17:14
that we don't have as realtors in the
17:16
you know if I'm working Chicago
17:17
I need to be here for my clients like if I travel
17:20
I have to coordinate with another agent to cover my
17:22
you know my shows while I'm gone
17:23
but you always like that tie back
17:25
you can maybe go for 1 2 weeks
17:26
but you cannot live for 3 months
17:28
so then by having this flexibility
17:30
I think for for agents in the US gives them that extra
17:35
I I can be in the Caribbean
17:37
Dominican Republic
17:38
and also run my business back in Chicago back
17:41
you know in New York
17:42
so I don't have to be there all the time
17:45
and with rubbing a share of course
17:46
they can they can do that easily
17:48
if if them if they grow as you're traveling
17:50
you can also grow your teams and your your downline
17:53
so I think it's super important for everybody
17:54
to pay attention like hey
17:56
the world's a big place ha ha you know
17:59
it's like and the US is really big and and you know
18:02
there's a lot of people making money here
18:03
but also if you're in some
18:04
in a different place you can also grow there
18:07
you just plant the seeds
18:07
and then you go back home and then back and forth
18:09
so I think to me the mobility
18:11
and the freedom of location is super important
18:15
and some of us that you know
18:17
I was myself stuck in the rat race in Chicago
18:20
and I was burning out
18:22
and I was tired working three jobs before
18:25
you know I was in
18:27
in real estate and I feel that that
18:30
and I burn out like every single two months
18:33
I'm like what am I doing
18:34
why am I so exhausted
18:35
why am I always doing the same thing
18:36
and then I'm making money
18:37
but at the same time I'm I'm spending it all
18:39
my living cost in the US is very expensive um
18:43
but but now that I'm making money
18:45
let's say in dollars and you can spend it in pesos
18:48
that's the best of both worlds
18:49
because now you're still making money in one country
18:51
which is still generating
18:53
uh and then you're spending one fraction of it
18:56
for living expenses that's me
18:58
that's kind of like a hack in the system
19:00
yep absolutely so um
19:03
yeah and I think that that's
19:04
that's a super critical point
19:06
because a lot of people think
19:07
international real estate
19:08
and they're like oh
19:08
I just want a referral network well
19:10
referral networks exist right
19:12
but we're talking about being a part of transactions
19:15
possibly you know
19:16
building a network of agents there who you know
19:19
benefit you financially and that's
19:23
that's where it kind of takes off
19:24
and that's where taking advantage of multiple
19:26
streams of income provided by our brokerage especially
19:29
um is kind of key
19:32
so I know you've talked about a lot of things
19:36
as far as getting into this through frustration and
19:40
and all of that and then just trying to be a
19:43
solution and helping agents and
19:45
and just learning really immersing yourself in the
19:48
the situations over there um
19:50
or over wherever haha
19:53
um can you tell me like
19:55
three big ways for someone to
19:59
kind of leverage the international real estate
20:02
system to grow
20:03
so kind of what you've done multiple times you know
20:07
as as that goes so I mean
20:09
I guess the three ways probably would be production
20:13
agent attraction
20:14
and then you know referral or education
20:16
so how's
20:18
what are the three ways that you would leverage
20:21
you know international real estate
20:23
first I have to start with
20:24
the international is not too hard to start with
20:27
but people make it too big and it's like
20:28
oh no
20:29
you go international because you can travel I have kids
20:31
I cannot go anywhere I'm like yeah
20:33
but you can do international from your house
20:35
you don't have to go anywhere
20:36
for the referral especially
20:38
so I think
20:38
the 3 ways that you mentioned are very accurate
20:40
you know not only sending referrals
20:42
not other states and other country
20:44
other states within the US
20:45
other countries outside in the world I'm receiving too
20:48
because if you're part of a community
20:49
and they get to know you
20:51
that you're in a specific market
20:52
they'll be like oh
20:53
let me send you a client that is buying from Ecuador
20:56
a lot of people
20:56
from South America love buying in Miami
20:58
so having that connection with those agents
21:01
in other countries
21:02
will give you those referrals to your market
21:04
so
21:04
then that means that you also gonna make money locally
21:06
for whatever market you focus on
21:08
and the ref share for sure
21:10
that's one of the main components
21:12
that slowly but surely you won't be rich over time
21:14
but you will be adding up value over time
21:18
and you see it in your bank account
21:19
that you don't have to go as hard
21:21
you know on the rat race
21:22
that you can still make money
21:24
and you can work as aggressive as you want
21:25
but less stress
21:28
so the rest there
21:29
as you travel in different countries is very easy
21:32
I mean it's easier to connect with other realtors
21:35
around the world I think to me has been very
21:38
EXP has been helping me on the valuable position
21:40
that we share with those agents
21:42
and we're really truly helping them
21:44
because if they didn't have
21:45
like the systems that EXP has in those countries
21:48
they'll have to pay
21:48
like 5 x the price for the platforms
21:51
for the you know the portals for CRMs for office space
21:55
so then they're saving money and they're
21:58
and then to me in my perspective
22:00
I'm changing lives because I'm simplifying the process
22:03
making them save money and connect to a larger network
22:06
that they wouldn't have access otherwise
22:08
so I think of course
22:09
those are super important key points
22:13
yeah and I think I mean
22:14
you are changing lives because you're
22:15
you're providing a system and a process to something
22:18
that's you know
22:19
for lack of a better term
22:20
the wild wild west it is a lot um
22:23
as they get out so how about
22:26
you know as you've been doing this
22:27
how long have you been really like
22:29
diving into the Rev share side and
22:31
and finding agents and helping agents
22:33
and assisting agents you know
22:35
how long have you personally been doing that
22:37
so I was
22:39
I started my roof share about a year and a half ago
22:42
when I I was starting from scratch
22:45
right now I have 25 agents between uh Mexico
22:49
US Canada
22:50
Colombia and Peru so in different countries we
22:54
we had I had Spain and India uh
22:58
but then they
22:59
they left because they didn't have like that
23:01
you know local hug of somebody there
23:05
but it was kind of like personal choice
23:06
so then that has been helping the
23:10
the journey of growth and
23:13
and where we took things you know
23:15
I mean that's
23:16
that's an excellent base
23:18
you know
23:19
when you're talking about 25 agents and you know
23:22
five or six countries and talk do you I mean
23:25
do you have one that's like a success story
23:27
that was kind of you know
23:29
came in and really you know
23:32
kind of latched on to your trainings
23:34
and your education pieces
23:35
as you've gone
23:37
well I can tell you a couple and one of them is um
23:40
I always give the example of Mario
23:42
Mario and I met in a zoom call and he was um
23:46
and everybody knows about EXP
23:48
but he was a friend of somebody that I knew in EXP
23:51
but he was joining my calls
23:52
he was in a different brokerage
23:53
but he was he will never put his camera on he's like
23:56
I cannot be seen here
23:57
because I'm part of a different brokerage
23:58
and I'm like that's okay I mean
24:00
and he kept coming for the learning
24:01
you know how to buy Mexico in the process
24:03
and that's how we start talking and then he's like
24:06
well I don't have this in my brokerage and I
24:08
he was one of the you know
24:09
partners with the managing broker so he's like
24:12
I would love to have some access to this
24:14
and that's how we
24:14
he came in and that's how we start the relationship
24:17
so
24:17
even though international real estate might be my last
24:20
sound too big
24:21
at the end of the day is like
24:22
whatever you make it to be
24:23
and whatever time you wanna spend on it is what
24:25
you wanna make out of it
24:26
and the other story that I have is my agents in Mexico
24:30
sometimes they have to work for every
24:32
you know it's slower there
24:33
so they have to work harder and the money comes slower
24:36
but with the referral program that we have
24:39
one of my agents there like he had a client from um
24:43
Quebec and the the client wanted to buy in Merida
24:48
and she was gonna show houses in Merida
24:49
but she didn't think about the
24:51
the client was gonna sell also his house
24:53
it was a million uh Canadian dollars and she's like
24:57
well he's gonna consult his house
24:58
and he's gonna come whenever he's
24:59
done with the transaction
25:00
and I'm like Elva wait
25:02
send that referral you know
25:04
that's extra money and I mean
25:06
imagine 2.5% of a million that she's gonna make
25:09
like double than what she was gonna sell in
25:11
in Mexico
25:11
so now we're talking about almost 3 xing her income uh
25:15
locally
25:15
so that opens opportunities for many agents locally
25:18
and I think to me
25:19
that's the important thing on the education
25:20
and the women as we do every single week
25:22
to remind them of the possibility
25:24
and the chance that they have
25:25
because sometimes they forget
25:27
you know people get busy and I'm like well
25:29
you're leaving money on the table
25:30
because maybe if you're making 3,000 from this one
25:32
maybe you're making 6,000 of that one
25:34
that's already worth your time to pay
25:35
attention to those little cues that clients have
25:39
so stories like that
25:40
that agents kind of open their eyes and they're like
25:43
well I can work remotely and I'm like
25:45
yeah ha ha ha if you want to well
25:49
you don't have to
25:49
but you don't have to stop doing whatever you're doing
25:51
that you love to do you know in your local market
25:53
this is just an extension of it
25:55
and you don't have to spend more than 2
25:56
3 hours a week if you want to or a month to plug in
26:01
learn and just get curious because the more you know
26:04
and the more you're gonna be
26:06
you know like
26:07
paying attention to those cues outside in the world
26:09
and then probably you'll have a referral
26:11
sitting there from somebody who told you
26:12
one day I wanna move to the Caribbean
26:14
maybe Dominican Republic
26:15
and you never pay attention because you
26:16
you couldn't help them and now you're like
26:19
oh wait I can help you
26:20
and then you can send that referral to Pierre
26:22
that we have in Punta Cana
26:23
for example yeah
26:25
when they're going down the
26:27
the Virgin Islands for vacation
26:28
you know they're gonna try and buy that house on the
26:31
on the point right yeah
26:33
that's that's really cool and it's just about
26:35
you know being there and understanding that peace
26:38
and thinking like that
26:39
because it's very natural for us as
26:41
you know United States citizens to be like
26:44
oh yeah like referrals like that's
26:46
that's a normal thing
26:47
I think it's still an underutilized
26:49
you know lead generation tool
26:50
even locally here you know nationally
26:53
um so to
26:55
to kind of dive into that and pull those in is
26:57
is huge um
26:59
especially like you said I mean
27:00
they probably found a few Canadians
27:02
that would sell a million dollar house in the wolf pack
27:05
I'm sure but
27:07
um that's awesome
27:08
so for an agent watching this and they're just like
27:12
this sounds great you know
27:14
possibly reaching out to partner
27:16
we can have a call obviously
27:18
if you reach out to my you know
27:20
link above please mention this interview
27:23
and Natalie's will be in the link below
27:25
if you want to connect with her
27:26
um
27:27
what's the very first thing that you would tell someone
27:30
who wants to get into international real estate
27:32
and say they have a specific country
27:34
say they're native to a country um
27:36
and EXP happens to be there
27:38
what would your first step be
27:43
I think uh
27:45
we for first reach out like to you to me
27:47
social media let's have a conversation
27:49
I mean if you have any questions on like
27:51
hey what about this
27:53
I mean I'm not thinking to change my broker yet
27:55
but how can I do to you know
27:58
get started and you can get started for
28:01
you know you can join weekly webinars that we have
28:04
open to the public and we do that mostly for education
28:06
everything goes in YouTube
28:08
so everything is laid out there by country
28:11
we do market studies so you can study those
28:13
and just by ingesting that information
28:15
you'll be like oh
28:16
I didn't know the taxes were so low
28:18
or I didn't know
28:19
you can have no capital gains in Dubai
28:20
or etcetera right
28:22
like
28:22
you don't know what you don't know until you know it
28:23
and you're like oh
28:24
I didn't know so those little cues
28:26
I think you stay stay plugged in um
28:30
and if you choose to to move to
28:32
you know to
28:33
to EXP because you have all the tools that you need
28:35
in one place
28:36
you don't have to log into so many different systems
28:38
talk to so many different people
28:40
you know if you're in a franchise
28:41
probably you have to talk to the franchise owner
28:43
then the manager then the regional something
28:45
and then you have to go
28:46
so many layers to get to a referral
28:48
that it's not clear how much you're gonna
28:50
put in your pocket right
28:51
so asking those questions to your current brokerage
28:53
how can we send or receive
28:55
you know international referrals
28:57
if you don't have that
28:58
I think if you speak another language
29:00
or you're from somewhere else
29:01
you're leaving money on the table because if
29:03
if your aunt still back there
29:05
she knows people
29:06
so if you haven't been back home for 20 years
29:08
it's okay too I mean there's always a
29:10
you know from back home or your family's relative
29:14
so tapping into that I think it's super important
29:17
because you already have a competitive advantage
29:19
by speaking another language
29:20
or being from a different country in the US
29:22
because those those buyers would
29:24
you know probably flood to you because what happened to
29:29
for example our peers that just opening Ecuador
29:32
then we came to Chicago we're like
29:33
we we know a lot of Ecuadorian realtors here
29:35
it's a big community here
29:37
so now we're like hey
29:38
are you guys
29:38
curious to learn more about your own country
29:40
you know there's a lot of people retiring over there
29:42
that come from the US and then when they
29:45
we start our relationship
29:46
they're like I didn't think about that
29:47
and I can send those referrals
29:49
and then now
29:50
we're sharing with people what we do every day
29:53
and if that resonates with them
29:55
they come and listen more and we join
29:57
but the other way around too
29:58
because those realtors that are locally
30:01
let's say in Ecuador
30:02
might think of you in Chicago because you are
30:05
you know they relate with you culturally
30:07
and they will send you only referrals to you
30:09
because they know you and
30:11
you know that's a one
30:12
that's a two way relationship
30:13
so I think don't miss out on those
30:15
they're super important yep
30:17
and I I mean
30:17
I think you bring up a really important point
30:19
and not to kind of pair this down
30:22
but a lot of times people are moving
30:24
to specific city centers from certain areas
30:28
right whether different populations and whatever
30:32
and that's a pipeline right
30:34
when there's communities of certain
30:37
people from other countries
30:38
moving at a high level
30:41
that's where the pipeline and that
30:43
that kind of starts to flow
30:44
and the ability to start with the referral business
30:47
but then you know
30:49
you go back home and you're like
30:50
okay there's opportunity here
30:51
I can sell here if I need to
30:53
but actually I can just hire this agent
30:56
you know this
30:56
I can bring this agent into all these systems
30:58
and all this value and do everything
31:01
you know on that end through our brokerage
31:03
and then once they get to that point
31:06
then you know
31:07
they're kind of your boots on the ground and and then
31:10
you know
31:10
you're getting compensated when they close deals
31:13
they're your boots on the ground
31:14
if you want to do partnership
31:16
in partnership investments or whatever
31:19
so and that
31:20
you brought up a really good point with Dubai
31:21
and no capital gains and the investment opportunities
31:24
uh let's kind of finish with this
31:27
as far as how your knowledge has expanded from
31:31
you know being in Mexico
31:32
and wanting to buy in Mexico
31:34
and buy property and those kind of things
31:36
to like
31:37
the investment opportunity that you get to explore
31:40
on a daily basis looking at these other countries
31:42
and these other markets talk a little bit about that
31:45
and talk about those international property tours
31:48
you're you're hosting as well
31:50
yeah the data I
31:51
I love market research so I'm a nerd with that I
31:54
I can be like researching all day every day
31:56
and now with chat GPT it's so much easier
31:58
but even chat GPT sometimes hasn't caught on the paper
32:02
data that is sitting
32:03
many of the cities and municipalities
32:05
all around the world
32:06
because many countries do not embrace technology
32:10
so it's still very manual
32:11
so if it's in a paper it's not in chat GPT
32:14
so the manual work that needs to be done
32:17
it needs to be done locally
32:18
with the agents that know
32:19
first hand on what is happening
32:20
you know what that is
32:22
and by having interviews with our podcast
32:25
or with agents from around the world
32:26
I learn so much just by having questions like
32:29
and you know what the buying process
32:30
what taxes benefits
32:33
savings exchange rates and
32:35
and then I feel like right now I can do a matrix like
32:37
you know like features countries and I can just
32:40
you know what do you need saving and taxes
32:42
okay this one haha
32:43
do you need like more space for the money
32:45
near the beach this one
32:46
so then I I feel like I
32:48
I have a pretty good grasp on what I've Learned so far
32:51
and it's mostly mostly being like out of curiosity
32:53
asking questions making relationships
32:55
talking to people not only realtors
32:57
also attorneys immigration attorneys
33:00
relocation experts uh
33:02
tax experts
33:02
so all these tiny things that keep adding to
33:05
you know what
33:07
what how you can compare side by side on on
33:10
you know how it's in different markets
33:11
so for sure like
33:13
if somebody has any questions for the investment side
33:16
I'm happy to share some ideas
33:18
you know you can always talk to a friend like hey
33:21
what should I buy I'm
33:21
I'm thinking to retire my parents are older um
33:25
what how's the healthcare
33:26
you know what's the closest hospital
33:27
and we can go deeper into which market
33:30
which our partners locally there
33:32
because I cannot say that I know everything
33:33
but I know enough to be dangerous
33:35
like to be like hey
33:36
for this this like high level
33:38
and then we rely on our local partners
33:40
to give us the current data
33:41
of what's happening there
33:43
golden visas if they remove the golden visas
33:45
you know what's
33:46
what's the status of that
33:48
so that's the real estate tours
33:49
the intention of that was education
33:52
we did um
33:52
we started last December and in person has been
33:56
you know after Covid now
33:58
in person is so much more valuable now with AI as well
34:01
you can research everything online
34:03
but there's nothing like seeing it in person
34:05
touching it feeling
34:06
you know this is like 100 square meters
34:07
what does that translate in square feet
34:09
you know like
34:09
oh now I understand what it this is size looks like
34:12
so things like that
34:14
and the community that we're building
34:16
it's open for agents and investors
34:19
uh and all
34:20
everybody can come we do a
34:22
a tour in a van or two vans and we just go literally
34:26
this is the the city like an worldwide open house
34:30
ha ha this is an open house of Cancun
34:32
these are the projects that we recommend
34:34
we've vetted check the contracts
34:35
their owners of the land you know
34:38
their compliance
34:39
and now we're showing this because it's pre vetted
34:42
you don't have to go to a random piece of land
34:45
that you don't know if you
34:46
if you put $10,000 away where is it gonna go
34:49
so it's it's important the value that
34:50
and the community that we bring together
34:52
uh it's not easy
34:53
but it is fun because you get to show people your world
34:57
or like why you love it there
34:59
and the agents locally can show the world and like
35:01
look at this you know
35:02
it's a whole hotel for only $1 million has 37 rooms
35:05
and we're like what yeah
35:07
so things like that are magical
35:09
and as I go to tours I learn myself the
35:12
the Portugal tour that we did in summer
35:15
yeah I didn't know much
35:16
I know I know
35:17
I know a little bit but then when you're there
35:18
you're like oh
35:19
I get it now I see how it looks like
35:21
so the view so it's different
35:23
of course in that community and that synergy
35:26
and I'm sure you guys have some education and
35:28
you know surrounding that as well
35:30
but how what a cool opportunity to
35:33
you know put something like this in your toolbox
35:36
whether you want to get into
35:37
international real estate or not
35:39
you know obviously we have Natalie here as a
35:42
as a resource for us you know
35:45
if you did want to reach out
35:46
you have somebody that's like hey
35:47
I need to you know
35:49
get this result from from this sale of a house
35:54
what do I need to do and she can kind of
35:56
at least point you in the right direction
35:57
maybe connect you with the right
35:59
right agents and right community out there or
36:02
you know help you do that research and
36:04
and that's just an incredible
36:05
piece of what you're building
36:07
and it sounds so outside the box
36:09
to do an international open house tour
36:12
um but I know you guys have plenty of fun doing that
36:15
and I have educated so many
36:17
just already
36:18
in the short amount of time you've been doing those um
36:21
so check them out for sure
36:22
we'll put her contact in the
36:24
the description below on those
36:27
so let's just finish this out
36:30
and you have like an international toolbox
36:33
right that you've built a community
36:34
can you talk a little bit about that
36:36
starts with the webinars
36:38
and then is there more to that
36:41
yeah yeah
36:42
so we started with free webinars open to any agents
36:45
usually it's for agents because they get to learn
36:46
more on how to do transactions
36:48
but we also had some buyers come in
36:49
because they wanted to buy in that country
36:51
and those are the the webinars you'll find in our um
36:55
school and we have a school community now
36:58
and that's cool community
36:59
anybody can join that is an investor or a realtor
37:02
you don't have to be from EXP
37:03
you can be from anywhere in the world
37:05
anywhere in the world from any agency
37:07
so it's not restricted
37:09
but we do want to keep that curated
37:11
so we don't have any spammers from VA
37:13
offers and crypto right
37:15
like we just keep it to real estate
37:17
and that brings you to the weekly webinars
37:19
from the weekly webinars
37:21
you can go to the real estate tours
37:22
and from the real estate tours
37:23
you can either you know keep in stay in the community
37:27
you can join EXP
37:28
or you can send referrals or get referrals
37:32
because as people get to know you too
37:33
wherever you are then they will be oh
37:35
you know with Sean I go to Ohio
37:39
so now I know that person because I met them in person
37:42
and there's nothing like I think
37:43
that human touch that you have through the community
37:47
so the school is an online community
37:48
but we take it in person
37:49
so stay tuned with that and it's free
37:53
wow that's cool
37:54
and if people are interested or want to learn more
37:57
what's the best place to follow you just
38:00
you know or connect with you
38:02
uh with my name
38:03
Natalie Salas underscore Instagram and everywhere else
38:06
so YouTube unicorn properties and OK
38:10
that's it perfect
38:12
I'll I'll link that stuff below
38:14
but Natalie thanks so much
38:15
uh such an inspiring story that you're
38:19
basically building from the ground up
38:21
this based on your personal knowledge and
38:24
and advice on that
38:25
so if you're speaking another language
38:28
you're from another country
38:29
you and you have that interest in real estate
38:31
your license over here maybe not
38:33
you may want to dive into that as the first step
38:37
just to kind of see cause I'm sure it's very it
38:39
it feels so big but when you're going back home
38:43
you know
38:44
or you're going to somewhere where you're comfortable
38:46
speaking the language and all the things
38:48
maybe it's not such a big undertaking
38:49
and then
38:50
maybe someday you'll be on the international committee
38:53
hahaha with with Natalie
38:55
so thanks so much for your time Natalie
38:57
and we will see you next time on the Wolf Pack way
39:00
awesome thank you
39:01
thank you so much bye bye bye