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How Interest Rate Talk is HURTING Your Business · Massive Agent Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's a much better way to talk about interest rates as a real estate agent because the way that so many of you are doing it is actually hurting you.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's causing people to not hire you or at a minimum to wait.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'll explain exactly what I mean right now.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: The massive agent podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_01: With lead generation tips and strategies to get you more leads and sell more homes.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I love to buy houses, I like to sell houses.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: Leads a week.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: You're a week.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've said better.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Have I got your attention now?
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Here's your host, Dustin Brome.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: What is up, guys?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to episode 320 of the Massive Agent Podcast.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dustin Brome, here in Salt Lake City, Utah.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: And today I'm going to tell you why the way that you're talking about interest rates could actually be hurting you.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: It could actually be making people not take action.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll explain exactly what I mean here in a second.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big problem and it's something that you may not even realize.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: So when you make this little shift, it's going to change everything.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really just being intentional and aware of what's happening.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: This has been a big problem for mortgage lenders, for loan officers for a long time.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: When they make it all about interest rates, they could have a problem.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll explain what that means.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you are new to the show, welcome.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dustin Brohm.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: And uh let me just say uh there's some there's something going on behind the scenes in my business that I am so damn excited about.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: It has me just I am on fire with excitement.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm also busier behind the scenes than I've ever been in years, and and it's all good.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I I have a lot to share with you over the next month or so uh with what I'm working on.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: But uh I'll just say this.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm taking my own advice, and um that's all I'm gonna say.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's all I'm gonna say for right now.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: But uh what what I have to tell you is going to it's gonna get some attention and it's going to uh I that I'm just gonna leave it at that.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I'm excited.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned for that.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Today, guys, uh real quick, before we get to the bulk of the content today, I really I'm super excited about what's happening with the massive agent referral network.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: If you're just hearing about this, so uh probably a what a month and a half, two months ago now, we've launched the Massive Agent Referral Network where we have one agent representing each market.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted this referral network to be different.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we had qualifications.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: It couldn't just be anyone, it couldn't just be anyone like, hey, like I've I only sell one house every year and don't know what I'm doing.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I'm gonna represent Los Angeles or Phoenix or something like that, right?
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: You have to sell houses to get into this, you have to be able to bring referrals to the group, of course, because that's the whole point of the group.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's, you know, you have to actually live and service the area that you want to represent.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And uh and there's some monthly dues to weed out those who are unserious.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're very, very reasonable, and uh the ROI is insane.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you just get one referral per year, which uh, you know, the goal is to get a lot more, but if you just got one referral per year, it's a dramatic ROI, like one of the best out there.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: So uh what's really cool is over the over the first month, so we're we're into February now, or in the first month we had about 20 referrals passed around in the group.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And and and that's super exciting.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like I didn't realize, I thought it would take a little bit longer to catch on, but I believe that's just gonna keep ramping up, especially as we get into spring market.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I need your help, okay?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many markets in our country right now that are still unrepresented, like Cincinnati, Louisville, New Orleans, uh Philadelphia, for God's sakes, Reno, Pittsburgh.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we still haven't had anyone take action on Vegas.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: We've had a few applicants, but for whatever reason, they just they haven't completed the process.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Las Vegas is available.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: The whole state of Montana, Alabama, Arkansas, like if I'm gonna give you a link here in a second to go check it out, it's where you apply, but there's also a link to the map that shows you the markets that are taken.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I bet you your market is not.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is go to massiveagentpodcast.com slash referral and apply now.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you feel like you'd be a good representative, if you're selling you know at least a house per month and you feel like you could bring some referrals to the group as well as receiving them, go apply.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: We need you.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: We need some great representatives from all around the country.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the more people that we have, the more referrals there are to pass around.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just a win-win for everybody.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So MassiveAgent Podcast.com slash referral.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And while you're looking at ways to grow your business, you know, we're always looking for like the shiny object or the you know, the lead gen platform or these magical ads, these magical scripts, or whatever the hell.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, there's nothing magical.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: But what agents often overlook is knowledge.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you have certain knowledge and perspective and insight and you know how to articulate it in the right way to the buyers, to the sellers, to the investors that you work with, you're gonna get more business because those people then feel like you're an advisor.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You taught them something, they feel uh, I was gonna say indebted to you.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: They don't feel indebted to you, but they they certainly feel like when somebody teaches you something and you're like, wow, that and then you follow them, right?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: You want more of it, right?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: So when you are when you act like an advisor versus a salesperson, you're just gonna get more business.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be more trusted, you're gonna be referred more often.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And the best tool to arm yourself with knowledge, insight, and perspective, and to know how to actually convey that to the consumer is keeping current matters.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Try out their platform, trykcm.com slash bam is the link to get a free trial of it.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's absolutely incredible.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Most of the top agents around the country are already using it.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, I mean, the proof is in the pudding.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: If it's good enough for them, if it works for them, it'll probably work for you too.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Trykcm.com slash bam.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Check it out.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about interest rates, shall we?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Or actually, that's part of the problem.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: What I'm what here's why I'm bringing this up today.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: So on Monday of this week, so I'm recording this on February 6th.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: This will come out on February 8th.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: Monday of this week, so like the first full week of February, interest rates nationwide jumped up again above 7%.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, this is the nature of the beast, right?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: Rates go up, rates go down.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate crossed over 7% on Monday for the first time since December, hitting 7.04, according to CNBC's latest mortgage rate update.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, here's the problem.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, realtors, and and look, rightfully so, when as rates are coming down, we get excited, right?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: We want to tell people, hey, rates are coming down, rates are coming down.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: That means it's gonna be more affordable to buy.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're you're not gonna have to pay as much for the house.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we know that that may not even be true because as rates come down, more activity picks up, demand picks up, there may you may actually have to pay more for the house if there's 30 other offers to beat out than if you just had a higher interest rate, right?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: So there's more to that conversation, but you get the point.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: In general, can especially consumers in their mind believe that as rates come down, homes become more affordable.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: It becomes more possible for them to take action.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that the thing that they want to do, whether they want to move upsize, downsize, relocate, uh, start buying rental properties, any and all of those things become more possible for them as rates come down.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, rightfully so, we're screaming from mountaintop as rates come down.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the problem if you're not giving proper education, if you're not giving context on what it means, right, then you could potentially make it so that people feel like they only need you when rates come down.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: But what about when rates go up?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said in the intro, mortgage lenders who focus on rate, they get screwed eventually.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: That works really well in a low rate environment, but what about in a high interest rate environment?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you make it all about the interest rates, then there's no reason to hire you, especially not now, right?
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to you you it's great to talk about rates.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to talk about what it means when they come down.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for example, you know, that there's a study that says this is an approximation, of course, but uh about a half a percentage point swing in interest rate can cost or save a buyer more than 200 bucks a month on the median priced home.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So depending on the price point of the home and and all that, it could be more than 200 bucks a month, less than 200 bucks a month.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, like a 1% or 1.5% change in interest rate from like seven to five point five or five point five to seven, I mean that could be 500, 600 bucks a month, something like that, maybe more.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a dramatic difference.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important that we teach people that, but also teach them hey, here's the danger in waiting for rates to come down.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: You could get into bidding wars, which means you may have to pay more for the house.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: You may have to overpay because you have a bunch of people to beat out, right?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So when you give proper context, then people can make a better informed decision.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then they see you as an advisor, they see you as a guide, someone who they want to help them in the future as they navigate this process.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if you just say, hey, rates are down, you should buy, and that's all that the consumer who's watching your video or reading your email or whatever it is, that's all that they're connecting you with is just the fact that rates are low.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what if, like this week, rates went high again?
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Rates were creeping around 6%.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like it looked like for a minute there it was going to drop into the fives, and maybe it did with certain loan programs, but you know, rates were hovering around 6%, and now they're at seven.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if you made it all about the interest rates and nothing about you and that your service, what you provide, your guidance, the education, then that consumer may be like, that's great, but nope, because interest rates are high.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: So they don't see any value in you when the rates are high.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So don't make it about the interest rates.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Mortgage lenders screw themselves so much when they make it all about uh refines when rates are low.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: If if they push all their chips into refines and they make it all about low rates, what happens when the rates go up?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Their business evaporates.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: This has happened with so many lenders.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a danger in talking about rates all the time without context.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's totally fine as long as you're giving proper context and education, because then then you've added more to the conversation that consumers can latch on to and and and want more from you, versus just the fact that the rates are low or high or going up or down, right?
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: So just keep that in mind.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um this is a little snippet from an article that I think is important.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously a 7% mortgage is not awesome, right?
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Most consumers would say, I'm not paying, I'm not, I'm not buying a house with 7%, not doing it, right?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we we've really got to keep an eye on inflation.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: And this is some of the context you can add, right?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: You could you could give hope that, hey, even though rates are high, they're probably gonna be going back down.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And here's how, here's why we believe that.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Here's, you know, yes, that may be good for you to wait until rates drop, but here's the danger in it.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: You may actually you have a lower rate, but then you pay more for the house and then you're screwed, or you may not even be able to get the house you want because there's 30 other people to beat out.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: So we're looking at upcoming inflation numbers.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: If they're low, then mortgage rates will fall even if the unemployment rate holds steady or dips.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So if inflation is good and the Fed starts cutting rates, mortgage rates will go down, of course.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: But when the Fed starts cutting interest rates and signals to the market that that's the trend, that we're now past this crazy hyperinflation, and now it's time to start cutting.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Consumers are gonna think, great, let's just wait until the rates come down to the fives, or some of them are gonna wait for the fours.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know if that's gonna happen.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's unrealistic.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm probably unrealistic.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: We're I mean, we're I think we're shooting for the fives here.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like fives, fives good.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: What if you wait?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be consumers that wait and they're gonna learn their lesson the hard way, but you've got to do your best to teach them why that may not be a good idea.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: It may, it may be a good idea, but just so you know, Mr.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: or Mrs.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Consumer, if you wait for a 5.2% interest rate, that house that's$500,000 now might be$580,000, might be$620, or you know, whatever, right?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Context, education is important.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Remember to see yourself and act like an advisor, a real estate advisor.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because a salesperson is easily looked past and replaced.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: They can just find another salesperson.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you make it all about interest rates, that they need you, they want you, they want your help when rates are down.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: But if rates are up, they have no value in you.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's no reason for them to hire you, there's no reason for them to take action.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to fix that.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it all starts with how you speak about interest rates.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Are you giving context and perspective or not?
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: So just be careful because I've seen a lot of content from agents lately where they they talk about rates going down and how that's good, but they don't go any further, which means some consumers won't find that agent necessary when rates pop up back up to 7%.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Something to keep your eye on, be careful of.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, thank you so much for listening this week.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Short and sweet episode.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Just wanted to get that on your radar because it's a mistake that I'm seeing a lot of agents make.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I almost ate my microphone there.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: That was fantastic.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, guys, go to Massive Agent Podcast.com slash referral to apply for the Massive Agent Referral Network to be the only agent, the only agent representing your entire market.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, January we had about 20 referrals passed around.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: I know a few of them, I don't know the exact number, but uh more than a few have led to actual clients, right?
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's actual deals under contract as a result.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I expect this to pick up dramatically as we grow the group and as we get into the spring market and activity goes up, you know, especially if rates start to creep down, which they're supposed to sometime in March, April, May-ish, right?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sometime in the second quarter, maybe.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so MassiveAgent Podcast.com slash referral is where you apply and see the map of the markets that are already taken.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're in a market like, let's say, uh like Phoenix, but maybe like you're right outside Phoenix or St.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Louis or something, you're right outside, and it like you were hoping to take the whole market, but it's gone, but you actually service an area outside, then grab the market outside, right?
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: That that can still lead to a lot of positive benefit and referral, plus the masterminds we do on a monthly basis in the group, the networking.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I mean, we have agents selling 100, 200 houses a year in there that are sharing wisdom and with the rest of the group, it's just incredible.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a group you want to be a part of.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I highly encourage you to take action on that while your market's still available.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys for listening so much.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: If you found this episode helpful, please share it with your broker, your team leader, team members, friends who are agents, whatever.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh, like I teased at the beginning, I'll tease it again.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned because over the next month or so, uh I'm making one of the biggest decisions.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I've already made one of the biggest decisions I've ever made in my career.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: The decisions are already made.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just laying the groundwork to make it all happen, and I'll be sharing that with you.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and more importantly, why, right?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm taking my own advice here.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for listening.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: Talk to you guys soon.