Latest / REL Freedom Podcast / Amelia Turbyfill - Luxury, Leadership, and Legacy

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Amelia Turbyfill - Luxury, Leadership, and Legacy · REL Freedom Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I had a buyer who wanted a really specific penthouse condo, ski and ski out penthouse condo in big sky that was not listed.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I hustled, I figured out who the last seller's agent was, reached out, their buy, their the owner of the home was potentially interested in selling if they could find something else.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I helped plug all the pieces in together and got my client this$5.6 million condo off market.
• 0:27
  Mike Swenson: Welcome to the Real Freedom Show, where we inspire you to pursue your passion to gain time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate.
• 0:34
  Mike Swenson: I'm your host, Mike Swenson.
• 0:36
  Mike Swenson: Let's get some real freedom together.
• 0:48
  Mike Swenson: Hello, everybody, welcome to another episode of Real Freedom where we talk about different ways that people are building time and financial freedom through opportunities in real estate.
• 0:57
  Mike Swenson: I'm your host, Mike Swenson.
• 0:59
  Mike Swenson: If you want to get started on your real estate journey, check out our website, freedom throughrealestate.com.
• 1:05
  Mike Swenson: We have lots of great articles, all of our episodes on there, really to help you navigate what your career in real estate could be.
• 1:14
  Mike Swenson: I always say it's an entrepreneurial playground.
• 1:16
  Mike Swenson: There's so many things that you can do inside of real estate, so many things that you can add on as you get going.
• 1:22
  Mike Swenson: And so I'm just here to be able to share wonderful stories of people that are doing that to hopefully build a connection where you can see maybe somebody who's had a career similar to yours, maybe some past experiences, some future goals, whatever that might look like, and see how they're pursuing their passions in real estate.
• 1:39
  Mike Swenson: Today, super excited to share.
• 1:40
  Mike Swenson: We have Amelia Turbyfell here.
• 1:42
  Mike Swenson: She is a luxury real estate agent in Montana, big sky country.
• 1:47
  Mike Swenson: She's also the regional director for real luxury.
• 1:50
  Mike Swenson: She's brought a large career in terms of building and growing and working with high net worth individuals, luxury properties, lots of opportunity there over in Montana.
• 2:00
  Mike Swenson: And so excited for you to be able to share your journey, as well as we'll touch on some short-term rental stuff and some other things inside of real estate.
• 2:06
  Mike Swenson: As entrepreneurs in real estate tend to do, we've got a couple irons in the fire.
• 2:10
  Mike Swenson: So excited to hear from you and your story.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, awesome.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for having me.
• 2:14
  Mike Swenson: Just kind of starting out, talk to us a little bit about before real estate, getting into real estate, why you wanted to get into real estate, and we'll take the conversation from there.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: So my my history before I got into real estate was I was in marketing.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so kind of perfect segue.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was kind of doing one of those things where, like, hey, wait, I'm I'm marketing for someone else's business.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't I do this for myself and build my own business?
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, could not sit behind a desk under someone's timeline.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think most of us entrepreneurs can agree.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's the saying?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I quit my nine to five so I could work 24-7, but at least I'm working for myself.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So um that was my move into real estate.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: That was about eight years ago.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, another motivation was um I was a mom, I had two kids.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, nine to five wasn't gonna work for me, obviously, and and wanting to kind of juggle that.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so started my real estate career off two little kids.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now they're in school, and I'm ready to put the throttle down and just keep pushing forward.
• 3:11
  Mike Swenson: I was gonna say, as we're recording this, I have a sick kid home upstairs, sleeping in his bed.
• 3:16
  Mike Swenson: And so it's one of those things where my wife is at a conference for her job, and so it does afford some of that luxury to be able to do that, dictate your own schedule.
• 3:24
  Mike Swenson: And like you said, you have the option to work 24-7 instead of just nine to five.
• 3:28
  Mike Swenson: Um, and so certainly that's that's the life that we live in real estate.
• 3:32
  Mike Swenson: So, talk about the early days, getting into real estate, working as an agent, kind of what did you do to grow your business, gain mind share with people so that they would choose you uh to work with?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think um, you know, when I started out, I really leaned on my marketing experience.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: So um my personal branding, uh, approaching each home listing as if it's its own brand, package it all together.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know we're seeing a lot more of that now with like the explosion of AI and um social media, but even eight years ago, it was like, hey, you use professional photographers, hey, we do cinematic videos, hey, we we put the full force and push behind listings.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and not everyone was doing that.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of my first move in um my listing angle was to present a full and complete high-end luxury um marketing package for each property.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not just talking luxury, you know, I do I do luxury, I do everything.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I I luxury is uh a service, right?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a price point.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I really enjoy that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy the creative side.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think that really started to set me apart in the marketplace.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then um moving into luxury, you know, when you're first getting started, you want to be able to have content and share.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really big on um social media, right?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's super important because it gives me credibility, shows people what they do instantly, and it lets people feel like they they know you.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: But one of those things you want to show is like, hey, what are the types of properties you're interested in working with buyers and sellers?
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: When you're first getting started, you don't have those listings yet.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so a really important piece was going and hosting open houses, using that time to create content that you can share, and um, going and asking um listing agents of high-end properties if you could do um videos and do content around their listings.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually still do that, even though I have high-end listings.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's this one house in in town that I think is absolutely stunning.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's not my listing, but I want to share it because I want to share it on my social media.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's the type of it's the type of home I want a buyer I work with to attract.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think that's a really great way to get started on the luxury listing side and attracting luxury buyers.
• 5:55
  Mike Swenson: Yeah, I think for a lot of people, you know, you mentioned about what's what's the type of client that you want to have.
• 6:01
  Mike Swenson: And then that's your way where you can get in front of those people.
• 6:04
  Mike Swenson: And so um listings are a great way to do that.
• 6:07
  Mike Swenson: I think for a lot of agents as well, it's like, well, there's I don't know if it's like a if a pride thing where it's like, well, it's not my listing, I don't want to do it.
• 6:15
  Mike Swenson: But for somebody like you to get into that space, you need for people to see you in front of those types of properties for you to be able to show what you can do.
• 6:24
  Mike Swenson: And I know for me, any any marketing that people are willing to do on my listing is helpful, right?
• 6:29
  Mike Swenson: If it helps to get it sold, who cares?
• 6:31
  Mike Swenson: Right.
• 6:31
  Mike Swenson: And in some ways, I know some people are kind of hung up on which brokerage and that sort of thing.
• 6:35
  Mike Swenson: But at the end of the day, it's like if somebody's gonna help sell a property, great, go promote it because from an abundance mindset mentality, there's enough to go around.
• 6:42
  Mike Swenson: And so um, if you're gonna help sell my listing, we're happy to do that.
• 6:46
  Mike Swenson: I remember we had one where it was uh sale dependent on another contingent on another sale, contingent on another sale uh one time.
• 6:52
  Mike Swenson: And we called up the the third one in the line there and we said, Hey, how can we help make sure that this house sells so that the other clients are happy, right?
• 7:01
  Mike Swenson: And so it's doing those things that are unconventional to be able to get your business rolling.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and and I agree.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you're a savvy listing agent and another agent who has a good or even a small social media following, but does a professional, nice video, it's getting it in front of more eyeballs than you had before and take that to your to your sellers, you know, and update them.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Say, hey, I've got multiple agents sharing this across different social media channels.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it it's a total advantage uh for any listing agent to get more exposure.
• 7:31
  Mike Swenson: Curious to know in terms of costs, as you're trying to maybe bootstrap early on and keep your costs low until the business starts to grow, right?
• 7:41
  Mike Swenson: You can, you know, you could spend as much money as you want marketing high on listings or helping other people sell their listings.
• 7:47
  Mike Swenson: So, how are you able to kind of balance that cost control until the business started to bring in the money to be able to invest that into your future?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Great question.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's actually still a balance.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can put a lot of money into content creation and I've done it.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, oh, was that one Instagram post really worth me hiring a professional videographer for$2,000?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you can package it all together, that's the best.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: If it's your listing, definitely bring in the pro and get don't just get one uh property listing video and and um MLS photos, have them do uh do a whole content day because when you're able to package it together, you can negotiate that price down.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can have a content library, whether it's b-roll of yourself that you can use for social, or I ask for like a lot of b-roll clips.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then I actually edit them, some of them myself in Cap Cut.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and there's a big savings there.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if it's your listing, don't just do the basic video and photo, take the time because it'll cost less when you have that professional there.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um what I've started doing too is work with a local videographer to do like a content day.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if I don't have a listing, again, I bulk create when I can.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: I bring like five different outfits and we'd go in like a house and then exterior, and then I have a shot list and it provides me with um a lot of great content.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: So bulk content as much as you can.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, I also just invested in a nice iPhone gimbal.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I take some, if it's just like the property I was mentioning, it's not my listing, but I wanted to do like one Instagram reel, I'm not gonna hire someone because that's gonna cost me$800.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I use a gimbal, I do a basic um, you know, walkthrough with the gimbal and edit in in Cap Cut, or you can even find someone video editors in Fiverr uh and that sort of thing for a low cost um to do that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So there's ways to navigate it, but um that's typically what what I would suggest to get started because you want a volume of content to use for the least amount of money you can spend.
• 9:54
  Mike Swenson: And even a lot of that B-roll stuff you can continue to use for years in the future, you know, because you're marketing yourself and your brand, not necessarily that property.
• 10:02
  Mike Swenson: That property might have sold and you continue to use that.
• 10:05
  Mike Swenson: I know when we had some great listings that popped up, lake listings, whatever that might be, and we did invest in the additional videography or photography, like that's that's stuff you can use for for years to come.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Always take advantage of like anytime you're in a nice house, anytime you know, you can dress up and go in there and take photos and videos.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: I have like a b-roll um content uh folder on my uh iPhone.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: So when I need to create content for my social media, I have it saved in there.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not having to get the video each time.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: When I have a concept, I have it in there.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Put the concept, you know, text, whatever, um, and that angle together.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's pretty easy.
• 10:44
  Mike Swenson: And and in your spot in the luxury market, um, you know, we we just did a annual planning event for for next year, and and the the topic came up about you know the amount of money you're spending on marketing homes in different markets and in you know smaller price price points, you feel more comfortable spending that money on marketing because you know the property is going to sell relatively quickly in a different market.
• 11:05
  Mike Swenson: That timeline's longer, and in your space, those properties might take a long time to sell or may not sell.
• 11:12
  Mike Swenson: I know the you know, the famous example is you know, Michael Jordan's house in Chicago is is I I guess I don't even know if it has sold, but it's been listed for like decades.
• 11:20
  Mike Swenson: And how many people did and how many people sink money into marketing on a property where you don't have that sale?
• 11:27
  Mike Swenson: So talk about that a little bit of you know, you don't want to get too strung out on all these listings until those sales happen.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's hard.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: It is hard.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: I have um a four and a half million dollar listing, a$3.6 million listing at Big Sky right now.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I brought those on in the fall when I know our selling season is in the winter, because that's when people come to ski.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the these are gonna take their unique properties.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they're gonna take some time to sell.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think the key is it's tough.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: The key is that you have to again bolt create and and don't dump all your um listing push out at once.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like be really thoughtful about how you space it out over six months.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: So really on that content day, you can have six pieces of content, but do want a month really spread it out, whether it's a YouTube video, whether it's uh a Matterport.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um I've also just started to invest in Zillow Showcase, which is a new thing.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we'll see how that pans out.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like a really great opportunity.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love the analytics that it gives my sellers.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that's also a piece of it when you're investing in this is how are you keeping your seller, how are you keeping your sellers happy over a longer period of time and showing them that you're continuing to market um their listing over that lifespan, right?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and let them know that it's gonna take longer.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, I think just be really cognizant about um where you're spending.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: I keep a spreadsheet of all my costs associated with each listing.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't just there's a lot of shiny objects that can come up in real estate.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: People want to pay, people want you to pay to put it here and spend money to do this and all that sort of thing.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I think just be really aware of budgeting up front over a longer period of time.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: But but plan for it to be an investment.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, when you're in luxury real estate, you are going to be spending money and it's it's a gamble uh always.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: But if you do a really great job, you're gonna get that listing sold and it's gonna repay over time.
• 13:35
  Mike Swenson: Now, another interesting thing with luxury, curious to hear your take on it, but other agents that I know, it's your buyers aren't necessarily local, right?
• 13:42
  Mike Swenson: And so you're marketing to people in other states, possibly even other countries.
• 13:47
  Mike Swenson: And so it's not like a normal listing where we just put the sign in the yard and you've got, you know, people that want to move into that school district or, you know, find that area.
• 13:56
  Mike Swenson: You're attracting people all over the place.
• 13:58
  Mike Swenson: And so talk maybe a little bit about that challenge of you don't know where your buyer's gonna come from, you don't know what state they're gonna come from.
• 14:04
  Mike Swenson: And so, how do you try to market that in a way that's attractive to people all over the place?
• 14:10
  Mike Swenson: Are you looking to get started or scale in real estate investing but don't know your next step?
• 14:15
  Mike Swenson: Are you overwhelmed thinking about finding deals, analyzing deals, doing due diligence, and managing properties on top of it?
• 14:21
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• 14:25
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• 14:27
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• 14:29
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• 14:34
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• 14:41
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• 14:48
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• 14:55
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• 14:59
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• 15:01
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• 15:05
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• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm actually glad you asked that because that's something that I specialize in and I just consider it lifestyle marketing.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, when people move to the the places where I sell homes, Bozeman, Big Sky, Park City, the home is the base camp for a lifestyle that they want to experience, right?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it's packaging that all together.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: So each time I'm listing a home in Big Sky, how close is it to the resort?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: How close is it to the river?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: How close is it to the airport?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what are the main feeder markets show, you know, I like to show, like, hey, Bozeman, actually, we really well connected.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, going to Park City, Salt Lake City uh is an extremely easy-to-access airport, showing the ease of access, showing the lifestyle amenities.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, how skiing, you know, if I if I'm doing cinematic video for a high-end listing, is it a ski and ski out property?
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is it, are you hanging out in the hot tub afterwards?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Are you going fishing?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like all the things that people want to do.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: How close is it to hiking trails?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: How close is it to the town center?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the keys when you're marketing a second home property is it needs to be equally weighted between the home and the lifestyle.
• 16:21
  Mike Swenson: And how does that work in terms of you know, networking?
• 16:24
  Mike Swenson: So I know you're, you know, you're with the the luxury brand as a as a regional director, but I'm sure too, marketing with other luxury agents across the United States, wherever that might be is important to make sure that those luxury agents are aware of, you know, who might be looking to move into Montana and Park City.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so absolutely.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I uh I love to leverage the real luxury network.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: We have a great collaborative network um where we can share our listings across all of our luxury, uh, you know, to all of our luxury agents.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's great exposure.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm also part of Realm, um, which is another luxury agent network uh that has a really amazing platform uh where you can like link up with and match with listing agents who are um represent high-end buyers in your feeder markets.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really targeted to direct, directly reaching out to those agents.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: And what I like to do is provide unbranded marketing materials.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, a lot of times real estate agents put their name all over stuff.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been on the other side where as a buyer's agent, I want to share that information, but I don't want to share a video or a PDF that has another agent's name and phone number all over it, right?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I try to empower buyer's agents to be the expert on this property.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: I provide you with the content, the images, all that stuff so that they can push it out through their database and I let them know, hey, this is a plug and play.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Click and send it to your database.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: You've got the buyer, I've got the house.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: And but I want to frame the buyer's agent as the expert about it, because then they were gonna want to share it and bring the buyer.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I found that to be a really successful and really easy um way to encourage other uh luxury buyers' agents to share my listings.
• 18:06
  Mike Swenson: I'd love to hear either just a story or kind of when when in your career, because obviously you're you're putting in some time early on to market yourself, position yourselves as a luxury agent, where you kind of feel like, okay, this this thing's clicking now, or you know, whether it was kind of that first big sale or a couple of sales or something like that, where you're like, okay, I now feel like I'm a luxury agent because I have my own listings, I've sold my own listings.
• 18:31
  Mike Swenson: Um, what was that like to you where you where you kind of feel like, okay, yeah, this this thing might work out for me here?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a that's a great question.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you feel like it's just like, you know, uh a bluebird, right?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, oh my God, I just got this and uh it's it's it's great.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: But um let's see, I'd say my momentum really I stopped feeling that getting rid of the imposter syndrome probably last summer.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a buyer who wanted a really specific penthouse condo, ski and scout penthouse condo in fake sky that was not listed.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I hustled, I figured out who the last seller's agent was, reached out, their buy, their the owner of the home was potentially interested in selling if they could find something else.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I helped plug all the pieces in together and got my client this$5.6 million condo off market.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think that got the ball rolling where you're like, wow, I could I wove this together and made it happen.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then that kind of transition to this spring.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: I was lucky enough to represent some buyers on um uh an$11 million sale at the one and only in Big Sky, which is an incredible high end luxury um hotel product that also has residential um condos.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a it's just the kind of the crown jewel of Big Sky right now, and to have the opportunity to walk my buyers through um that purchase and get them in.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: On this home that they've really fell in love with was pretty special.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a spectacular home.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I was really honored to be a part of that one.
• 20:07
  Mike Swenson: You know, we we talked about as as entrepreneurs and as agents, you know, having different irons in the fire.
• 20:12
  Mike Swenson: And so you had mentioned short-term rentals, both for yourself and for your clients, is a big area of opportunity in the market send you in.
• 20:19
  Mike Swenson: So talk about your journey, you know, looking to acquire those types of properties and then two, helping other people see the value in that and and helping them with short-term rental properties.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I have a short-term rental property in Big Sky, a small condo.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it was a stretch.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: I bought it, let's see, like eight years ago.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a stretch to get in, you know.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: I had a little baby and it needed to be renovated.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And anyways, I was like, I but it was a dream to have a place there and um made it happen, have updated it over time.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I just I know the trajectory of these um, these uh luxury markets, especially that I'm in.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: I saw the growth when you see the montage coming, the one and only coming, the additions uh to the resort, same thing in Park City.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Deer Valley East Village is is booming with the Olympics coming soon.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: They're like doubling their terrain this year.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's huge growth going.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I think if you're able to see the long-term appreciation, obviously prices are higher, right?
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is a luxury, these are luxury resort properties.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: But if you can look at the long-term appreciation, then also analyze what is the short-term rental capability.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, like in Big Sky, there's pretty much no short-term rental restrictions, which is great, but there's higher HOA dues.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I have buyers or for myself analyzing that investment, what's the potential income?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: What are the HOA dues and expenses?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And how much personal use do you want to have?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you're looking for just like a straight, I want to make money on a rental, like go buy a fourplex in Ohio, right?
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like or Minnesota.
• 21:59
  Mike Swenson: I'm just kidding.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or Minnesota.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, definitely.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um but if you want, like most of my clients want to use it two weeks in the summer, two weeks in the winter, then offset their cost.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: I really um that that's the sweet spot, right?
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think you have a value of personal use there.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're doing a 1031, maybe it's a cash purchase, maybe you're getting a loan.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at all of those things together.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_00: Analyze, I work with local property managers, vacation rental property managers to get a pro forma, an estimation of what income that property could generate.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: And let's sit down and look at all the pieces together to see if it's a smart investment for them.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: So having my personal experience in doing it, I think helps me relate to buyers who are typically from out of state.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: They don't know the market.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really helpful for me to guide them through it and that way, leaning on my real estate market knowledge and personal experience in owning and managing a short-term rental.
• 22:57
  Mike Swenson: Do any of the clients have uh concerns about, you know, if I'm gonna stay there for two weeks in the summer, two weeks in the winter, now we've got strangers coming in my house.
• 23:07
  Mike Swenson: Um, or do they truly view it more as like this is a vacation property?
• 23:11
  Mike Swenson: I'm okay with that.
• 23:12
  Mike Swenson: Like I'm just kind of curious in terms of personal stuff they might keep at the home.
• 23:16
  Mike Swenson: If they're coming there, do they want to have their own clothes?
• 23:19
  Mike Swenson: Does that stuff just get stored away so you can rent it?
• 23:21
  Mike Swenson: I'm curious to know how that works for those people that do want to use that property for their personal use semi-regularly.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a great question because you also have to factor in like decor and furnishing it.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: Cause when you're furnishing it for a short-term rental, it really needs to look nice.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: And anyways, um, you know, typically most people feel there's such an upside to renting it out for that rental income.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're willing to not worry too much about their personal stuff.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: That being said, majority of properties here um in Big Sky specifically, um, will have some sort of owner lock-off or own owner personal storage.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because no, like if you own a place in Big Sky, you don't want to be flying back and forth with your skis all the time.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: So there's typically enough space to keep like your booze, your skis, your ski gear, lock it away.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then everything else, which is furnished, um, you know, like a nice um, you know, condo or Airbnb.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And um also a lot of times what we see here is when a home is sold in Big Sky uh or Park City and it's been used as a rental, it's sold furnished.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't really have as much personal attack attachment to that because it's a second home.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: They don't want the furniture.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: The new buyer can leverage it.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so a lot of properties are turnkey.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in that case, you're like a little less emotionally connected to to the furnishings and things like that.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: And it works out pretty well.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're not uh packing up the U-Haul and driving the furniture back to their primary house because they don't have they don't have grandma's antique dresser and china plates at their at their rental property.
• 24:54
  Mike Swenson: Now, one of the things you talked about is so as an as an agent, right?
• 24:58
  Mike Swenson: You've got other opportunities for income and you know, building kind of a separate side business.
• 25:05
  Mike Swenson: And so, you know, the brokerage that you're with real has some opportunities that other agents might be interested.
• 25:10
  Mike Swenson: Would love to just kind of hear your take on that coming from uh an independent broker to a broker as agents, right?
• 25:16
  Mike Swenson: We don't tend to think about the future, we don't tend to think about what's gonna happen.
• 25:19
  Mike Swenson: Uh, you know, they I I always say agents jokingly say I want to I'll work till the day I die, and they laugh it off.
• 25:26
  Mike Swenson: I think it's really because they don't put a plan in place before then or they're not making enough money to save or to invest to be able to have the choice to retire when they want to retire.
• 25:36
  Mike Swenson: So we'd love to hear kind of what you know, you moving to a different brokerage.
• 25:39
  Mike Swenson: Lots of brokerages have lots of great options.
• 25:42
  Mike Swenson: And so as you were analyzing making a move in a brokerage, what are some things that that attracted you to the broker that you chose?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: So initially what attracted me to real was um the the great split in the cap, right?
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: I had never had that at a brokerage before.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: And um I kind of got to the point where I was, I felt like with my marketing experience, I wanted to be able to reinvest money into marketing myself rather than paying a brokerage's lease so that they could have an office downtown or whatever.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: That's also great, you know, if that's something that you need.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like I was to the point and had the knowledge that I really wanted to keep more money in my pocket to reinvest on myself.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: So initially that's what really uh drew me to Real, um, which I loved.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_00: And as I've gotten into it, um, that's what made me make the switch.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the other piece that as I'm I'm really getting into it and uncovering all the advantages of Real is um having ownership in the company, uh being able to set aside a certain portion of my um commissions and have that be matched in stock at different levels.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: So when you talk about saving, I mean that's a no-brainer.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you want help saving for retirement, if you need help saving for anything, it's it's it's a no-brainer.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: You select that you want it done, it saves it for you.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: And every now and then I check in and I see that growth.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: And uh it's like on autopilot, which is which is amazing.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I have an additional savings account now that I never had before.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then the other piece too that is is really interesting is the the RevShare portion, which again is is only in certain an option, certain brokerages.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think, you know, as real estate agents, we're all entrepreneurial.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: We all want to find ways to leverage our knowledge to make money and be successful to take care of our families.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so now I have all these different options that I can lean into, and RevShare is something that I'm really starting to explore to see that seeing the potential there is amazing.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: But I also like it from the perspective of I've gotten to the place in my career that I do feel like I can provide a level of mentorship, support, that sort of thing, and build out a team.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and and real makes that super easy.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, some brokers don't even allow teams.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I love the idea that I can really intentionally partner with people, support others, help them grow, use my systems and processes.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm an open book, I'm very much a rising tide, lifts all ships.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: And real is very much that way.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's extremely collaborative and supportive.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I like that I'm like rewarded and that is you can facilitate that if that's a way that you want to grow your business.
• 28:25
  Mike Swenson: Absolutely.
• 28:26
  Mike Swenson: I I highly encourage agents um to be thinking about your future, both in rental properties, right, and investment properties as well as opportunities like this.
• 28:34
  Mike Swenson: Because yeah, wouldn't it be awesome to have the choice to stop working when you want to stop working?
• 28:39
  Mike Swenson: And or you can always refer business to other agents if you're like, hey, I want to take time for myself.
• 28:44
  Mike Swenson: And so there is ways to do that.
• 28:46
  Mike Swenson: And so as agents, you need to start thinking ahead of what does my future look like and how am I planting some seeds into the future so that I don't have to work until the day that I die.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like we said, if if you don't find ways to make money while you sleep, you're gonna work until you die.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, we're we're out here grinding, selling real estate.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so just to be as part of a brokerage that allows you to take advantage of other income generating opportunities or not, if that's not your thing, that's cool too.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but uh on that flip side, you're also saving more money in your pocket because you know you have a great cap and from there you can build your business the way that you want.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I really like the flexibility that it offers.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's been great.
• 29:26
  Mike Swenson: Fantastic.
• 29:27
  Mike Swenson: Well, thank you so much for coming on, sharing your story and your journey in real estate.
• 29:30
  Mike Swenson: For people that want to reach out to you and learn more, how can they do so?
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think probably the best way to reach me is through um my Instagram.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm um at Amelia Real Estate Co.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's my Instagram handle.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my website is Amelia Realestate Co.com.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you can find me there.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Would love to connect.
• 29:49
  Mike Swenson: Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing and uh excited to see how your career is gonna continue to grow here in the future.