Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Ep #26: The #1 Free Real Estate App for Real Estate Agents

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Ep #26: The #1 Free Real Estate App for Real Estate Agents · Mortgage Marketing Radio

0:00
In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with
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Mortgage Marketing Radio Brought to you by the Mortgage Marketing Institute,
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your number one source for truth in mortgage marketing.
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Hey mortgage professionals, welcome to another episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio.
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Jeff Zimfer, your humble host.
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I'm so glad you're here.
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I've got something really exciting to share with you.
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It's a new app for real estate agents and lenders.
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It's called HuHub and what HuHub is doing is unique and different in the industry.
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It's connecting three parties involved in a home real estate transaction, vendors, homeowners
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and agents.
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So, if you think about this, right, in a typical transaction for real estate when it comes
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to buyer selling a house, there's multiple parties involved, right?
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Buyers and sellers, they're asking the agents and lenders, who do you recommend for a trusted
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service professional for a plumber, for a contractor, for a landscaper, a painter, for windows,
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for home cleaning services, for masonry, architects, carpet, tile, remodeling, additions, etc.
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In the old days, real estate agents would provide a laundry list of, quote unquote, approved
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service providers.
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Well now, with the advent of mobile technology and the web and the internet, what HuHub is
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doing is making that easy for agents and lenders to connect with homeowners and build their
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own personally trusted network of, of go to trusted home service professionals.
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And so, it's a phenomenal tool that adds value to the home buyer or seller that adds value
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to the real estate agent and it puts the lender in the middle of that relationship.
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So it's a very powerful app and I'm so excited that the two people I brought here today
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are going to walk us through that.
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So who are they?
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First and foremost, we have Brad the tour, the co-founder and CEO of HuHub out of the Washington
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DC metro area.
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And we also have my good friend Wade Vandermohlen.
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Wade is a successful title rep out of the Washington DC metro area.
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Wade, you may recall, was on the very first podcast we did at Mortgage Marketing Radio.
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So if you didn't hear that, go back and listen to that.
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The reason why it's relevant and the reason why Wade is here is because I heard about HuHub
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number one from Wade.
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Number two, Wade is a big believer in building his platform in his local area to get referrals
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from agents and lenders by adding value.
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How does he do that?
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Well, primarily he's great at sharing content, content in the form of he's got his own YouTube
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channel.
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He teaches agent classes.
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He does blog posts.
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He does lots of different things to stay top of mind, to rise above the noise by bringing
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content, valuable resources and tools to his lender and agent relationships so that he
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separates himself from the noise, from the competition, because he's actually making
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a difference, adding value and helping his clients and referral partners be more successful.
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And so I think you'll really appreciate Wade's perspective on this coming from a title
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rep very similar to you as the lender listening, how you'd like, how you should be positioning
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yourself with your local agents when it comes to you perhaps sharing what HuHub is all
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about.
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So that is the intro.
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We're going to cut over to the show and I am hoping you're going to like it as much as
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I did.
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Go to the app store, download the HuHub app.
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It's free.
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Start kicking it around, check it out and listen to today's episode for some great ideas
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on how you can add value to your local real estate agents.
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All right.
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So thanks for listening and we will talk to you soon.
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Let's now transition to the show.
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Brad Wade, welcome to the show.
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Thanks Jeff.
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Great to be with you today.
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Yeah.
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Good to be here.
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Thank you.
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So before we get started, I think it makes sense for listeners, you know, as I pointed
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out in the interview, who you guys are Brad from HuHub, Wade from Stewart title, but
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to make sure we connect the voice with the person.
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I don't know.
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We started off with Brad.
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I'll allow you to just say hello and quick story, you know, who you are and what you
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do.
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Yeah.
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Absolutely.
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And again, thanks for having us.
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This is Brad LaTour on the co-founder and CEO of HuHub.
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And we're based in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of DC and we're excited to share
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a little bit about what we're trying to accomplish to add value to the realtor and loan officer
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marketplace.
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Yeah.
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Yes.
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Thank you.
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Awesome.
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Well, thank you very much for that.
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So let's get into it.
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So we're here today, obviously, to talk about, I think the running theme I want to carry
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here is how are we adding value both to the real estate and the loan officer community.
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And so that's kind of the theme for today.
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And there's various ways that we're doing that and that those listeners who are mostly
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loan officers can do that to the real estate community.
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And Wade is you and I talked before we hit record.
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The reason I asked you to be here, you know, people's loan officers listening may, hey,
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why is that a tunnel guy on this podcast?
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It's because some of my listeners actually already know who you are because I had you on
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the podcast way back earlier this year.
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I think you were the second person I had on the podcast.
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So thank you for that.
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But what you do so uniquely as a successful title professional is you are a big believer
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in the way you build business and build your platform is by providing value added resources.
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You do that a lot through teaching classes and education.
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And what brought HuHub, this cool app that we're going to dive into to my attention actually
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was you.
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And I saw you did a post or a video or something on HuHub, right?
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Right.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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So if you would, do me a favor, just set that up real quickly on how, you know, because
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the title of business is equally as competitive to capture realtor's attention as it is for
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the mortgage loan officer.
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But what's your positioning for you and how you capture the local real estate's business
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and why is HuHub a part of that?
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Okay.
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Well, you know, title insurance is, you know, you can get title insurance.
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It tons of different companies, right?
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What makes it different is who you're getting it from and the people that you build your
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business with.
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So for instance, in the Northern Virginia area, it's very competitive here just like
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it is in California, you know, but at the end of the day, realtor's and lenders can't
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send us business if they don't have business to send.
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So, you know, I take the approach of trying to help them with their business and create
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a sustainable business model so they can remain relevant to the consumer, right?
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And where do people go to get information?
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They go to get information from their smartphone.
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They go to get information from the internet.
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They go to the get information from YouTube.
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So, you know, I help them create systems so that they can set up their channels, use apps
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like HuHub to remain, I mean, to create that client retention and also help them get
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found on the internet where people go to get information.
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So, you know, at the end of the day, if a title company is not helping a realtor or a lender
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growing their business or allowing them to get, you know, create more exposure, offline
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and online, then they're not, in my opinion, they're not really adding enough value because
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in the meantime, all these other title companies are sitting in their office right now waiting
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for you to send them a deal, right?
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Well, I take the proactive approach of saying, let me help you get more transactions.
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Let me get more eyes to your business.
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Let me get more eyes to you from people that are interested in working with you and then
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so that you can convert them into paying clients.
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And that's kind of my approach.
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And I think HuHub is a great opportunity for realtors and even lenders to, you know, capture
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people where they're looking, which is their smartphone.
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You drive up even to a stoplight and you look left or right where I want people doing
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at a stoplight.
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They're staring at their phone.
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So, you know, this is a great way to capture people.
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Right.
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Absolutely.
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And that's a nice transition into Brad, you know, kind of what I call the origin story
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of HuHub.
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So for those listening, how did HuHub come about?
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What's its purpose as a superhero app?
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I like those adjectives.
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Keep that up superhero app.
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That's good stuff.
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I was actually just going to let Wade continue to tell the, your listeners how great
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HuHub is.
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But let me give you the back.
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Sorry.
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You know, like, like a lot of great apps and technology and products, you know, we really
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started from the simple position of, you know, how do we have value and there's got to
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be a better way?
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And our founder is actually, he's now a 30 year full time licensed realtor here in town.
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And he has really kind of struggled with this for years and years and years of, you know,
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how do I stay relevant with my clients?
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And then how do I add value with the five to seven requests I'm getting every single
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day from past clients, neighbors, friends, anyone in his local sphere?
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With the simple question is, do you have a fill in the blank, whether that's a lender,
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a title company, a landscaper, chimney sweep, you name it?
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And really what we did is we allowed kind of technology to kind of catch up with his
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problem.
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So our app at the most basic level does two things.
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It allows the realtor to communicate with their clients and their vendor community through
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messaging and his way just pointed out, you know, smartphones where all that is happening.
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And then the second thing that allows them to effortlessly share their trusted network.
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So you know, we're not doing anything brand new in terms of an idea that's first shattering,
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what we're doing is making it more efficient.
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So if you were to ask 10 realtor's, how do you share your network of trusted service
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providers in your local market, I'm going to get 10 answers, anything from a post-it note
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to a text, to a word document, to a three-ring binder, an Excel file, a photocopy of a photocopy.
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And then we show up and we'll say, you know, how would you like just to have a digital
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role dex and then communicate with your clients the way they want to communicate, which is
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their smartphone?
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And just to dovetail on Wade's earlier point, our biggest back-end growth is our group messaging
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and what we're hearing when we go out and we just kind of canvas our realtor's, they're
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creating group messaging between themselves, their title company, their client and their
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lender, and they're not sending a single email.
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It's all very quick back and forth and then everything is searchable.
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So you never have to scroll through that email all, when did they say the appraisal's
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going to be done?
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What's the rate that I got?
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Everything on the app is fully searchable and right up to closing.
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And then my favorite quote for realtor's are, and my client is conditioning herself
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or himself to always think of me when they need something about real estate.
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And that's kind of really our goal.
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So we're a service provider.
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We don't dictate who the best is in the local market, but the great thing about your marketplace
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is loan officers as a category, they get it the fastest because just like a realtor is
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trying to stay connected to their homeowner and their sphere, loan officers are trying
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to stay connected to the top realtor's.
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So they've positioned it quite smartly to say, here's a gift for your realtor that
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will drive and fuel your business and they're already connected obviously when they do
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that.
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You mentioned something there, messaging, it sounds like you're talking about the people
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have kind of morphed the app and they're messaging you said between client, realtor
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and loan officer, is this like during a transaction of purchase?
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Absolutely, yeah.
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So when it's shared, it's often shared at the point where they're either getting ready
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to start looking or they're in and around to transaction.
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So we have direct messaging.
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The functionality is very similar, Facebook messaging or WhatsApp, I'm sure your audience
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is very familiar with those two platforms.
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So we layered in the messaging to keep the client on the hook with the service provider
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as well as the realtor, which is the long-term goal.
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Naturally, any realtor worth their salt is always going to be asked for their opinion.
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Our question is, if they trust you so much around a transaction and are asking you for
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a loan officer recommendation, a title company and all these other services, why shouldn't
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they continue to ask you two years down the road, five years down the road, ten years
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down the road?
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And that's our basic premise, is local realtor's know the best local service providers.
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We do not.
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We never will.
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And all those other services that are out there, that's just to pay to play.
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So those are advertising platforms.
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I have nothing against them.
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We're a referral platform and we just take a different approach.
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Yeah, so I want to come back to the pay to play in a moment, but I want to focus on
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this.
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What sounds to me, if I'm wrong, is an unintended or unexpected application of your app or
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use of your app, I should say, which is communicating during the loan transaction.
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Did you expect people to do that about the transaction itself?
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We actually did not start with messaging layered in.
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It was a request from the marketplace.
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So we pride ourselves on being good listeners.
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So we've only been out in the market for about 18 months and about six months ago we layered
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in the messaging functionality.
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Yeah, and that's very interesting because when you think about how somebody, and this
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is where I want to get right now, is like, take me to the top of the final of how the
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various entities involved get exposed to and get on this app.
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Where does it usually start and take me through that process?
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Yeah, so we have three distinct constituents.
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We have realers, homeowners and service providers.
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So each one of those groups can sign up independently.
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The most common way it happens is we're asked to come in to present to a brokerage or brokerage
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office.
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We'll share what we have and they'll either share a trusted vendor list that will upload
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for them to make it easier on their agents or an individual agent will sign on directly
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and upload or add their vendors.
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So a vendor really can be invited by an individual agent or by an entire office.
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How did they get invited?
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So I'm a realtor.
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I'm in the app.
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For example, I'm a loan officer and I'm in the app.
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How am I going to invite my insurance guy, Carpenter or whatever?
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Yeah, so invitations, they run two ways.
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So your loan officers who are listening today could go to HuHubApp.com and sign up and
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register and then they could invite their top 10 realtor clients and then so we do the
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heavy lifting, right?
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So if you're a loan officer who's listening today signs up at HuHubApp.com, that'll trigger
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a series of invitation emails and then we'll follow up on the loan officers' behalf just
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to make sure the agent understands the value prop, what HuHub is and then we do the same
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thing in reverse.
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So if a loan officer is invited by an agent, we'll reach out to that loan officer with
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one of our vendor advisor teams and just make sure that they understand how we're different.
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What we've learned really is that realtor and service providers are spammed to death.
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So we first have to break through to say, I'm not Google, Yelp, HomeAdvisor or any other
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ad platform trying to sell you advertising.
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You were invited by Tom the realtor because they think you're good.
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So do you want to accept Tom's invitation?
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Yes, no, maybe and that's pretty simply how it works.
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Very interesting.
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So in just a clarify, as you said, a loan officer who's listening right now could go to
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HuHubApp.com and tell us how the fees break out related to the app who pays for what?
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Yes, sure.
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Yes, so we're by design very transparent on how we make money.
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So it's free to the realtor, it's free to the broker, it's free to the homeowner.
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So all those three groups are very deliberately free because that drives the most amount
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of organic sharing amongst their sphere and their local community.
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And then each vendor pays a nominal monthly fee of 30 bucks, so basically a dollar a day.
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And that allows them to connect to an unlimited amount of agents, an unlimited amount of offices,
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and an unlimited amount of homeowners.
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So I emphasize that because even though we say that very plainly in our website and I'm
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saying it right now, we often hear back from
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a vendor, so it's $30 per agent or it's $30 per office, no, no, no, it's only $30 per
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month, no contract, we've built our value prop to be a massive ROI.
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So the reason why our most popular category is loan officers because the value of one
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deal not only pays for HuHub for months, but it's more like years.
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So this is a subscription model.
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We know we have to earn our value stripes every single day.
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So the best way to do that is to hold ourselves accountable with no strings attached.
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And if we get your loan officers more business, guess what, they're never going to leave.
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And that's our goal.
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That's our goal.
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So again, nothing earth shattering here, we just put value first and that's why I've
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been a real treat for me personally to get to know the way in the Stewart team.
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Because he doesn't exactly the way it should be done.
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Let's leave with value first, you know, I'm an outsider to the real estate market.
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I've kind of learned baptism by fire as they say over the last couple of years.
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And you know, who doesn't want referrals, right?
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Real estate or any business, we all want referrals.
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But you know, you have to extend value first in order to get referrals.
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So that's the central theme, right?
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And credibility.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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So you know, you do it with all your podcasts and, you know, you got to, you got to care,
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right?
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You got to care.
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And what we want to do is we're trying to help those in the local community.
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So we're a hyper local play, quality over quantity.
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And you know, again, the one thing that makes us very different is we don't determine who
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the best is.
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So we hear it all the time every single day.
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But if that loan officer or that landscaper does a bad job, well, you know what?
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You should kick them off your network.
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This is an extension of you, Mr. or Mrs. Realtor.
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So you should only recommend those who you're comfortable extending their value to because
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you actually know them.
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The moment I start to say who the best is, you know that they're paying me more money
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to say that.
20:56
Yeah.
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And so I keep saying we're going to come back to pay the play and what we will.
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But I want to clarify something.
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You said, kick them off your network.
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So if let's say down the road for whatever reason, a particular vendor that I've recommended
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on my network, you know, winds up doing something that I think is right.
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Not worthy of me recommending.
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I can remove that person from my kind of, yeah, okay.
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Absolutely.
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Cool.
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So the other thing that you'll appreciate, Jeff, is, you know, our business model is
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aligned for trust and accountability.
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So to your example, if a service provider gets kicked off the network and it costs me
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$30, you know, so what, right?
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Someone else is going to get recommended to take their place for $30.
21:38
Well, no, no.
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We've opened another question.
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It's not to interrupt you.
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But do you limit the number of vendor categories, meaning, you know, hey, 10, right, contractors
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or whatever, or is it up to the realtor?
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You know, we don't.
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We believe in kind of an open market approach and it's, you know, it's a great question
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because in the early days, we did and what we heard from, from most of the realtor market
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was, it's a little bit overreaching, like, yeah, I work, I work with four lenders consistently.
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If you're going to limit me to just two, then I'm not going to do it at all.
22:12
Right.
22:13
And they like the people to be able to make that informed choice and, you know, so that
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makes sense.
22:18
Precisely.
22:19
All right.
22:20
So I want to pivot a second back to Wade because I know he doesn't like to be quiet
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for too long.
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So in terms of how you do this and, you know, you said something, Brad, you know, you
22:32
like aligning with Wade because he really does it ideally in terms of introducing the app
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to his realtor community, value add, all that stuff.
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So Wade, walk us through, right, again, right, loan officers, but a lot of parallels.
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How are you introducing who hub to your local realtors and loan officers?
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Because I know they're your clients too.
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Of course.
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So when I teach my real estate marketing classes or just even even agents, I mean, the things
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that realtors and lenders say to me, pretty similar, pretty similar issues.
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And a lot of times what I normally do is I bring it back to their database and I'm like,
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OK, I get it.
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You want me to help you with your website and rank on Google at all.
23:09
That's great.
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I can do that.
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But what are you doing to stay in contact with your past clients for the influence database?
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And a lot of times the answer that I get is, oh, you know what?
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I'm not doing as much as I should.
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You know what?
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I'm not really doing all these other things.
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So the number one reason why realtors and lenders lose business is because they don't have
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good client retention.
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You know, they're not following up with people that sent a business in the past or people
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that they have one relationship with.
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So when I meet with agents or teach classes, I introduce who hub and I talk to them about
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it.
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I say, here's a great way for you to have something on your phone and connect people through
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their smartphone at no cost, right?
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Your spirit of influence, past clients, people like you, love you, trust you.
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And it creates client retention, client retention, right?
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So whether you're a title sales rep or a lender, I mean, that's the greatest thing that
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we we want.
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I mean, if I brought in, you know, a brand new client and I never followed up with that
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person again, the deal closes, they might not ever send me a deal again.
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Well, the goal is I want them to keep sending me deals every month.
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And lenders want their realtors to be referring them buyers every month so that they can keep
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growing their business and have that steady stream of income.
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So for me, you know, when I'm talking to these agents, the number one thing I stress to
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them is it creates client retention at no cost and, you know, not to offend realtors,
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but, you know, a lot of times, you don't like to spend money on things sometimes.
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So let's say I can see an immediate return and this is a great way for them to do something
24:40
that's at no cost to create creates client retention and, you know, can help keep them in
24:45
front of their clients to make more money.
24:47
Right.
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It's huge win.
24:49
And what's the reaction you've seen from agents when you're presenting the app?
24:52
Well, it's mixed, you know, agents, some agents get it right away, you know, some agents
24:58
are like a key technology.
24:59
I get it.
25:00
Like this is I see how this works.
25:01
Other people, you have to really walk them through it and explain it.
25:05
So they're like, well, let me get this straight.
25:06
I already send business to my lenders.
25:07
So now I need to make them pay $30 a month when I already give them business.
25:12
Then you have to explain it in that that's not exactly what it is.
25:14
I mean, the lender wants not just the realtor's business, the lender wants business and
25:18
access to other real estate agents.
25:20
So for me, like, I'll have lenders that talk to me and they want me to introduce them
25:24
to other agents.
25:25
They want me to get them in front of producing agents.
25:27
Well, this is a way for them to, you know, through the search feature to find agents in
25:31
brokerages and other producing people connect with them on the app and build rapport, build
25:37
the relationship.
25:38
So yeah, the lender is going to be paying $30, but you know, walk that lender doesn't just
25:43
want Susie Smith transactions.
25:44
They want that lender wants an opportunity to get to the other producing agents in Susie
25:49
Smith's office so that they can connect and build the relationship through an online
25:53
platform.
25:54
Yeah.
25:55
And so I've kind of experimented with the app a little bit myself and as a matter of
25:59
fact, you know, I think I Brad, you walked me through that.
26:02
I typed in my zip code or city or whatever and up pops an agent.
26:05
I actually know.
26:06
Funny story.
26:07
Yeah, that's crazy.
26:08
Yeah.
26:09
Funny story there.
26:10
This agent happens to be the son of the branch manager at the countrywide office that I worked
26:15
at for seven years and it's like, oh, Susie's comes up and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I know
26:20
that guy.
26:21
He's the son of like my mentor from countrywide when I was there.
26:24
That's just crazy.
26:25
So, but what I'm curious about, let's, let's continue that thought thread out a bit
26:28
way to whoever wants to comment on that is, okay, so I get, you know, you know, Sally Smith
26:33
is realtor or connected in the who have app and you're saying, hey, this opens me up
26:38
to other agents in their office because other agents would also be on the app.
26:42
So how, how am I going to connect with them through the app, you know, to introduce myself
26:48
or to establish credibility?
26:50
How does that happen in the app?
26:52
Sure.
26:53
Well, it actually happens both in the app as well as we provided no cost to the brokerage
26:59
office, a custom web-based list, I'm sorry, I'm a little slow, say that again.
27:06
No, no, no worries.
27:08
So Jeff, early on what we've learned, even though the statistics are so dramatically shifting
27:14
to mobile, you know, real estate is a laggard in an adoption of technology.
27:21
And then the average age of a realtor is 57.
27:24
So rather than mandating 100% of the activity must happen within the ecosystem of the who
27:31
have app, we've created bridges outside of the app with our vendors in mind, right?
27:37
So our goal for our loan officers and all of our vendor community is we want to give them
27:43
as much business as possible for selfish reasons.
27:47
If we give them a ton of business, they're never going to leave, right?
27:50
So in addition to the app, we provide the offices that we're working for.
27:56
So you know, ABC brokerage here in Alexandria, who's got 100 agents, we prop up a custom
28:03
web page for them that lists all of the vendors in their office so that the agents, those
28:11
100 agents in that office, and so you know, you're probably going to get to the question
28:17
of who do we compete against.
28:19
We actually are competing against legacy behavior.
28:22
What I mean by that is sadly, the number one way to share vendors in an office is email
28:30
all.
28:31
So an email goes out, does anybody know a, right, right, highly inefficient, disruptive,
28:38
one might argue spam, and then guess what?
28:42
They get their answer and three weeks later, the same request goes out.
28:47
So we've done is listen, let us take on the administrative task of populating that list,
28:52
which is often outdated.
28:54
It's in all kinds of old legacy formats, and then we give that to them again at no cost.
29:01
So it does a couple of things.
29:03
It helps the brokerage from the admin side because we prop it up and then it gets maintained
29:08
on an ongoing basis.
29:09
The agent knows exactly where to look so that they can see their colleagues recommendations
29:15
of that loan officer.
29:17
And then for the loan officer, let's be honest, if there's a hundred agents in that office,
29:23
if 50 of them downloaded the app, well, that's potentially another 50 that we're leaving
29:28
out so that the loan officer ultimately has more exposure and that's a big deal for us.
29:33
So they have the web list and then they also have the activity that happens on the app.
29:42
And once they start building connections, so I'm sure you're familiar with LinkedIn.
29:48
So there's a lot of LinkedIn similar functionality that we've built in so that you can do outreach
29:54
to your connections.
29:57
And it's very simple, right?
29:59
So again, nothing earth shattering, but if a loan officer is connected with 20 agents
30:04
in an office, but they've really only done business with one of those, well, that is
30:09
the most highly valued target list of 19 agents that they should be reaching out to,
30:15
to introduce themselves and say, I've done a lot of business with your colleague.
30:18
I'd love to tell you about my approach and how I work.
30:22
So I can't do that for them just because it's technology doesn't mean it's magic.
30:32
The example I use all the time is a constant contact mailchimp and any number of platforms
30:39
are simple to use.
30:40
But if you don't load up your database and you don't craft an email, they're pretty worthless.
30:46
There is some onus on the vendor to do outreach and like Wade was saying, connect.
30:50
Let them know a little bit about your service.
30:53
And we don't do reviews and points and diamonds and elephants or anything like that.
30:58
We just do simple recommendations.
31:01
We think the power is in a single question.
31:05
Would you recommend this service provider to a friend or family member?
31:10
So when that realtor is sharing their network of service providers, we want the homeowner
31:18
to look at that loan officer and then see the recommendation.
31:22
I've known Jeff for 15 years.
31:25
He's closed multiple deals for me personally and all my colleagues, you can't go wrong
31:30
with Jeff and he's a local boy.
31:32
We want it very personal, this again.
31:35
Okay.
31:36
Let me pause right there.
31:37
So to make sure I'm clear on that, because I'm skewing on the top or upper end of your
31:43
average age there, but so that roster that you guys are helping create for inside the
31:51
real estate brokerage there, can the lender be on that roster?
31:55
They will be.
31:56
Yeah.
31:57
Okay.
31:58
So they will be on that.
31:59
And the realtor can leave comments about the lender on that and like you say, the personal
32:01
recommendation.
32:02
Yeah.
32:03
The recommendation.
32:04
That's correct.
32:05
Okay.
32:06
Very cool.
32:07
So the goal, the goal, the lender is to collect recommendations.
32:08
Yeah.
32:09
So so now, you know, we've got 19 other agents in that office.
32:12
I've only worked with one.
32:14
My goal is to collect recommendations from the realtor I'm working with and then because
32:17
we know it's, it still happens, you know, amongst that office of 19, people are going
32:22
to be asking, Hey, who do you use so and so for a lender for title?
32:25
Absolutely.
32:26
If that's the go to destination of record, then the proposal there is, wow, that's a
32:33
great way to socialize my name internally in that closed office.
32:37
Exactly.
32:38
And we're, we're constantly adding value add to give our vendor community proactive tools.
32:45
So, you know, one of our, our great kind of secret weapons, if you will, is our technology
32:53
platform and our technology partner.
32:56
So we update every two to three weeks to stay current and and make the app more efficient.
33:05
Sometimes we'll take things away to simplify it, but you know, it's like a lot of people
33:09
just don't really understand how apps are built and created.
33:13
And if you, if you think back to building websites, you know, 10 years ago with such an
33:17
arduous process, you build it, you propped it up and then you let it sit there for two
33:21
years because it was such a pain, absolutely opposite.
33:24
If you're not constantly updating them and adding features, you know, the, the, the one
33:30
thing I always do when someone tells me about an app is I go right to the app history and
33:33
the app store and say, well, they have an updated in 18 months, I guess it didn't work.
33:38
It's kind of a telltale sign of how serious you are in your development.
33:43
So, you know, that's, that's it.
33:46
It's just another leading indicator that we move at a kind of breakneck speed is, is, is,
33:52
is what we're proud of.
33:54
So let's put our homeowners cap on for a second.
33:57
I'm a homeowner and I've engaged with this agent to buy a house.
34:02
Ideally, the agent is inviting that homeowner to download the app.
34:06
Mm-hmm.
34:07
It's exactly how it happens.
34:08
So the most common way homeowners get on the platform is that introduction from an
34:15
individual agent as they start working together and it's pretty simple.
34:20
It's, if I'm your realtor, I'd say, hey, Jeff, go ahead and download this free app.
34:25
It's called HuHub.
34:26
This is how we're going to communicate because I, I'm sure you don't want to call me on
34:30
the telephone.
34:31
You want to just text with me.
34:32
And then you know how you asked me if I had any recommendation of loan officers, top
34:37
five guys I work with are all in there.
34:39
And then, you know, we just, we just did a walk through of your house and said you want
34:42
to redo your floors.
34:43
You've got two guys in my HuHub that can do that.
34:45
He said you need to spruce up the landscaping.
34:47
I got three guys that can do that.
34:49
So they're extending their team.
34:51
Imagine, you know, kind of a concierge of service, if you will, that sets them apart, right?
34:57
So realtors are always looking for some sort of a competitive edge.
35:00
We say, hey, bring your, your service, you know, providers local army to the table because
35:07
you actually know them.
35:09
You trust them, they trust you, extend that trust directly, you know, to your homeowner
35:13
client.
35:14
Right.
35:15
So that's the most common, that's the most common way.
35:17
As we grow and evolve and our brand, you know, continues to strengthen, what's a kind
35:23
of a cool development for us is, you know, homeowners inherently understand the value prop
35:29
of local realtors know the best service providers.
35:32
Right.
35:33
So now they're starting to just sign up directly and search.
35:37
So it's a simple search feature where they're looking for homeowners directly without necessarily
35:45
going through a realtor.
35:47
So that's pretty cool to see that they just buy into the overall value prop that local
35:53
realtors know the best local service providers.
35:55
Yeah.
35:56
And that's the thing I wanted to come back to because I made a note of this paper play,
36:01
pay for play.
36:03
And you just kind of hit on that there in terms of online vendor networks are not, quote,
36:08
trusted in all caps, referrals.
36:11
Tell us a little bit about that.
36:12
Why do you say that?
36:14
Well, it's just a, they're based on advertising, right?
36:22
So it's paid, like you and I talked about before, it's paid rankings, right?
36:24
So the more you pay.
36:25
Yeah, absolutely.
36:26
Absolutely.
36:27
We, listen, we don't, we don't buy into the concept that if you have a problem and
36:35
nobody's perfect, so problems will happen.
36:38
There's no built-in trust and accountability on an advertising platform no matter what
36:42
the marketing and the little byline says.
36:46
So if you have a problem and, you know, the rougher didn't complete the job, I'm not so sure
36:53
that calling an 800 number, you know, a thousand miles away or 10,000 miles away and talking
36:58
to an eight dollar an hour employee is really going to help you that much, fix that problem.
37:04
We think there's a lot more accountability in the local market where that rougher has
37:10
a lot of potential future business to lose if he doesn't rectify the situation with
37:14
the realtor.
37:15
So we like to keep everything local, it's why we don't dictate.
37:19
So, you know, it's fun, the market has been kind of conditioned that you build up a list
37:25
and it's an advertising platform.
37:27
We get asked all the time, what if they do a bad job, well, what do they do a bad job
37:31
today?
37:32
You're recommending vendors today, you're just doing it in an inefficient manner.
37:38
So how would you handle that?
37:40
Would you call them, would you say, listen, you know, you would hold them accountable.
37:46
So we really use kind of trust as our currency and not pay me more and I'll move you up
37:52
the list.
37:53
What about reviews?
37:54
Do you guys allow any reviews within the app?
37:56
We do.
37:57
By design, one in four reviews, according to Gartner or fake, and, you know, if it's a fake
38:04
review, it's either exceptionally good or exceptionally bad.
38:08
So, you know, as a business owner, it's hard to mitigate a bad review.
38:16
And oftentimes, it doesn't really tell the true story as to what happened.
38:20
And we're not all perfect, right?
38:23
So how do you, I'd rather push it, you know, to the local market and say, you guys figure
38:28
it out.
38:29
Again, we go back to that single central question that, you know, for the, you know, any
38:37
survey, it's the most important question you ask, would you recommend this to a family
38:42
or a friend?
38:43
And that's really where we try to keep it.
38:46
And it still allows that, like I said, that accountability in the local market.
38:52
So we don't, like I said, we don't do stars and points and elephants or whatever the
38:57
case may be.
38:58
I got to ask you, where are the elephants?
39:00
What, what, what network is that on?
39:02
You know, I don't know, but like, you know, if you use, if you use, if you use ways, you
39:08
know, if you use ways, you're collecting all these animals along the way to drive.
39:12
Like, there's all kinds of, you know, schemes out there that are supposedly three elephants
39:17
are better than one or the right, you know, and listen, I'm not anti-review.
39:23
My feeling is I may look at a review for a new restaurant and if I drop a hundred bucks
39:29
and I hate it, so what, right?
39:31
You just don't go back.
39:32
I think reviews are really valuable in consumer electronics, you know, it's binary.
39:38
The picture is good.
39:39
The picture is bad.
39:40
You know, your, your palate may be totally different than mine.
39:44
You may love spicy food.
39:45
I might like bland food, but so what?
39:47
It's, you know, it's a small amount of money.
39:49
When you're talking about a homeowner, that's the single biggest investment they have.
39:55
And they're inviting, you know, service providers, by and large, into their home.
40:00
So, you know, why wouldn't you ask your realtor for their revenue?
40:04
Here's the thing that jumps out for me in terms of reviews like Yelp and others, and
40:09
I think this is, you know, centered on your value proposition about getting a referral
40:13
from somebody you trust.
40:14
So, the thing about Yelp, which is the point you've alluded to, is the people that are leaving
40:19
comments on there, I don't know them at all, right?
40:22
Right.
40:23
So, they may have completely, and we've all read those reviews and we've read the reviews
40:26
and like, wow, that's really stupid or, you know, you know what I mean, it's like,
40:30
well, well, geez, dude, that's not what they do there.
40:32
Why would you make that comment, you know?
40:34
So, I think the value you're bringing is that you've got to completely brand them reviews
40:38
from people that you don't know where they're coming from, you know, on that perspective,
40:42
versus you've got a, you know, a very trusted source of that referral, you know, the realtor,
40:49
the lender, whatever.
40:51
And so, you know who these people are, you already have a relationship with them.
40:55
So there's probably that higher level of endorsed or implied trust because of that relationship.
41:01
Does that make sense?
41:04
You nailed it 100%.
41:05
And then the other thing that, you know, I call kind of the checkbox theory, just because
41:12
let's say a home improvement contractor paid his $35 to the local municipality.
41:17
It doesn't mean he knows how to hang crown molding straight or do drywall or, you know,
41:23
mud without, you know, excessive bulges like that doesn't tell you anything, right?
41:29
It's because you have license and you're insured and you're bonded.
41:32
So what?
41:33
It doesn't say anything about quality, service, do you care about new business?
41:39
Like, let's leave that to the local professionals and it's, you know, we're just, we're huge fans
41:46
of buy local because that's where that's where real commerce happens.
41:50
Like, you know, in an altruistic level, I look at myself as a, you know, small business
41:56
champion.
41:57
We're trying to bring the best local realtors together with the best local service providers.
42:02
That's where it all happens.
42:04
Also, I want to jump, I want to jump in from, I'm assuming you probably have some load
42:08
officers on here who are fairly new to the business, who are looking to maybe grow.
42:12
You know, and they also have to, I would say, you know, I tell agents all the time when
42:16
I'm meeting with them and it lenders too, you know, find out what's, you know, see how
42:21
all these other people are marketing themselves and then don't necessarily do that.
42:25
Like, add one or two additional things that make you different.
42:28
You can't differentiate yourself.
42:30
You're in trouble regardless of what business you're in.
42:32
So, you know, as a new loan officer, what a great way to use this platform, one to connect
42:38
with people and grow relationships and business, but also to differentiate yourself in the market.
42:44
Also, if you are that loan officer who's building their business, they've only done a transaction
42:49
or a handful of transactions, one agent, but they want to get more, what a great way to
42:54
get recommendations from that person and then use that recommendation to just leapfrog
42:59
into other agents and build, you know, set appointments and things like that.
43:04
Because what happens is the realtor in the office who they're meeting with can say, hey,
43:07
I know Susie Smith, so she did use you and then they, they read the review and then they
43:13
can physically go up to Susie Smith and say, hey, I read the review about this guy.
43:18
Is he really as good as you say and then since they trust Susie Smith, she says, yes,
43:22
this is how great it was and then because of that trusted review from Susie Smith, that's
43:28
going to help get more business to the new loan officer.
43:31
Right.
43:32
So, otherwise, what these loan officers are doing is they're setting appointments with realtors
43:35
and they're like, hey, I'm really great, I'm new to the business, but you know, I'll
43:39
do a good job.
43:40
I swear, you know, I trust me, you know, versus they have somebody else in their office
43:44
who's already setting it in the stage with them and it's super helpful.
43:48
Yeah, and the fact that obviously if once you're connected to those realtors, there's
43:52
the in-app messaging and there's ways to stay in touch there.
43:54
By the way, the messaging, can you do group messaging or is it all individual right
43:58
now?
43:59
No, it's direct in group.
44:01
Oh, so I can create my own group of let's say I've got five agents in an office out
44:04
of 30.
44:05
I can create a group messaging.
44:07
You can.
44:08
So you can, you can group message with any of your contact groups.
44:14
So you know, the group we're seeing, the most common is broker, client, lender and
44:22
title.
44:23
So they're just back and forth rapid-fired, did you get the appraisal, yes, still need
44:28
the pest control, inspection, great, what's the rate, are we still closing on the 28th?
44:35
What else do you need for me?
44:36
So it's all just, it's why we keep the platform as open as we do.
44:42
I use the analogy of Slack, right?
44:45
So Slack is now becoming kind of a mainstream platform that started with developers and
44:51
now you know, you got book clubs using it to communicate.
44:54
So I'm sure if you sat down with the founders of Slack to say, oh yeah, this is going
44:59
to be great for book clubs in five years, they're like, what?
45:02
Exactly.
45:03
Yeah.
45:04
Also, for loan officers that, you know, they're trying to, you know, they might send
45:08
out a blast email to the office, you know, and finding people to a happy hour, they send
45:12
out a blast email about something, you know, realtors get a lot of emails in a day, so
45:17
they might not even look at it.
45:19
So if you're connected to someone on HuHub and you maybe send out a, you know, you have
45:23
four, five, six realtors in a group text messaging and they're like, oh, you're HuHub, oh,
45:27
I'm HuHub.
45:28
Next thing, you know, those people will respond to you and it's a better, more efficient
45:32
way, I think to communicate it's like when I have a realtor sometimes, you know, this
45:36
is previously, you know, I send them an email, they're super busy, they might not give
45:40
back to me right away.
45:41
But you know what, I would send them like a message on Twitter or a Facebook message
45:45
and they give back to me to like 10 minutes.
45:47
Right.
45:48
So this is, it's a better way to talk.
45:50
Yeah.
45:51
Yeah.
45:52
That's a great point that Wade makes that, you know, the stat is 90% of text messages are
45:57
read within three minutes and, you know, I've been in digital for a lot of years and,
46:03
you know, email is just, it's just filled with spam and depending on how old the client
46:08
base is, you know, they're 45 or younger, but forget it.
46:12
Like it's text messaging and that's just about it.
46:16
Like don't ever dare call me and what's email, right?
46:21
So, you know, you got to make sure that you're relevant to the audience you're trying to
46:25
work with.
46:26
So now you be going around asking agents, do you HuHub?
46:30
You know, it's super cool as we're starting to be used as a verb, which is like my favorite
46:34
thing ever.
46:35
So I'll be doing an agent presentation or, you know, we'll commonly, you know, like Wade,
46:41
like we just love that Wade leads with value first.
46:44
So we will do a lunch and learn or, and what's cool for us, Jeff, is that it's not always
46:50
just about HuHub.
46:51
It's, hey, you know, how do I do this on my smartphone?
46:56
And how, you know, it's just a little thing.
46:58
So we almost become kind of a mobile consultant.
47:02
And that's great, right?
47:04
In order to download the app, you first need to know what your, you know, your Apple
47:07
ideas, right?
47:08
So, you know, there's a process to all of it.
47:13
And if we can help an agent, it kind of reduce that anxiety of going mobile, then, you
47:18
know, we're adding value to the ecosystem.
47:21
Yeah.
47:22
And from the loan officer title, retrospective, you're definitely staying top of mind and
47:25
you're getting more opportunities to engage deeper, like you said, hey, you know, maybe
47:29
they need help walking through, right?
47:31
The Apple idea or whatnot.
47:32
But you can now get some FaceTime to go in their office, walk through the app and all
47:36
that stuff.
47:37
And there's just, you know, great opportunities that we're going through.
47:39
Yeah.
47:40
And, you know, what's cool to see?
47:41
And again, loan officers are leading the way.
47:43
So instead of, you know, spending money on some Chatsky once a quarter, that, you know,
47:50
they probably would admit to that it's probably going to get, you know, recycled anyway.
47:55
Yeah.
47:56
Yeah.
47:57
They're positioning it as a gift.
47:58
So this is no cost to you, Mr. Realtor, I'm paying for it to help you grow your business.
48:06
Like that's a pretty powerful pitch when a loan officer says, no cost to you, I'm underwriting
48:12
it.
48:13
It's a phenomenal cost.
48:14
But here's a way to attract more business for you.
48:18
It's exactly what Wade's been talking about here is, how do you differentiate yourself
48:22
to attract more referrals?
48:23
Yeah.
48:24
And I definitely love the aspect that Wade opened up with, which is past client retention.
48:28
And that's an area of weakness for most agents.
48:30
And this is something unique and different and doable and, you know, gives them a reason
48:35
to get active in past client reaching out and retention and really, you know, adds a lot
48:40
of value that you've created for them.
48:42
So that can only be helpful in the relationship.
48:45
Yeah.
48:46
Cool.
48:47
So for those who want to learn more, tell us once again, where do they go?
48:52
So they should go to HuHubApp.com, that's w-h-o-o-b-a-p-p.com.
48:59
And you know, Jeff, I try to make myself personally very available.
49:04
So if any of your listeners would want to reach out to me and just chat or email whatever,
49:10
my personal email address is Brad at HuHubApp.com.
49:15
If they download the app, I'm a homeowner on the app.
49:18
So free to connect with me and we can message and, you know, if they go to HuHubApp.com,
49:27
they can actually sign up right away and then start inviting agents.
49:32
And then we do the heavy lifting on the backside.
49:34
So the series of email invitations and the phone calls will do that on behalf of the loan
49:39
officer to make sure that the agent that they've invited understands the true value and
49:45
understands how to use it.
49:47
It's kind of like an onboarding call, if you will.
49:50
Great.
49:51
And Wade, I know you've got a lot of great resources out there and from our first podcast,
49:55
some people reached out to you.
49:57
Do you want to direct any listeners to, you know, kind of see what you're doing, whether
50:00
it's a YouTube channel or whatnot?
50:01
Yeah.
50:02
You know, everything that I offer and all the value that I have is on my website, dctitleguy.com.
50:09
I have, I don't know, 200 blogs, 100 and some videos on there, all about real estate marketing
50:14
help, real estate technology, things that help loan officers, client retention, pretty
50:20
much anything you'd want to know that can help you build your business.
50:23
Surprisingly enough, I actually get a ton of hits from title companies and title reps
50:27
who kind of want to learn and mimic kind of what I've been doing.
50:31
But and that's fine.
50:32
I like to talk into those people as well.
50:34
But also, if you go to my YouTube channel, it's just under my name, Wade Vanderbollen.
50:39
I post videos there pretty much weekly as well that you can, you know, check out, subscribe,
50:44
hit me up.
50:45
You can email me as well.
50:46
If you have any questions, it's wvander, v-a-n-d-e-r at steward.com, st-e-w-a-r-t.
50:54
Awesome.
50:55
Well, thanks very much, guys.
50:56
I'm a fan of the app.
50:57
That's why I wanted to share it with my listeners.
50:58
I think it's got a lot of value.
51:00
And I, Wade, I appreciate you as always being on the cutting edge, man, and bringing those
51:04
ideas, right, to the people.
51:08
Well, congrats to your success, Jeff, and leading by example.
51:12
It's appreciated, and I appreciate the con words about who love, and, you know, anything
51:17
you need personal help with, you know, certainly the invitation is always open, and don't be
51:22
shy.
51:23
Reach out.
51:24
You bet you.
51:25
Well, listeners, I hope you enjoyed it.
51:26
Who hub?
51:27
Get your app, start sharing with agents, start adding value, and make a difference by adding
51:33
value.
51:34
Like I said, to the real estate agents, and who hub is, I think is a great way to do that.
51:36
So take the lessons learned here today, and get out there and start connecting with agents.
51:41
So thanks for listening again this week, and if you like today's episode, please take
51:45
a moment and leave us a review, subscribe, on iTunes or Stitcher.
51:49
And once again, I appreciate you, thanks for listening, and make it a great day.
51:53
We'll see you on the next one, bye for now.
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