Latest / Ask The Experts / The Right Agent with Rock Realty
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- Thirteen ten WIBA and ask the experts. Hanging out in studio this morning with Matt Heyman. He comes to us from Rockrealty online, Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's r O C K Wisconsin dot com. Tellph number six O eight six seven three fifty four hundred, that's six seven three fifty four hundred, and again the website Rock Wisconsin dot com. Matt, how the heck you doing this morning? I'm doing great, doing great, Thank good having me good to see? How is to drive in? I know it's it was a little dicey earlier today. I got to take a little south side route so it it went okay. Yeah, you know one of the it's it's instant. We're going to get into Rock Realty and all the really cool things that you guys that you guys are doing at Rock Realty in just a moment. But one of the cool things that people don't often think about when when buying a home, and I'm guessing working with a good real estate agent and a great realtor helps him is commute. I mean we spend some time. Is that something that people ask you guys about is like like what's the what's the drive like what's the those type of things? Is that a question you get out? I would say, so a lot of people want to be twenty minutes thirty minutes from work, and yeah, that's a variable figure, right, Yeah, you're taking the beltline or are you taking the interstate? Is it all back roads? So you can't just draw a circle. Unfortunately, No, it's a little more complicated that And by the way, speaking of things that can be complicated, working with a bad agent or the wrong agent can make things much more complicated. And you know, we talk about knowledge and understanding, let's talk a little bit about and get to know a little bit of that knowledge, a little bit about Rock Realty, a little bit about your background. Of course, your people say Rock Realty, who are you guys affiliated with? Who are you with? Let's let's talk about that at that point. Well, you know, we're a homegrown kind of grassroots firm. We're not really a breakaway from some of the larger corporate entities like you see out there. It was a two thousand and seven I had, you know, gotten interested in a real estate view different house flipping shows like everybody was seeing watching back then, and before long I got involved with a flipping company and met my business partner, Michael Collins at that time, and that was about two thousand and seven time frame, and you know, before long we decided, hey, why don't we start our own real estate brokerage. Why don't we do this on our own And we started that in two thousand and eight. That's very very cool and is so it's kind of like like the fresh slate. Like I know, a lot of you know folks, they hear stories about oh'd you get to real estate? Well I worked for so and so and this stuff. You literally said, you know what, we want to do things differently. We don't want to go down that kind of that path. We've got this experience, we've got this passion's let's kind of do it the right way, do it our way, and so let's talk about kind of how you went about that and kind of building that building the firm that you guys have at Rock Realty. Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's a it's an intimidating thing starting with no blueprint. It's got advantages you can build the company how you want. Disadvantages being you don't necessarily have a roadmap. So we got to learn from our mistakes. And grow from them and just develop over the years. What we wanted to do was we wanted to create a firm that was very client focused, you know, take it off of the sales side of things, even though this is a you know, kind of a sales business. We figured if we could you know, create a culture that focused on clients and did right by them, then it's going to be a healthy base for a long term you know, success of the company. So, you know, as we talked this morning, Matt too, obviously getting to know folks and and folks that are listening this morning, and then introduction, how important is it is it? You know, I've got to guess folks you work with, and that word of mouth and that experience. I looked at like Google and Zillow and I was checking out Rock Realty and real quickly you realize the folks you work with have pretty amazing things to say about you. How important is that relationship part of what you guys do? And and that word of mouth is saying, hey, you know this, these are people that I've worked with, our people that I trust. Yeah, our core focus really was to create raving fans out of our clients. Yeah, so we if we by making that our focus, we have to decide how do we do right by our clients. And to do right, you have to get to know your clients. You have to know what their wants, what their needs are, what they're truly looking for. Because if you don't solve that, you don't create this amazing experience for their family living at this new location, then you're not gonna have a fan that's going to keep coming back to you over the years. So that's how we had built the firm, was focusing on just really getting to know our clients and doing right by them. Talking this morning with Matt Heyman, he is with Rock Realty Online, Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's Rock Wisconsin dot com. Tell phone number, give them a call six o' eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six o' eight six seven three fifty four hundred and again online Wisconsin dot com. So let's kind of bring it back. You know, you talk about setting out and and not necessarily having that blueprint, that roadmap. You're saying we're doing these things. Obviously there's got to be some some things at the core, like some values to say this is this is what we pride ourselves at this is these are the kind of points that we're kind of measuring ourselves by. Let's talk about for Rock Realty what those core values are. Yeah, definitely. You know, we figured from the beginning, if if we're going to have the right right type of company, focus on the right core values, we have to have the right agents that fit those core values right. So we defined five different core values for our company. The first and you know, foremost is we needed to find agents that were ethical, right, we need to find agents that would do the right thing, not just something to make the sale. We wanted to you know, if the deal has to fall apart, then the deal has to fall apart. We have to do the right thing by the clients and you know, do the right thing by other industry professionals we're dealing with. Second item was we wanted to agents that were selfless, Agents that are willing to help others, Agents that are willing to go out of their way for their clients. We also wanted them to be adaptable. I mean, as you know, the real estate industry is constantly changing, so having people that adapt to change and innovate was important. They also needed to be detail oriented, right, So we're dealing with contracts every day. We need to make sure we're dotting those i's, we're crossing those t's, we know the contracts, we have the right suggestions for our clients, making sure that every clause is presented to them that might help their situation. And then lastly was diligence, So hard working agents. You know, don't want a lazy agent when you're dealing with the biggest real estate transaction in your life. So you know, it's just thing Matt when you mentioned that kind of those core values, and you know, you mentioned about the changing markets, and one of the things that I really look forward to is we do this show in the coming weeks and months. Is getting kind of a real time look at what's going on in the market. I think sometimes for folks that are looking to are looking to list their home, one of the things that holds them back is there's always these like conflicting stories or is now the right time or what is the right time? And what are these indicators? And getting a chance to kind of work through those markets is going to be a lot of fun. The other area that I find interesting is being detail oriented, and I feel like in the world we live in, it's much easier to to be very you know, good on the details, but also it can be much more difficult. And let me kind of clarify that is we are so connected right now and people, I'm a big fan of text and email. There's other people out there that say, you know what, when it comes to following those details or having those conversations, I like picking up the phone. I like doing that type of thing. There's other people that you know that like hybrid of the two and when it comes to kind of getting those details and being very thorough also being conducive to the people you're working with for And I don't want to now too generational, but I know younger people tend to like that I like the text or I like that stuff, as as as those of us older people like the phone call. I mean, do you guys experience that as well with you know, when you're when you're talking with with your agent saying, you know, meet them where they where they want to be met and have that cond of those those important conversations in those areas. Yeah, it's a good question. You know this Our current society is all about speed and convenience. Yeah, right. So you know, we do have different technologies that it assist us with that electronic signing, filling out forms on the go. But it's very important when you're dealing with legal contracts that you go through some of those details. You know, we're so used to just signing and not reading through the boiler plate of every page, right, But there's many definitions within these contracts that are important, and there's many things that need to be called out to clients so that they know if things go south, this is what this means, right, because you know, sure, nine times out of ten you're not going to have that issue, but so one time out of ten is what we need to worry about. We need to make sure you're prepared, right. So it's very important detail oriented and but also speed at the same time. Talking this morning with Matt Heyman, he is with Rockrealty Online, Rock Wisconsin dot Com, Rock Wisconsin dot Com TELF number six eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred. You talk about about having, you know, signing those papers and having that understanding is, yeah, you don't want to just kind of book through its. I mean we're talking at this point about for just about everybody, the biggest purchase, the biggest, aside from probably marriage, the biggest commitment they're probably gonna make in their entire life. Uh, you really want somebody that's gonna that's gonna help you with those details. You don't want to speed through that process. No, you don't know, you don't. Talk this morning with Matt Heyman of Rock Realty again the website Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's Rock Wisconsin dot com. We talk a little bit more about the company. We'll talk about some of the understandings of some of the ups and downs when it comes to real estate market. We'll do all of that next as asked the experts with Rock Realty continues right here on thirteen ten WU I B A eight forty seven thirteen ten w I b A and ask the experts hanging out with my Matt Heidman with Rock Realty almost called you, Mike. Has that happened, by the way with the two Yeah, good to have you, Matt. And of course the website Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's Rock r O c K Rock Wisconsin dot com. To album number six O eight six seven three fifty four hundred that's six seven three fifty four hundred. Matt. We were talking a little bit about Rock Realty in that last segment, and obviously, as you guys have been doing this for for a few years now, there's been some milestones reached and some and some really really important things as far as uh as far as things you kind of hang your hat on and say, you know, this is how you know, we talked that last segment about kind of setting the stage, this is how we've we've met those those goals and really really done that work. Let's talk about some of those areas when it comes to the company itself, some things that you personally take take a lot of pride in with Rock Realty. Yeah. Sure. Well, when Mike and I started Mike Collins and I'm a business partner, it was just the two of us for a number of years. In twenty thirteen, we brought on our first agent and our second agent, and I'm proud that both of those agents are still with us to this day. So, you know, it's it's nice to have that dedication. And I would say another thing that we're you know, I'm proud of would be just the growth ever since we started in two thousand and eight. We've had year over year growth every single year and some years almost double the growth. So oh great, Yeah, it's been fantastic. We've built the firm you know, from us too to over forty agents now really wow. Yeah. We talked a little bit about about I mentioned looking at looking at some of the some of the reviews and things, and that is that is something also. You know, when you get the feedback from folks you worked with. Unfortunately societally, if we if we have a great experience, it takes you've got to go really really above and beyond to get people to take the time to say I loved this experience, like it's really ieve are now you mess something up? Right? And we're all guilty. I'm probably as guilty as any. But you know, when you look at the reviews on Google and Zilow of Rock Realty, it's hard not to be just amazed and impressed. I mean that is, as you mentioned some of the things that you're proud of. Having that feedback and having that reputation. That's a big deal for you as well, isn't it. Yeah, definitely. I you know, if there's any sort of even four star and so it keeps me up at night, right, So you know, you know, we're really proud of especially the Google reviews. You know, we've got over three hundred and five star reviews, and you know, we got the two different office locations, so we got Stoke and Janesville and getting five star reviews for both and we're just really proud of that about that, and it just shows that our agents are taking care of our clients. And yeah, Zilo, I think we've got over two hundred five star reviews now, so that is that is very very cool. You mentioned, of course office in Stowton, Janesville. If you can hear our voice Dane Rock Jefferson, those areas people say, well, what's kind of will you guys go north of Dane County or yeah, yeah, we've helped all the way up in a superior fantastic I would say. In general, though our main focus is Beloit north to let's say, the Dells, we you know, out to spring Green on the west and on the east. I mean I've done and we've done a number of closings in Milwaukee even so, oh I'm in a quick plug for spring Green. That's a beautiful part of this amazing. Yeah, it's the ravines and all that that's really nice. It reminds me of like driving through like the Hillyarreya of like Germany, or it's just got this like, well, I haven't been there, but it sounds amazing. We're going to take the show on the road. Talking this morning with Matt Hyban. He is with Rock Realty, the website rock Wisconsin dot com. That's rock Wisconsin dot com to help number six seven six o eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred again all the information online rock Wisconsin dot com mentioned earlier. And one of the things I'm super excited about doing the show with you, Matt, is about real estate itself and kind of understanding how it's always evolving, how it's always changing. Let's talk about some of some of the ways that Rock Realty you've adapted to kind of the ups and downs of the real estate market. What goes into that and how do you guys handle those things? Yeah, I mean that's a tough one. I mean, as you can imagine, starting a real estate firm in the depths of the Great Recession was a hard task, right. We learned at that point how important it was to have buyers right, and the listings were sitting so long. Right now we're sitting in the opposite market right at this point, if you're a buyer, you're struggling, and it's very important to have listing. So there's a natural up and down own in the real estate market, a natural pendulum that goes back and forth, and so for us to adapt to that, we need to innovate constantly, you know. So it's important for us to have the best technology, have the best tools, be on the lookout to see what's coming next so that we can be ahead of it. But you know, it's also important that our agents have the right education and say on top of the market right. So for our agents we do continue a ed every week, we have meetings and then we also have monthly trainings. We also know pair them off in like small groups to discuss what they're seeing in the market. You get feedback on what's working, how how am I going to get my buyer into a house, what's working for you? Am I going to get this listing sold? So different things like that. To be able to adapt to whatever's changing. One of the things I really like too. When you go to Rock Wisconsin dot Com to your website for Rock Realty, is you can put in like you're looking for particular area or those type you guys have some Really we talk about technology and other things you can browse right from either it's your phone or your computer, just right from Rock Wisconsin dot com. Yeah. One of the neat things that we implemented about five or six years ago was our own real estate search app. Yeah, so if you're on our site, you can download the app. Nice thing about that is you can do everything from putting in a particular area so you wanted to just put Madison and keep in general, or you can draw a circle around Madison like we discussed before and say, hey, I want to be within twenty minutes of my job here in Madison. It's it's going to let you know. As soon as a brand new listing comes on the market, you actually get a push notification, so you and your agent could be one of the first people through that door and get that offer in if you like it. Before we wrap this morning, Matt, let's just really talk about some of those distinctions. What makes what makes Rock Realty different, What kind of sets you apart from other real estate firms. Yeah, there's I mean, and don't get me wrong, there's a lot of really amazing agents out there, a lot of amazing firms. I would say that what makes us different specifically is number one is our agents, right, you know, we want to make sure that our agents are meeting their core values, and our agents are getting to know our clients at a deep enough level so that they truly know, hey, this is what their family needs and making sure to solve that issue for them. Because you know, we have the opportunity to change people's lives through having them be in the right home. So it does make a huge difference. It's very very meaningful and satisfying. So you know, the other things that we do is, you know, for our listings, we try to go above and beyond just putting something on the MLS, right. We want to target with our social media paid ads. We want to go out there and target people that maybe didn't even know they were in the market for a home. You know, similar to you just seeing a car come through your news feed and all of a sudden you're shopping for a car. Right, So we like to put that alis in front of people that might say tag their nephew or their niece and say have you seen this one? Right? And it's made big changes for getting our listening sold. You used an industry term there by the way, MLS. Yeah, what is that for folks that don't know? Yeah, multiple listing services right, it's a group of agents and realtors that agree to share their listings with each other to get more exposure for them. Very very cool and real quick too. As we talk about working with an agent, buyer's agent and sellers listing agent, you want to make sure like is that like, for example, we go to rock Wisconsin dot com, I know you've got great profile styff of thing? Is it okay to like call an agent just almost like an interview? Like is that totally normally? Like, Hey, I just want to talk to you before we make sure we're kind of are on the same page about things. Absolutely, I mean just just like having friends, you know, and you know, just being attracted to a particular person's personality. It's good that you have personality fits. And we have agents with all sorts of different personality, some some not so social, some very social. Right, so it's important that those personality ties match right. Some people want to know the numbers. Some people want to hear how pretty house is right. So you know, finding the right agent is important and it's going to make the experience go much better. You can learn more online Rock Wisconsin dot com. That's Rock our ro o c K Wisconsin dot com, Rock Rock Wisconsin dot Com. Telphy number six O eight six seven three fifty four hundred. That's six seven three fifty four hundred, Matt. It's great talk with you. Look forward to talking again. Real s absolutely news comes your way next right here on thirteen ten w I B A