Justin Stoddart
Welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I’m your host Justin Stoddart and I’m very excited about today’s episode in which I have with me serial entrepreneur, and a financial professional that is actually host of the podcast Grandma’s Wealth Wisdom and we’re going to be talking about as a real estate agent, how you can show up more as an advisor than just as a customer service representative or salesperson. So, before I introduce today’s guest, officially, let me just remind you that you can get show notes and highlights action steps by going to the website, think bigger real estate, sign up for our weekly update, as well as I’ve got a treat there for you when it comes to actually becoming more of an advisor. So today’s topic fits in perfectly with that. And I want to thank Amanda Neely out of Chicago, Illinois, all the way from Chicago, coming on to the bigger real estate show. Amanda, thank you for coming on today.
Amanda Neely
Thank you for having me, Justin. I’m excited to be here.
Justin Stoddart
Yes. From one possible podcaster to another, it’s a It’s a pleasure to have you on so very cool. Now I know you are a business owner, you’ve started everything from coffee shops, to financial advisement businesses. And you’re young, like I’m assuming you’re young. You just got great cream or something. But I love the ambition. You know, I think sometimes people believe that they need to be in there, like in the late 50s before they can start getting after it. And you’re kind of teaching the world otherwise, maybe kind of the millennial generation, I’m assuming.
Amanda Neely
Yep. Yep. So I hear a happy birthday is in order for you. Happy birthday? Yes. Then I’m an August baby. Myself, too. I just turned 35. So just a little bit behind you.
Justin Stoddart
Yeah, thank you for that. And Happy birthday.
Amanda Neely
Thank you.
Justin Stoddart
Now you’ve had your birthday, or you’re going to have it this month?
Amanda Neely
I had it. I had it.
Justin Stoddart
I hope it was wonderful. Mine certainly was had a lot of people make me feel real special. Good. Very good. So let’s talk a little bit about your podcast, grandma’s wealth, wisdom, just tell us kind of in a nutshell. What’s that all about? What would people expect to hear if they want to find your show?
Amanda Neely
Yeah, so a lot of times when people are thinking about their money, they are looking for what’s the hottest, latest, most awesome product out there. But we like to return back to time tested time honored strategies. And in particular, the greatest generation, you know, they came of age during the great recession or depression, you know, in the 30s and 40s, early 40s. And we found have found that there’s a lot to learn from, how they structure their financial lives and this post 2008 kind of life that we live in now. And so there’s a lot more that’s transferable than I think like what our parents would have used in the 80s and 90s.
Justin Stoddart
It is really interesting. That with the internet, right with podcasting, like there’s a bajillion ideas, yet there are tried and true principles that when implemented, and, and utilize over time, they, they they have proven results, right. And there’s a bunch of newer ideas that maybe don’t have that same track record. So I love that you’re kind of a voice for the millennial generation. On to these tried and true principles. Right? These these got a North Stars of financial wealth. Yeah,
Amanda Neely
yeah. And real estate is a big component within their because hat owning your own property, whether it’s something you live in or that you rent to others, is a great way to create wealth that’s worked for thousands and thousands of years.
Justin Stoddart
Great point, you know, and I love hearing you say that I think sometimes financial professionals are seen as, you know, antagonists to owning real estate, right, because it takes away their investment opportunity. And what I hear you and your counterpart, Mark Willis, who’s been on the show, as well mentioned is that real estate is actually a very critical component of every buddies, wealth portfolio who is wealthy? Yeah,
Amanda Neely
yep, absolutely.
Justin Stoddart
And good thing, you’re speaking to an audience of real estate professionals today. So you’re in good hands with a mentality and philosophy like that.
Amanda Neely
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, grandma would have different views of how to use your whole in terms of, you know, pay off your mortgage as quickly as you can, where you might say, use that as leverage more or something like that. But the US the home as a source of where life happens, and where life is stewarded. And push forward is a great way to think about what a home can mean, not just in the wealth that it can create, but in the value that it brings to the lives of the people that are purchasing that home or, and are living in it. And that I think ties in really well with what we’re going to kind of talk about today.
Justin Stoddart
You know, I think I love that you said that, because I think, you know, the life of a real estate agent, I get the great privilege of being around them all day long. And it can be a bit of a grind at times, right. And I think when people can step back and say, wait a minute, I’m helping people find, like, their favorite place on Earth, they’re safe place, the place where they have their, you know, their, you know, oftentimes some of their greatest moments. And I, you know, a believer that, you know, the greatest work that we do oftentimes is within the walls of our own home. And that’s not my own quote, I borrowed that one from a mentor but, but I think that when real estate agents start to recognize just how powerful their role in the world is, maybe it helps them rise above kind of that, you know, that grind. Let’s, let’s let’s talk a little bit about because one of the things that you help people with when it comes to their financial life is helping them start with the end in mind, right. And I want agents, I invite agents to listen to this through a couple different ears, right, this one over here is going to listen to it as for your own personal finances, the other is going to be listened to it as the questions that you can adopt that Amanda is going to share with us today that you can begin asking your clients again, in order to rise above industry disruption, in order to rise above tech platforms that are discount brokers to rise above I buyers, you can’t just have a flashier listing presentation, you actually have to provide more value have to provide more leadership. And so asking questions that get people to move and be influenced to make more and better decisions is critical. So I want you to teach us, Amanda, some of the questions that you have. We’re going to keep today’s show a little bit brief. But I’d like to have you teach us a little bit about what are some of the questions that agents should be asking themselves that they then could adopt to begin asking some of their clients to really, again, rise above kind of the commodities level of where real estate agents value proposition has been?
Amanda Neely
Yeah. So it’s really pretty simple. And yeah, I like to go on a timeline kind of fashion, where I start with, where are you at right now? Like, what are some of the things that are happening in your life that could have a major impact on your financial future? Or like, what is the home you’re looking for right now, in the case of a real estate agent, you know, you get the, the, you know, this many bedrooms, this many bathrooms, whatever it might be. And then but then also like sharing, like, well, what, what are some of the biggest frustrations or concerns or things you think could go wrong, that we want to make sure we avoid too. So then you get you know, like, the bad school district or you know, that, that sort of thing? And then from there, I like to take one question about the past, like, what did you learn from the adults ever in your life as a kid about money, or you know, about what a home should be, and how a home should function in the case of a real estate agent? And then start thinking about the future. And I like to start with the short term future, what do you want to see over the next five years? But really end with the long term future? As I’m like, what are your What do you want to accomplish financially in life? What is when you are on your deathbed? What do you want to look back and have done? Or what do you want to be leaving? What you know, what do you want that to look like? And really, like, sometimes it’s hard for people to get into that, you know, there’s some people that love thinking long term and other people that are living the day to day just thinking, you know, the shorter term. And so I sometimes have to ask that question a few different ways to get them to, to think longer term like that. And, and even then, you know, the might say, well, I want to leave a legacy to my kids, or you know, something like that will any bucket list items for you, in the meantime, you know, things that you want to do? So I was thinking about this for myself, I’m about to purchase a property. And I was thinking, you know, I know what I where I want to live, but I was really I need to be thinking about like, what’s beyond that? Do I plan to live there for 30 years? Do I plan to sell it, in fact, in five to 10 years, so I can be in a better school district for my son do I want to rent it out instead of selling it? And I was, again, I want to define some of those longer term goals for myself before I’d actually like meet with a real estate agent. But then if I was meeting with someone, I would, I’d want them to be asking those kind of questions. And if I want flexibility, like to be able to make those decisions later, I’d want them to, you know, know that too. So that kind of, that’s not something you see in an app, you know, like, that’s not something,
Justin Stoddart
Those aren’t factors that can be factored in, with just technology. But to have have that kind of conversation, I think, could be really interesting. I know, it’s works gangbusters for me. And the big thing, not just the data gathering, not just recording their goals, but types of questions, is what establishes the relationship and builds the trust, they know, I care more about the transaction than just getting the numbers and making the sale, you know, finding out what they want, and giving it to them in a in a lot in a that’s what I do. Like I find out what they want. And I give it to them, but not just what they want now, what they want later, but and like balancing those things together. If that makes sense. That’s it’s a super powerful concept. Again, the tendency within you know, the real estate world is to become transactional. And I think that’s very much what this new kind of breed of of technology offerings is, it’s very much how fast can we get the client into the home and get the deal closed, and capture a you know, a margin or profit off that. And I think we’re real estate agents really start to stand out is where they they take their time, and it doesn’t take a lot of time in the questions you just asked, you know, a few minutes. But to simply ask the question of, what are your five year goals? What are your long term goals? And how does the purchase of this property help you get there? Like just asking that question, causing the client to think you don’t you don’t even have the answers for them? But asking those questions, like you said, shows a couple of things. Number one, I care about you, right. And the advice that I’m going to give you is going to be predicated predicated based on the response that you give me that that, you know, there’s a couple different paths, depending upon where you want to end up. And, again, it moves the client to possibly even have conversations and ask themselves questions that no one’s ever asked them before. Right? That’s a powerful thing.
Amanda Neely
Yeah, absolutely.
Justin Stoddart
It not only helps them with the what you’re trying to do, you know, sell them a home, or in my case, set them up with a financial strategy. But it helps them, especially if you’re working with a couple, they might hear things from each other that they’ve never talked about before. Or they might continue that conversation later and get more in depth of that and make decisions that have nothing to do with the transaction that you’re doing. Because they’re starting to think bigger, they’re starting to think more long term. It just opens their minds to all kinds of possibilities. Well, that’s I mean, honestly, that’s part of the theme of this show, right? Is that, as you saw properly coined there, is that when people start to realize that real estate can be very much a means to get to the end that they really want, right. And I think some people see it is in and of this. Like it’s an end in and of itself. And I think that’s short sighted. But to be able to see that real estate is such a powerful tool, both the business as well as the actual, the ownership of real estate, can help propel you to get to the goals and fund the things that you want and aspire to have in life. And I think it does, hopefully cause people to think bigger about real estate to have to realize just how powerful it can be an on the consumer to realize like, you know, what, if it really has the power to do that, I probably ought to be asking questions, and I probably ought to be hiring somebody that asked me those questions, as opposed to just going to an app and like a amazon shopping cart and choosing something out of there. But But really, what am I trying to accomplish both my home life, as well as in my investment, long term legacy life? And that really has the ability to and plays a critical part in both of those?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, and the caveat here is that when you ask these questions, if what you’re what you would typically do doesn’t fit with their goals, you have to be willing to sacrifice the sale and say the words, you that you shared with me, I don’t think it’s the right time to buy a home, or I think you need you want to want to buy a home, that’s a lot less expensive than what you’re thinking about, or something along those lines, I just had to do that this past weekend, I was talking with a real estate investor who’s planning to buy a whole bunch of property over the next few years. And I just gave them the strategy that I would typically do this whole idea of becoming your own banker, if you want as much of your money available as possible to purchase properties at auction, or you know, different things. You shouldn’t tie up any funds, you know, like, like, so I we’re going to explore other things. But the thing you’re interested in that you came to me with, I don’t think we should do that. And they they were really grateful that I was willing to say, you know what, I’m not going to sell you this product, because it doesn’t fit your goals?
Justin Stoddart
Yeah. Well, that’s where, you know, a real estate agent agrees to be a fiduciary, right, which is to act in the best interest of the client, I think sometimes agents see that through the limited perspective of to make the right buying decision. And I would argue that sometimes being a fiduciary entails telling them to make no decision, right? It’s not time to sell, it’s not time to buy based on what you told me, you want to accomplish. Here’s my advice and having an abundant enough mentality, to be able to say, and I’m okay with that. Because there’s other clients out there, if I treat people, as a fiduciary, putting their best interests in mind, there is going to be somebody out there that needs my services to buy yourself, and it may not be this person, but there’s there’s countless other people out there that are looking for someone that they can entirely trust, right.
Amanda Neely
And because you’ve taken it beyond the transaction, you actually have gotten to know their goals in a deeper level. That might happen more frequently. But at least in my experience, you get the sale more often, too. And so it counterbalances either way.
Justin Stoddart
Absolutely. You know, I really appreciate what you shared here and again, and helping us to be think a little bit more like advisors. Were unfortunate, we’re out of time. So I’ll have to, we’ll have to circle back and do this again, because you’ve got tons of words. And I think you’re really a great voice again, for the millennial generation, which again, is being pulled in a number of different directions as to if real estate should be in their portfolio. If so, what it should look like. And to go back to those trends, your principles is super valuable. And I’d like to end with this this question, which is a signature question of the show, Amanda, which is what does Amanda Neely do on a regular basis to continue to be a big thinker to continue to expand your own possibilities? If you teach us that we’d be grateful?
Amanda Neely
Yeah, so I’m in business with my husband. And we have a set block of time on Friday afternoons to just dream. We call it our powwow time. And we just get together and we think long term, what do we want to be doing? How are we getting there? Now let, let’s just brainstorm, throw things into a Google Doc, you know, play around with things. And we do that on a consistent basis, almost every week, every once in a while we skip. But that’s been really valuable for us to keep dreaming, keep thinking bigger, but also connect with in a different way than we connect throughout the week where we’re thinking about the here and now all the time.
Justin Stoddart
So powerful Amanda, I’ve never heard that answer. And I love it, I’m gonna have a conversation with my wife today, we need to start implementing something similar. So that’s, I love that fact we did. We were once at a Brian Buffini event, who’s kind of a big real estate coach. And he taught us to dream cast was a very similar process. And my wife oftentimes uses that term. And she’s like, I’m dream casting. So I think it’s probably already that, you know, in our DNA a little bit to want to do that. So thank you for that great tip. And again, thank you for your contributions to the think bigger real estate show. As on kind of speaking on behalf of the audience, we’re grateful for you and what you’ve shared. And my final request to everybody listening today is very simple. It’s three short words you hear me say all the time which are which are go think bigger. Thank you so much, Amanda for your time and for all you contributed and we will talk again soon
Justin Stoddart
Those aren’t factors that can be factored in, with just technology. But to have have that kind of conversation, I think, could be really interesting. I know, it’s works gangbusters for me. And the big thing, not just the data gathering, not just recording their goals, but types of questions, is what establishes the relationship and builds the trust, they know, I care more about the transaction than just getting the numbers and making the sale, you know, finding out what they want, and giving it to them in a in a lot in a that’s what I do. Like I find out what they want. And I give it to them, but not just what they want now, what they want later, but and like balancing those things together. If that makes sense. That’s it’s a super powerful concept. Again, the tendency within you know, the real estate world is to become transactional. And I think that’s very much what this new kind of breed of of technology offerings is, it’s very much how fast can we get the client into the home and get the deal closed, and capture a you know, a margin or profit off that. And I think we’re real estate agents really start to stand out is where they they take their time, and it doesn’t take a lot of time in the questions you just asked, you know, a few minutes. But to simply ask the question of, what are your five year goals? What are your long term goals? And how does the purchase of this property help you get there? Like just asking that question, causing the client to think you don’t you don’t even have the answers for them? But asking those questions, like you said, shows a couple of things. Number one, I care about you, right. And the advice that I’m going to give you is going to be predicated predicated based on the response that you give me that that, you know, there’s a couple different paths, depending upon where you want to end up. And, again, it moves the client to possibly even have conversations and ask themselves questions that no one’s ever asked them before. Right? That’s a powerful thing.
Amanda Neely
Yeah, absolutely.
Justin Stoddart
It not only helps them with the what you’re trying to do, you know, sell them a home, or in my case, set them up with a financial strategy. But it helps them, especially if you’re working with a couple, they might hear things from each other that they’ve never talked about before. Or they might continue that conversation later and get more in depth of that and make decisions that have nothing to do with the transaction that you’re doing. Because they’re starting to think bigger, they’re starting to think more long term. It just opens their minds to all kinds of possibilities. Well, that’s I mean, honestly, that’s part of the theme of this show, right? Is that, as you saw properly coined there, is that when people start to realize that real estate can be very much a means to get to the end that they really want, right. And I think some people see it is in and of this. Like it’s an end in and of itself. And I think that’s short sighted. But to be able to see that real estate is such a powerful tool, both the business as well as the actual, the ownership of real estate, can help propel you to get to the goals and fund the things that you want and aspire to have in life. And I think it does, hopefully cause people to think bigger about real estate to have to realize just how powerful it can be an on the consumer to realize like, you know, what, if it really has the power to do that, I probably ought to be asking questions, and I probably ought to be hiring somebody that asked me those questions, as opposed to just going to an app and like a amazon shopping cart and choosing something out of there. But But really, what am I trying to accomplish both my home life, as well as in my investment, long term legacy life? And that really has the ability to and plays a critical part in both of those?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, and the caveat here is that when you ask these questions, if what you’re what you would typically do doesn’t fit with their goals, you have to be willing to sacrifice the sale and say the words, you that you shared with me, I don’t think it’s the right time to buy a home, or I think you need you want to want to buy a home, that’s a lot less expensive than what you’re thinking about, or something along those lines, I just had to do that this past weekend, I was talking with a real estate investor who’s planning to buy a whole bunch of property over the next few years. And I just gave them the strategy that I would typically do this whole idea of becoming your own banker, if you want as much of your money available as possible to purchase properties at auction, or you know, different things. You shouldn’t tie up any funds, you know, like, like, so I we’re going to explore other things. But the thing you’re interested in that you came to me with, I don’t think we should do that. And they they were really grateful that I was willing to say, you know what, I’m not going to sell you this product, because it doesn’t fit your goals?
Justin Stoddart
Yeah. Well, that’s where, you know, a real estate agent agrees to be a fiduciary, right, which is to act in the best interest of the client, I think sometimes agents see that through the limited perspective of to make the right buying decision. And I would argue that sometimes being a fiduciary entails telling them to make no decision, right? It’s not time to sell, it’s not time to buy based on what you told me, you want to accomplish. Here’s my advice and having an abundant enough mentality, to be able to say, and I’m okay with that. Because there’s other clients out there, if I treat people, as a fiduciary, putting their best interests in mind, there is going to be somebody out there that needs my services to buy yourself, and it may not be this person, but there’s there’s countless other people out there that are looking for someone that they can entirely trust, right.
Amanda Neely
And because you’ve taken it beyond the transaction, you actually have gotten to know their goals in a deeper level. That might happen more frequently. But at least in my experience, you get the sale more often, too. And so it counterbalances either way.
Justin Stoddart
Absolutely. You know, I really appreciate what you shared here and again, and helping us to be think a little bit more like advisors. Were unfortunate, we’re out of time. So I’ll have to, we’ll have to circle back and do this again, because you’ve got tons of words. And I think you’re really a great voice again, for the millennial generation, which again, is being pulled in a number of different directions as to if real estate should be in their portfolio. If so, what it should look like. And to go back to those trends, your principles is super valuable. And I’d like to end with this this question, which is a signature question of the show, Amanda, which is what does Amanda Neely do on a regular basis to continue to be a big thinker to continue to expand your own possibilities? If you teach us that we’d be grateful?
Amanda Neely
Yeah, so I’m in business with my husband. And we have a set block of time on Friday afternoons to just dream. We call it our powwow time. And we just get together and we think long term, what do we want to be doing? How are we getting there? Now let, let’s just brainstorm, throw things into a Google Doc, you know, play around with things. And we do that on a consistent basis, almost every week, every once in a while we skip. But that’s been really valuable for us to keep dreaming, keep thinking bigger, but also connect with in a different way than we connect throughout the week where we’re thinking about the here and now all the time.
Justin Stoddart
So powerful Amanda, I’ve never heard that answer. And I love it, I’m gonna have a conversation with my wife today, we need to start implementing something similar. So that’s, I love that fact we did. We were once at a Brian Buffini event, who’s kind of a big real estate coach. And he taught us to dream cast was a very similar process. And my wife oftentimes uses that term. And she’s like, I’m dream casting. So I think it’s probably already that, you know, in our DNA a little bit to want to do that. So thank you for that great tip. And again, thank you for your contributions to the think bigger real estate show. As on kind of speaking on behalf of the audience, we’re grateful for you and what you’ve shared. And my final request to everybody listening today is very simple. It’s three short words you hear me say all the time which are which are go think bigger. Thank you so much, Amanda for your time and for all you contributed and we will talk again soon