Justin Stoddart
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I’m very excited about today’s episode. It’s going to teach you how you are competing with Netflix and how you can actually win. You might be thinking I’m crazy right now. We’ll we’ll get back to that and even introduce today’s guest that is going to help us with this exact topic. But I want to remind you the purpose of this show is to knock over the first domino before you leave. Sorry, before you live a life of great impact. You have to think bigger. This episode, this show is all about helping you think bigger so that that process starts again. I’m thrilled today to have with me actually somebody I’ve known for a long time. Jason, I was a high school together years ago, and I won’t I won’t totally date us as far as how long ago that was, but he was a good guy back then. And he’s a great guy now. And so let me introduce him Jason Mendell, three years in the business $28 million in your second year in the business all by yourself impressive. recently partnered with Veronica Park. They are luxury agents and they do some really Really cool things when it comes to marketing going to talk all about that today. But before I get into that, Jason, thank you for coming on the real estate show.
Jason Mendell
Thanks. It’s good to be here. And it’s funny how things all come full circle so years ago, we’re buddies and we still are so good to
Justin Stoddart
see, you know, yeah, likewise, man. Yeah, way back when wilsonville high school I was the first graduating class and I think you were right behind me.
Jason Mendell
First full graduating class.
Justin Stoddart
Yeah, that’s right. That’s right. We were not very big class back then. Now wilsonville is kind of a perennial powerhouse back then we just kind of a limp along school. Anyway, fun to see what you’ve done with your career. I know you’ve had built grown businesses have a beautiful family. Just so everyone knows. About a week ago, we were scheduled and Jason Texas said I’m not gonna be able to do this. And we were texting back and forth and I was joking about how he’s a better dad than I am. It’s which is quite possibly true. But some Jason before we get into kind of your expertise in marketing You being a great dad, I want to I want to, I want to, like remind people that the like, another purpose of this show is for people to think bigger than real estate. What is your favorite part about being a dad?
Unknown Speaker
Well, you know, I think it’s having someone that always looks up to you and loves you. unconventional. So, you know, real estate is a hard job or within the home a lot or, you know, it’s got to be a balanced you need a good team. So whether it’s a team at home or the right team in the office, or the right brand behind you, having the right people, you know, around you, but yeah, being a dad is a big thing. I’ve got a little six and eight year old, very proud of them. And I’m good. That’s all I can handle. I know that you’ve got a few more than me, but it’s definitely a you know, big heart moment. Yeah. Yeah.
Justin Stoddart
It’s awesome. I can tell that that’s a kind of at the core of who you are, which is awesome. Congrats to you and your wife. Now. Now you did 28 million your second year in the business yet you decided to partner Tell me why this concept of partnering? Why did you?
Unknown Speaker
So one of the real impactful presentations that I saw last year was Barbara Corcoran, it was through the P Mark group. And there were two big takeaways that I got from her. One is that this is a tough business. And it’s not your success, but it’s how you get back up after you get beat down. So every day and this is a tough business, so you want to have someone who cares cares about you, and you care about them. And you can have that open communication list. So it’s tough. I had a bad day yesterday, but you know what, I got back up today, and it’s about moving forward. So that was a big takeaway. And then the second one was, you know, have the right balance. So a lot of people know me I’m kind of out there. I like being the captain of fun but getting things done, and I need the right balance. So that’s why I was lucky enough to find Veronica Park this last year to team up with her. She really helps us and you know, we’re the perfect couple to move forward business couple
Justin Stoddart
What a powerful combo. You know, I remember Barbara Corcoran saying the same thing is that she would take someone with grit over someone with talent all day long, because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how talented you are, if when you get knocked down, you stay there, your talent is dormant, it’s not actually doing anything. Whereas you get somebody with with some grit that maybe isn’t as talented and they can pop back up and keep doing the work. Eventually that person is going to win. And so I think that that gave me encouragement. I don’t see myself as overly talented, but I do have some grit. And so it was it was exciting to have her say that I think there’s a lot of truth to that. And I think for those maybe that don’t feel like they don’t have grit that it can be developed. And in your case you said, you know, another way to develop that grit is to partner with someone so I’m not lonely. You know, I’ve built businesses, as you know, had a high end home building company for a number of years. And it can be lonely when you’re in business for yourself. And so I think you know, part of what I hear you saying is that there’s there’s power in partnership. There’s synergy, right? One plus one doesn’t equal to n equals more than that equals three and beyond, right? Correct,
Unknown Speaker
you don’t and having the right partnership, but it’s also activities. So you know, whether it’s a activity leads to results, whether it’s a discussion or a door hanger that we’re doing or a red carpet reveal, or, you know, whatever it may be. You got to be at active in this market. So Veronica and I, we do two open houses every Saturday to open houses every Sunday. We’re out there, we’re getting stuff done. And that’s really important. So someone along this journey is is really key for us to be successful.
Justin Stoddart
That’s awesome, man. I love it. I was listening to a gentleman today, Ricky Carruth who’s going to be on the show on Friday. And he was saying anything works as long as it involves you out talking to people, anything like everything works as long as it involves you talking to more people about real estate you like it will work. And I love how you guys are getting after it like four open houses a weekend between the two of you that’s another Your customers love that. And I’m sure it’s it’s just great for business.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, well the end result is that you know, we’re selling more houses, the days on market are shorter, and we’ve got more inventory and we’re picking up new buyers and sellers because of that big chunk of our businesses come from that. Just getting out.
Justin Stoddart
Yeah, must be present to win right it’s hard to actually win when you’re not out in front of people. So love it you guys are getting after got a few comments here. We got said Nate Kraus erotical Park. Speaking of them are chiming in here. So thanks, guys, for your comments. Let’s get into kind of this topic of you know, it’s kind of how I see it is that we are competing against Netflix, it’s not good enough anymore, for one to just get on camera or on a blog and share relevant real estate news, right? I think about the newsletters of old that are just very factual, with no entertainment value, or the videos that get up in there. Just Simply like kind of a rambling of rates and, you know, inventory and like that’s, in my opinion, people are not or such a small percentage of people are going to watch that. And then they’re only the people that have interest in that particular neighborhood. And they’re buying or selling right now. Now, of course, you want to capture those people. But don’t you want to capture like everybody and I? Again, the fact that we compete against Netflix is that, you know, we’re in the attention economy now where, where attention is so scarce because there’s so many demands, there’s so many poles on it. And what you and Veronica have done is created some entertainment value that tells the story of a home, but it does it in such a captivating way. Tell me more about that mean, a few of the videos that I’ve seen have just been absolutely. Like phenomenal. Tell me like how did you come up with this concept? I love it.
Unknown Speaker
So I’m a big believer that eyeballs on property ultimately sells that property and no matter what They are. So what we’ve been able to do is really just be different. And, and there’s a lot of well, quick side note, there’s a lot of people doing video that are doing very well jesse jackson will keep up the business on YouTube. There’s a few folks that are just market updates. Here’s my video, you know, and they’re, they’re getting those eyeballs. Veronica and I have chosen to tell stories through video and keep people captivated. And it really leads to these wonderful fun things that we’re putting together and that we’re very proud about, but we’re also using them to help us grow our business. So you know, recently we did one in the Portland Plaza building, it’s 1,000,005 one of a kind property and the owners of the property are just great, beautiful people. And we put together a cool James Bond video so we are five minutes in length. I mean, this is way longer than than any video I’ve seen. But the wanted to be in the video it was a production we ordered outfits we brought into the cars and we did everything and just made a great production and the end of the day we had 5000 views on this video before it even hit the market. So you know we there’s a couple things one we’d like to tell a story to we like to get people and pull them in emotionally and then just that I’m all on property and getting things done. So a lot of fun.
Justin Stoddart
Yeah, and then just the other day I saw you some scene I don’t I don’t know if this video has been released yet but you in the pool has that one come out yet. I’m like what is this? None of the pool?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, so we just recently had a listing and Happy Valley million eight spectacular home and car and you know we were able to bring my kids in and walk through it and through the end. You know, we ended up a little wet and all of our clubs, like six days on the market. We received multiple offers. And that was likely to be the second highest price Happy Valley ceiling
Justin Stoddart
in history. You know, another one of my favorites is the back of the future one, right? You took kind of this mid century modern, actually went back in time you were playing the part of Michael J. Fox. Yeah, like you own a DeLorean. Like I’ve seen this thing around Santa this you?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. So here’s the DeLorean story is century Robert Romer calm, which is ultra cool. mid century, there’s followers around that. And someone promised me a DeLorean for the photos. A couple days before the listing, that person kind of just disappear. So I went on eBay found a DeLorean happened to be in Vancouver, Washington went up and picked it up. And now I’m the proud owner of the Lauren.
Justin Stoddart
All for the all for the sake of business.
Unknown Speaker
Right? But you know, it’s just fun. So if we can be different and and just like you say, think bigger. We’re all moving forward. So when a lot of people are doing these traditional painting videos, I see that again, I just me throw out. So I want to do things that are fun and cool and different, and just continue to keep those eyeballs on the property.
Justin Stoddart
And it’s so great. It really does make it enjoyable for all of us. Right. You know, I think, to your point, I think any marketing effort, like is is is good, right, I think. But I think we’re living in a time and an age where agents have to get better. There’s been a certain kind of sentiment of like, we need to fight all the disruptors, we need to tell everybody and like dig in our heels, build a moat and say no, like, whether it be these big tech portals or tech firms and and kind of lay a case for why they’re bad and why we’re good. And I just don’t think that is in the best interests of consumers is to try and pit yourselves against against these portals, I think a better approach is just to outdo them is to do things that they can’t or wouldn’t do, and actually raised the value proposition on your marketing raise the value proposition on what you’re offering to your customers. And and you guys are doing that. And I absolutely love I think that is the future of well paid real estate agents. It’s not those that have a better argument against others. It’s just those that absolutely Dorf, the value of the existing value proposition. And I think whether it be in marketing, whether it be in just the overall value that you bring in, in, in a consultative type conversation, it can look differently. You guys are really standing out to me, though, you know, across the marketplace as far as people that are marketing properties in a way that’s not boring and not not common and I love it.
Unknown Speaker
Well, you know, a lot of it comes from us as being and having ronica but you know, trying to be an exceptional agent, a big part of it comes from the brand that we were able to align ourselves with, you know, we have a value proposition to things right from the beginning. So going slow, we’ve got one opportunity to make a first impression. It’s got to be the best one, we have tools and resources that are available. virtual tours are a big part of what we’re doing. We’ve got so many people that are moving here and allowing folks to look up and look down upon the rooms and doing having the absolute best photos and having the best video, the best. You know, just doing everything the best from the beginning. And really going back to the, you know, the basics of being an agent, but again, doing it better than anyone else.
Justin Stoddart
here’s, here’s what, you know, I see a lot of agents make a mistake. And again, this isn’t meant to be critical of anybody, but it is an invitation for everybody to raise our value proposition. And again, I’m highlighting these two because they’re doing a great job. But But I you know, one of the things that I see people doing often when it comes to marketing a property and again, I think I’ve got an interesting perspective, because I’m not a real estate agent. I kind of have a little different view of perspective I’m, I’m not so close, that I’m biased by my own stuff. And so as almost like as a, from a consumers perspective, the way I see a lot of people marketing is they’re not telling a story. It’s simply here’s a house, right? Here’s three bedroom two bath and it’s always a picture of the front elevation of the home now going video it’s some some variation of that. I think where marketing becomes powerful is it’s telling a story people get emotionally invested when they can not just see a house but they can start to see what life would look like inside that house. Yeah, be entertained to the point of I would I have always wanted to be James Bond who has it right. And the fact that me watching that video is like, man, I guess that’s where James Bond would live if he lived in Portland, like, you know, and even if I don’t actually, if I don’t buy the house, the fact that my eyeballs are on him, and it’s creating an additional awareness and me then you guys win.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. And that’s what we Part of it and when we do our remarks for our properties, it’s not this three bedroom, two bath 3200 square foot condo, it’s live life to the fullest Prepare to be dazzled by this experience. And you worked hard enjoy it, whatever it may be, because we can look and see, you know, how many bedrooms and square footage it is. It’s all in the listing. So pulling people to their emotions. And then also when we’re selling, you know, selling to people’s emotions and listen, is really big aspect of being successful in this. Yeah,
Justin Stoddart
yeah, yeah, you start to, again, help people to see someone else’s story living in that house, and then they can start to see their own story living in that house, and how their overall life story just got a lot better, because now they’re living inside that story that you guys have put out in front of them. And I think it’s, again the future of marketing and the future of what well paid real estate agents are going to need to do in order to rise above industry disruption and become insulated with All the noise of, you know, discount brokers etc.
Unknown Speaker
So So previous to my real estate career, I owned a wine software business that dealt with a lot of wineries. And one big takeaway that I took from that as the Oregon wine industry is very much about collaboration versus competition. And we can all collaborate together, whether it’s as luxury agents, or agents or people and just work together, everyone is going to raise the bar, and we’re all going to be successful. This is about successful transactions, doing things better. You know, I don’t play with the whole live fire sort of thing. It’s just it doesn’t suck in our market, from our price point. But you know, regardless of price point, it’s about doing things together. You know, us your peers, we’re surrounded by really successful people that take risks and the cats out of the box. We should all listen to each other a little bit more to
Justin Stoddart
love that. And I think that’s maybe a kind of a key takeaway for everybody. Here is is not to feel insecure or threatened that your videos aren’t as cool as Jason and Veronica’s. There’s plenty of people that do like way better things than I do. And I think if we start to feel that way, then then this has not been of service to you. The point of this is to say like, Hey, here’s a guy and a gal who are raising the bar. Let’s follow suit, hey, industry over here. This is what it needs to look like, right? Let’s don’t like dig in our heels and say that, again, we’re worth our fee, yet we keep offering the same value proposition for decades. Like we actually need to raise the bar consumers expect more. And so yeah, this is an invitation to everybody of like, in fact, in the show notes, both on YouTube as well as in the comments and Facebook, we’re going to link to some of their videos. And again, this isn’t for you to go feel insecure about the stuff that you’ve done. Whatever you done is fine. It’s great. But we’re inviting you to take a look at this to see what inspiration you can generate by what nice See if you can increase the value of your marketing material. Now, some of you are at a price point where it doesn’t make sense to invest the kind of money that it does when you’re doing a luxury property, we get that we understand that. But there’s still some ideas, even some some things around the topic of again, telling the story of what it would look like to live in that home. That’s maybe a key takeaway that anybody could apply. If not just let’s, let’s not just highlight that this is a three bedroom, two bath house on a quiet cul de sac. But like what would life feel like and look like and feel like living in that house? How would their life be better by living in that house? Even if it’s just that in some of the wording and some of your texts, then it’s a win. And I think that’s, that’s what we’re hoping that this does for everybody. That’s that you know, this watching this. So
Unknown Speaker
yeah. And we are not the most creative people out there. And again, it’s that collaboration piece. I’m picking ideas from people in Texas or Tennessee, or San Diego, and I’m just executing them here in Portland. So listen to and see what Yours are doing and you know, execute. That’s a big thing with us.
Justin Stoddart
That’s a great a great point very humbly, you know of you to say that is that you know, all of us that are doing stuff that may be admirable, it’s likely we’re learning it from somebody else. So you can do right for anyone that’s watching this you can do, you don’t have to be the original, you know, thought creator of this, but like, learn and go apply. So, great stuff. Jason, I really appreciate you taking the time to come on and share your expertise, and really be abundant minded and be like, hey, look, look what we’re doing. Know, let us know how we can collaborate with you. It’s, it’s really an awesome approach that you take and there’s no, you know, no doubt why you’re winning. Let’s talk really quickly. The last question which you’ve heard me ask before the signature question of the show, which is, you’re obviously a big thinker. That’s why we’ve invited you to come on. What does a guy like you do in order to continue to expand your own horizons, expand your own possibilities continue to be a big thinker this year.
Jason Mendell
Well, I think it’s always about doing things differently. And but at the same time, it we’re doing things differently in this market. But I’m also using all this collaboration from other markets and just implementing and taking the approach and putting it into play. So continue to Yeah, when people go laughs go a little right, but just do it and activity leads to results. That’s a big part of why we’re moving the needle. It’s been a lot of fun.
Justin Stoddart
I love it. You guys are studying other people that are winning feature you’re not blending in with everybody else. And then implementing implement, implement implement. It’s awesome stuff, man. The recipe for success. Want to thank again, those that are commenting got some comments here from Jesse Tao. Hopefully you heard us give a shout out to you Jesse the great things that you and Jackson are doing. He said best real estate videos we need colorful smoke. I’m not sure what that means. But Jesse thanks for for tuning in. always appreciate your contribution to the show. He’s a good man. So anyway, for everybody listening, thank you for tuning in. Again be watching in the show notes here for links to the videos. fact there’s going to be a link to a Vimeo kind of profile that’s going to show you a lot of what these guys have done and encourage you to go learn from it. See how you could up your marketing game. And again, my final request of everybody listening, three simple words go think bigger. Jason, thank you so much for helping us do that today. Really appreciate being on the show. Thanks, everybody for tuning in.