Good morning, and welcome to another motivational Monday. My name is Matthew Hodge, executive vice president here LPT Realty joining you from HQ here in Lake Mary. And I'm gonna bring in Robert Palmer, founder and CEO, joining us from Yellowstone Club How are you this morning?
I'm good, man. It's a beautiful snowy morning in, in Southern Montana.
Yeah. It is raining here. It's been raining here in Florida for the last two days. But I think we've got some sun on the horizon for the, rest of the week, which is exciting. Because, you know, it's Florida, and we love the sun. That's what we do here. So it's like, depressing when it rains for a day.
Yeah. I'll be back in Florida in, less than two weeks. I'll be back in Florida take a bite of Montana and go get focused on Grand Prix.
That's right. Yeah. Definitely looking forward to that. And I think that's gonna be a big topic that we're gonna start off with today.
Unless you kinda wanna go through the market update kind of which which direction you want to go first, but, I know that we're really excited as we're getting closer to finally see all, you know, everyone in person. And again, because we're a virtual brokerage, we're always looking at each other from the the opposite side of a screen. So really looking forward to getting in touch with everyone and, giving everybody a big old hug. I'm a hug.
So just be prepared that that is probably going to happen. But yeah. So what what do you wanna do? You wanna talk kind of about what the market's happening?
You wanna go into the updates?
Yeah. Let's We'll touch on some interest rates and then we'll we'll jump over to community and and grand pretty, because that's that's a much more interesting topic.
But, yeah, you know, we've, I'm sure maybe you've noticed maybe you have an interest rates, have a crap back up. You'll actually see some headlines.
This morning, the interest rates are at their highest point in two months. That data lags a little bit. They're actually probably a little higher than than that at this point. We saw some inflation data come out in the other direction.
You know, we talked about this. Kinda, into December, going into the year, there was this positive inflation data. Everyone was celebrating. This idea of the Fed was going to cut rates, potentially five or even six times, in in twenty twenty four.
And now we've seen, a couple of hotter than expected inflation reports which has everyone freaking out. And now the Fed is is maybe only expected to cut two times or maybe three times or maybe zero I think what the market is realizing is if these inflation numbers keep coming in where they are and don't keep going down, then then the Fed's not going to potentially cut at all. And and the the the Fed has said they're gonna be patient. And so what that means is if the Fed keeps their rates higher for longer, then mortgage rates going to stay higher.
And it's interesting how sensitive interest rates are. I mean, you gotta think the Fed has not cut not changed their rate at all. Right? We've been sitting at the same Fed rate I guess we're, like, four months now.
And and interest rates have gone crazy. You know, mortgage rates got up into that, like, low rates level. You know, kicked all the way down to where people were seeing, like, high fives, low sixes for a brief window of time. And now we are solidly back in the sevens, it feels like.
Just really interesting how how sensitive and how volatile the mortgage market has been without the Fed having to do anything, but but forecast what they may or may not do in the future. And so we're just in this really interesting time. You know, I've been doing this for a long time. I've been watching interest rates for a long time.
This is this is one of the strangest environments we've ever been in. And unfortunately, those high interest rates do impact us here in the real estate industry. They impact us in two ways. One, you know, when when rates go higher, now your buyers have a little bit less buying power.
So maybe that buyer who was preapproved for a four hundred and fifty thousand dollar house in December when rates were great, and now they're only gonna be able to buy, you know, three hundred and three hundred and seventy five thousand dollar house because mortgage rates have shot up, pretty considerably. And at the same time, we have all of these sellers who are still dealing with the lock in effect of their super low interest rates. And so you had some sellers in December who said, hey, you know what? If I can get into a new mortgage at high fives, low sixes, I don't mind giving up the three percent I have locked in.
But now by the time they're actually ready to do something, those rates are higher. And so I think you're gonna see some sellers taking their homes off of the market. When they realize kind of the new reality of interest rates, and you're also gonna see less sellers putting their homes on the market. And at the same time, we have home prices continuing to go up.
So really interesting market. Again, be that be that guide guidance for your consumer. They're probably gonna have questions. They're gonna be asking you why why were rates so good?
In December, and now they're not good anymore. The Fed hasn't raised. The Fed hasn't lowered. It's all about the Fed expectations, and it's all about this inflation data because there is still some fear that if inflation goes the other way and really starts to climb again, the Fed may have to raise rates even higher or keep these rates as high as they are for much, much longer.
And what you have to remember is on a mortgage because most consumers are locking in a thirty year mortgage. They're they're gonna have that loan for as long as thirty years if they choose to. Now most consumers don't keep the loan that long. On average, they keep it around seven or eight, but that bond investor is trying to forecast and they basically say, alright.
I'm not gonna make as much money in the first couple years relative to the market because the Fed's rates are high, but then if the Fed rates come down, we still get that better rate on the mortgage, but the consumer has their option that one-sided tool where they can always choose to refinance. So bond investors, the actual money who funds all of these mortgages that we make across the country, they have to be very sensitive to these fed moves, and and that's the reality we're in. So be there for your clients, help them understand, help guide them be proactive, reach out to your mortgage partners for those clients who are already pre approved, who maybe got pre approved in December and make sure that in today's rate environment, that that pre approval is still solid.
Yeah. That's a that's a hundred percent right. And so you saw it at the beginning a year as the rates came down. You saw the activity pick back up.
So you know the demand is there, and really it's about affordability. Are people aligning with their expectations of what the home should be and what they can actually afford. And so staying in those conversations, I know at the beginning of this cycle, we talked about, Hey, you're gonna have to stay in front of people for a lot longer. You know, in the last several years.
It was a short transaction. Hey, I wanna buy a house school. Let's go buy, you know, it was a much shorter time frame now you have to stay with them longer because it may not make sense for them. And so you may have to continue that conversation for three or four and five months.
And that's a different approach. And so just make sure that you're doing that. You're being a resource, and you're letting people know, Hey, here's what's happening. Here's how things affect you, and you're being a resource to help them navigate that because they will at some point transact.
And I think that's the most difficult thing for us entrepreneurs, right? Because that thought process, that transaction is connected to our livelihood, we kind of want to put our own you know, ambitions ahead of that. Like, hey, man, I need to make some money. So you need to buy this house, but the reality is that that's not really how it always works.
And so To continue to have that conversation and be that resource, we have to educate them on what's happening so that they can feel comfortable in this environment. And I think the way that you spoke about that, Robert, is that, hey, this is an option for you. It's in your favor. You can change it whenever you like.
Is one of the most powerful ways to help someone understand their options so that they don't feel scared and stay away from the market just because today, interest rates aren't as favorable as what they could be in the near term future.
So And, again, it's a big part of our our LPT tools.
That's why I'm such a big believer in print in a market like this when those buying cycles extend, having that printed collateral sitting in of your potential clients' home is a massive game changer. You know, you can digital you can send them a digital PDF. You can send them a a social media graphic, whatever. Those are ephemeral, ephemeral, they disappear.
They go away. When you hand someone that nine critical questions or that seven home buyer strategies, or our active marketing plan, high quality printed with your face on the cover. And those things average a couple bucks a piece when you buy them through the LPT print shop, And I know a couple bucks can feel expensive compared to free PDF, but that PDF is literally worthless in a longer buying cycle like this. You need to have your face sitting on your coffee table.
You need them to go back and reread that seven home buyer strategies. I promise you for those of you that have those magazines and gave them to clients, When they see that headline this morning that rates are at two month high, somebody's gonna go pick that seven home buyer strategy magazine, back up off the copy table, maybe they were maybe they were ignoring it when you gave it to him in December, but now the sudden it's hitting home and it feels really relevant and your face sitting there is a differentiator your ability to educate and provide that value even when you're not physically with them because of those high quality printed tools.
This is why LPT agents are winning at a higher level right now. But you have to embrace the tools. You have to spend those couple bucks. Your print is not free.
We give it to you at a very affordable price, but it's still not free. I know that can feel tough compared to digital. But the results are just unmatched and uncomparable when you get that physical copy into someone's hand, the relationship it creates, the stickiness it creates, And again, in this longer buying cycle, you know, we're not in a frenzy like we were in twenty and twenty one. We're now in a situation where people are going to be more patient They're going to take their time.
They're going to be more methodical. They're maybe hoping something's gonna change in the market. They're hoping rates will come back down. So in a way, they're almost motivated to stall and having that right collateral in their hands in the physical world is a game changer in keeping that client relationship because they're constantly being bombarded with other messages, right?
May be getting called from other agents. They're getting direct mail from other agents. They're seeing social media images and graphics and ads from other agents, but if you've got that printed collateral that that authoritative, educational information in their living room, you are going to win and hold that relationship.
That's right. Awesome. Awesome. Cool. Alright. Well, guys, get out there. Get your magazines. Get them into the hands of the people who are prospective buyers or sellers and, let it do its thing.
So we're gonna transition from here, excuse me, to, Saint Pete. We are very excited that it's we've been talking about this for probably four, five months now, and we're just a few weeks away. And so, we continue to shape up the plans and make sure this is a great experience. So, Robert, you kinda wanna us through what to expect at Grand Prix in the next couple of weeks?
Yeah. So the the the focus at Grand Prix is really about this this community upgrade to LBT connect. And, you know, for for those of you that have have been here for a while, you know, there's this picture of me back in the day when I wrote the original listing Power Tools software and I had these sticky notes all over the windows at our house and my wife absolutely hates it. I've I've recreated that here in Montana, same sticky note had them had them shipped in, and and there's a room here covered with them, because we've really been going deep on how we're going to tackle this this project and and We've made massive in runs.
Like, I'm yeah. This is one of those projects. I'm gonna talk a lot about this at Grand Prix. This is one of those projects I wasn't thrilled about.
Like, there's certain types of software that or, you know, or systems that really I didn't wanna get involved in writing CRM being one of those. You know, I I've never written a CRM. I don't think I'll ever write a CRM. I have no motivation to write a CRM.
This community this community software in this communication system, I think, kind of, fell in that. But the deeper and deeper we got into this project, and, you know, we've spent months on this out really peeling back the layers of the onion, figuring out what does it look like to truly connect a cloud brokerage in a way that makes sense and in a way that can allow agents to continue to create new organic relationships. I think that's really the piece that we see missing. If you look at the other software out there, it's it's great for connecting or staying connected with folks you already know.
It's great for staying connected with friends of friends who you can have that way to get put together. But what you miss is those accidental intersections, you know, like, hey, we were both at the the brick and mortar office together late, writing contracts and we walked out together at the same time and we exchanged cell phone numbers or, hey, we bumped into each other at the coffee coffee machine or we were at the water cooler at the same time. And so we've been very focused on how do we create a more robust online community for our agents and how does that integrate directly into LPT connect?
That was an important thing for me, not to use a third party software, not to have someone else hosting that and controlling the software. And, you know, we looked at a lot of these solutions, and and I would ask questions. Well, can it do this? We'll know.
Can it do that? No. Well, what about this? It doesn't do that. And so I finally realized that we were gonna have to take this project on internally.
And and the way we like to approach this, the way I like I like to build software with the team, is there are pieces of it that we build completely from scratch, and there are pieces of it where we use third party libraries, third party databases, third party systems, as long as we can install those directly on our servers so we can control the code base so that if we ever say, hey, can it do this The answer is always yes because we can go directly into the code and make it do that. Because look, real estate is different, and we are real estate first. And so if we're going to build a digital community, that digital community has to be real estate first.
And none of the out of the box solutions are going to do that. They're going to be social connection first. They're going to be social network first. We had to build, and it's going to be amazing.
Basically a social network that is real estate first, and that allows agent directories and allows impromptu Zooms and scheduling of meetings so that our agents can connect that watches for those intersections so that we can create those moments in time where you can connect with someone because you both have been in the same webinar two or three times in a row. And you both happen to be inside the community online at the same time. How do we create those accidental bump ins so that that joining a cloud brokerage is not the end of your sphere expanding, we want you to continue to expand the agents that you can meet and get to know.
And so Grand Prix is going to be all about basically walking you through this process, walking you through, the the way we looked at this, the way we're designed this, where we're thinking about this, we're gonna show previews of what the system will ultimately look like. The system is not launching a Grand Prix. The system will launch later this year, but we're going to show you everything we're building and what to expect inside of this new one of a kind digital community built specifically for real estate agents that will be proprietary to LPT will live inside of LPT connect, which, by the way, LPT connect.
Right? Like, it's it's how we all connect.
So we definitely gave our software the right name from the jump. And now to bring all of these added components into it, to create those connections, to create that directory, to create the way for you to build your group and community inside of LPT with strangers with people from the same market as you, with people from other markets who have similar interests The idea is to tear down any type of silos or walls so that you can create your own community here inside of LPT, both in the real world and in the digital world. And we are very, very excited. I mean, you know, Matt, you've you and I've spent a lot of time talking through this.
I mean, I'm I'm I'm surprised I think at at how well this has come together, you know, when you look at a problem like this, and initially my thought was this is one of those things that someone else has already solved for. Can we really make it dramatically different? And and now I will tell you the answer is yes. Like, no one has solved for it.
I I I felt like they had. Maybe that was my own self limiting belief. And and what we are creating is just so dramatically different than anything else that exists on the market, anything any other brokerage has, anything any other company has, to allow our agents to connect in a way that is real estate first and create this true community that can be a hybrid between digital, and the real world.
Yeah, man. And I will tell you, I've had the opportunity to start poking around and seeing what they're doing, and it is it is really amazing. And I remember when I first got into real estate, one of the things that I noticed is that real estate is lonely, man. I mean, it is a high rejection business.
You're constantly problem solving. I it can feel very, very lonely. And then you've got the efficiencies of cloud based brokerages that come along, which allow us to operate at a very efficient level. However, it does remove that interaction between people, which sometimes can help you get through that loneliness or that rejection or that contract that doesn't go through because you can walk in and share that frustration with someone and so that human element is so important to our business.
And not only just from that side, the ability just to learn and cross pollinate ideas and go faster together, and that is much more difficult in a digital world. And so the heart of what you've thought about is how to bring the essence of that back. How bring that collaboration back in a way that still allows us to operate so efficiently. It is really amazing, guys.
I'm telling you that it does not exist in the real state world. Why it doesn't? I don't know, but it really doesn't. And so I'm so excited to see this come together, the way that you're thinking about it, and I I won't give anything out.
Promise. I'm gonna I'm gonna keep it all in, but the way that you're thinking about it, the way that you are solving problems and and and finding like interests or finding people who may be having the same questions and and guiding them to the same I mean, it's it is really truly amazing. So I'm so excited for you guys to learn more about it at Grand Prix, And then more importantly, put into the real world later this year, as we continue to launch it. Like, it is it is real deal, and I believe it will be the only thing in the industry that exists in this manner.
Yeah. So during Grand Prix, we're gonna move motivation Monday to Tuesday. So that, Matt and I can do it from the conference. Because when I do unveil this and we go through this whole process and and preview this system, We want everyone to see it, whether you're actually in the audience at Grand Prix or not.
So if you're not able to make it to Grand Prix, don't worry. You will get to see the live broadcast when we first unveil this digital community software and how we're building this out and the architecture behind it and the philosophy behind it. And then the Grand Pre Conference actually is going to mirror the way we've built the digital community. So the same types of I'm I it's so hard to not give everything away, but but explain this.
Because we really do want it to be a big reveal, you know, two weeks from now on Tuesday. But, basically, we're replicating the same philosophy we used in designing this digital platform in the real world for the actual conference. So as you're moving around the conference going from room to room, it's going to be similar to the philosophy we applied. Back to not similar, it's going to be an exact replica of the philosophy we applied to the digital community that we'll be launching later in the year and that we're gonna be unveiling on motivation Monday on Tuesday, that week.
And, so it's gonna be really great. So those of you that are physically at the conference, you're going to have a more immersive experience in what the digital community will act ultimately be. But everyone will get to see it live, on motivation Monday on Tuesday, that we're gonna broadcast live from the stage of the Mahaffy. So make sure, one you don't wanna miss, make sure you're there.
We'll be doing it live from the conference. So we'll have, you know, whatever twelve, fifteen hundred agents audience watching it live, and then everyone who joins us, on motivation Monday remotely. So it's gonna be really exciting. And we've actually got we've got the conference schedules.
We're gonna put those up right now, talk through that. And then these will also be posted inside of Connect. But the this is it's gonna be another game changer. You know, this was not a place I thought we would come and change the game when we first launched LPT.
I thought we probably would end up with a, you know, an out of the box third party solution for this. But the deeper we went into it, the more I realized we had to build something special. We had to build something that that is worthy of all of you and all of our amazing agents and the and the the plat we are building here together and the way that you'll be able to communicate with each other, find each other, you know, directly message each other, jump into video chats with each other. It's going to be amazing help discover other agents where you either share knowledge, you share geography, you share those accidental bump ins.
We're all about discovering those ways to help create authentic organic connections for agents who didn't already know each other and then allow you to share knowledge and share information and share experiences with each other. It's it's gonna be it's gonna be fantastic. So so here's the schedule. So if you come in on Monday, the fourth, we're gonna have a we're calling registration log in.
That is as much as I'm willing to give away of how it it mirrors the online system. So you'll log in, either at four PM on Monday, or you can log in at eight AM on Tuesday and log in is what we are calling our registration desk there at the conference.
And then all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday, we've got content. We're gonna kick it off from the main stage at nine AM at the Mahaffy theater. The the motivation Monday will be live from that Mahaffy main stage. At noon, we're gonna break for lunch.
We're gonna give you guys lots of time for lunch to get around, make connections, We want those organic bump ins. We want you finding each other. And then from there, we'll go into what we're calling our community sessions. So this is basically our breakouts.
And we will publish that breakout schedule while I'm unveiling the community, at nine AM on the main stage. We're gonna post that session list, most likely end to connect, we'll also give you paper versions of it if you're on-site. At six PM, we're gonna have a a vendor engagement meeting, you know, happy hour cocktail party. Kick it back off, Wednesday morning.
Again, this time we're gonna start the opposite. Nine AM will kick off in the community sessions, which are at the hotel across the street. And then one o'clock lunch, three o'clock coming to the main stage at the Mahaffy again, theater, three o'clock on. And then at eight PM is that winner circle party, which was originally going to be a separate ticket.
But now if you have a conference ticket that gets you into the Winter Circle party as well, I covered everyone's admission costs for the the Winter Circle party.
Personally, as long as you have that that conference ticket, you're coming to join us. Tickets are still available at shop dot l p t dot com for two ninety nine. Includes main stage and community sessions, includes the vendor engagement reception and includes the winners circle party. So, basically, the the way to layout is there what's the hotel leave you to Hilton?
The Hilton Bayfront. Hilton Bayfront.
So there's a Hilton Hotel on one side of the street and then directly across the street is the Mahaffy Theatre. And so the Mahaffy theater is the home of our main stage content. And then the Hilton is the is where the exhibit hall is and all the breakout rooms. And these are big breakout rooms, four hundred, five hundred, seven hundred seats.
So breakouts, maybe not the right word, but that's where the community sessions will take place. So we'll have the community session stages going at the Hilton. And then we'll have the main stage going at the Mahaffy. The two do not conflict with each other.
We'll kick it off at the Mahaffy first thing, Tuesday morning. And then transition to the Hilton in the afternoon. And then Wednesday morning, we'll do the opposite. We'll kick it off at the Hilton, in the in the community session rooms and then move it to the main stage of the Mahaffy, for the closing sessions and then go into the Winter Circle Party.
Okay. Cool. Awesome. Well, we're definitely looking forward to that. More information to come guys. We will be sending out email blasts that have this.
So you guys can plan your time together. And then, of course, you know, the content in terms of what each breakout session will be or breakout room will be will also be available for you you can align it with what you're most interested in. And so that's going to be really exciting. And again, most importantly, we all all have an opportunity to finally come together, you know, when we first did our the first year, I how many states were we at that time?
I know we were around three thousand agents, but was it seven states maybe?
Three? No. Like, three or three states.
Three states.
Okay. Three states. Yeah. Thirty six. Okay. So now that we're in twenty five. Yeah. Yeah.
It may be Colorado.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's right. That had that had soft lunch. That's what you're right. So, yeah, looking forward to seeing everyone from across the country, you know, twenty five states now are second annual.
And, it's it's gonna be a great time guys. And again, you guys will hear some things in person, of course, that we won't have the opportunity to discuss on that on motivational Monday, but at least you guys will get the unveiling at that piece. But lot of content, lot of information, and we're thinking about what is the future of real estate look like that the landscape is changing. So what information makes sense for you to digest right now.
Is it social media strategies? Is it AI strategies? Those are the things that we look at as we're pulling out these classes. And so looking forward to sharing that time and growing our knowledge with you in person, at Grand Prix.
So, I think that was all that we had on schedule. Robert, was there anything else that I'm missing today?
Now, you know, it's it's a holiday day. I know a lot of people, kids are off school today, places are closed. We appreciate those of you that that jumped in here with us today. We got about a thousand people on motivation Monday, which is which is great for holiday.
I look forward to seeing everybody. I look forward to getting back to Florida. While I have been in Montana for a couple months, the the work never stops. You know, especially building out, the the the, again, the theories and philosophies and the design of this community software, which is, I mean, it's crazy, man.
Like, to go from something that I wasn't crazy about us building to this is probably gonna be one of the most one of the projects I am most proud of in my professional career the way the team and I and everybody's come together, the the feedback, we really have built something special together. And I'm I'm so proud of it, which is it's fun to be surprised. You know, like, at this point in my career arc, it's nice to find something where it's like, hey, I thought this was gonna be something we just had to do and ended up being something really challenging but also really amazing, and it is going to move the industry forward once again.
And and while we came to build LPT, we came to be the mountain we came to move the industry forward in a lot of ways. This was not a place that I thought we would do that. This is not a place that I thought we would leave our fingerprints And so now I look back at, you know, these months of hard work that we've put into this and to realize that we are absolutely going to leave another mark on this industry in a way that we didn't expect to is just it's gonna be fantastic. And again, it's a testament to each every one of you guys.
Like, you came here, you believed in LPT, I have learned so much. We have all learned so much from you all, the way we see you interact, the culture, and the heart you all have to give and support each other. That was a big motivation for us to take on this challenge and take on this project because if you're willing to give in that way and you're willing to help each other with the limited tools we have today, I can only imagine the amazing situation we will create when we give you tools that were built to allow those types of interactions, those type of helping hearts. Those types of ways for people to lend each other a hand, and and it is going again, it's gonna leave a mark on the industry that no one expected.
This was not a place that LPT was supposed to change the game. And and part of me hates that because hates that phrase because it feels like we're changing the game every day because the game was broken. And the game needed a lot of changes. But now to find something that we didn't expect to leave our mark in the world in, and we collectively as LPT are now going to do that.
It's it's really exciting. It's exciting for me, and I hope it's exciting for all of you.
Yeah. The challenge is gonna be keeping you quiet about it because when you get excited, you always let let things out. So we're all gonna work as a team to censor all all of the information you put out.
And we only we got one more motivation Monday.
That's it. You know, I gotta keep it together for one more week.
Yeah. Awesome. Well, man, I'm so excited that you you have found a new passion in this, and I we will all benefit from this in a tremendous way. I'm sure able to to harness your brainpower and expertise, to help us all connect and and grow faster. So any final words for you?
Now we'll see you guys back next week. Excited to see everyone at Grand Prix. Excited to unveil.
You know, this amazing project that we've been working so hard on and and and give the preview at Grand Prix, and then give the timelines for actually getting it rolled out in the real world. And, again, just continuing for us to to go out there and win together the market continue we continue to face headwinds in the market. You know, this has not been an easy time in real estate. We are winning together.
We are pushing through together. And we will continue to be focused on providing the right tools and the right processes and systems to support you all in the amazing community you've built here. At LPT and in the amazing collaborative way that you're able to use the tools and support each other and go out there and win. And that's what this is all about.
We are stronger together we win together, and there is nothing stronger than what we're building right now here together at LPT Realty. So go out there and have a great week, and we'll see you back here on motivation Monday. And then one week after that, I'll see a whole lot of you in Saint Pete for Grand Prix.