Okay. Good morning. Good morning. How are you guys today? If you could hear us okay, if you could just give us a thumbs up in the chat. My light's kinda shining up on me. I look a little a little dark over here. It's all it's all about that uplighting. We gotta make sure it's on point. Thing, Johnny. You like some light around me, bro. You got me turned off over here. Morning, guys. Welcome to our Real Estate First Fridays. My name is Matt Hodge, executive vice president, and joined by Lewis Fuhrman, my co VP. And, if you are from boot camp, which they are here today with us on Real Estate First Friday, we welcome you to LPT. Excited to have you start, the year strong in twenty twenty five. So we're gonna kinda talk through some things today to be thinking about, you know, kinda how to make the most of your holiday season, which is traditionally the lowest transaction time of the year. As you guys know, we're a cyclical business, meaning that we will have swells in your summer months. And so starting around March, it starts kind of that high watermark. We continue until about August. And then from there, you have a slow taper off. And then November and December will be your slowest months for transactions out of every year. And then January, you'll start to kinda see a pickup. So that's where we kind of re you know, we rebound there, and then we have our peaks in the in the summer months. And so, you know, there's some people who think about this time of year, and they say, hey. I've had a successful year. My version of success is to have a really, you know, life work life balance that allows me to then say, I'm gonna take December off or do minimal work and really just enjoy this period of of time with my friends and family, whatever. And some people say, hey. This is my planning and analyst period where I wanna figure out what works well for me in twenty twenty four and what I wanna do to strengthen the things that served me well in twenty twenty four into twenty twenty five and maybe eliminate the things that did not work for me in twenty twenty four. So everyone kinda approaches this year differently. If you're not thinking about that at all, I would encourage you to be purposeful about one of those two things. Like, hey. Either purposefully take the time and enjoy it or two, use it as a period of time to really kinda think about how to grow your business in twenty twenty five. But with that being said, there's still communication that needs to happen between you and your clients right now, either your prospective your prospective sellers, maybe consumers that you're currently working with that you're trying to get into a home, and they are probably not, you know, thinking, hey. We're gonna put it off for another couple of weeks until we get past the the holidays. Like, there's still needs to be communication during this period of time. And so we'll kinda talk through today some of the strategic things that you can do to communicate in this period of time and kinda set yourself up for the twenty twenty five. And then also we'll kinda think about, you know, what do we expect in twenty twenty five? Like, we don't have a crystal ball, but we know that we've heard the Fed talk, and they're saying, hey. It only looks like there's gonna be two rate cuts next year. Originally, it was predicted before. So we're largely going to be in the same environment that we are today, meaning that inventory is probably going to be locked up with sellers who don't wanna get rid of the you know, their lower interest rates and to purchase into a new higher rate. And some people will be forced, of course. Right? Like, life will eventually happen, and they'll have to make those decisions. But a lot of those preference buyers may still be on the sideline. So we wanna talk through maybe how you can solve for that in twenty twenty five. So Yeah. You definitely hit the nail on the head when you said, you know, this notion of being purposeful inside of your business. I mean, that is something that's so important. And whether that purposeful approach is to take the time off because you have recognized that this is how you define success. And, again, we very much, you know, advise it's, you know, it's it's your definition of success. You know, whether or not you wanna use this time of the year to, you know, incorporate more of that life, work life balance or, you know, do you wanna position yourself for your business? Use this as an opportunity to reflect on the things that have worked for you in twenty twenty four to gear up for twenty twenty five regardless of which one of those lanes that you pursue. You know, you gotta be purposeful with your business. And this is, you know, a theme today. It's a theme tomorrow. It's a theme for yesterday. Like, that is something that you always want to ensure that you have inside of your inside of your day to day. You know, so right now, we are at a time of the year where if you are, you know, kinda looking to go in that side of the crossroad, right, in terms of what do I do? I wanna pour back into my business during this time of the year. You know, there's really, like, two big options that exist as the as the business slows down as we are in this downtime of the season. You know, one of which being this whole reflection aspect. You know, looking at we're getting ready to enter twenty twenty five. You know, what are the things that have worked? What are the things that we want to, you know, incorporate moving forward in our businesses? How can we incorporate these things much more efficiently moving forward? How can we create these, you know, ways that maybe some of these things are automated? You know, because we've tried something. Now how can we automate these aspects of it? You know? Maybe we have to figure out how can I be more reflective throughout the year? You know? How can I have more touch points throughout the year to ensure that I am, you know, keeping on top of my business? You know? We wanna make sure that these things are thought about. You know, if you are, you know, going down the avenue of reflecting on your business, what do I need to do to push into twenty twenty five to have the most effective twenty twenty five as possible? And then the second category as you indicated is, you know, communications. Right? And having purposeful communications with your customer base. This is an excellent time of the year to poke your clients, you know, tap them on the shoulders. You know, this is a relationship based business. You know, it's very important to continuously be front of mind to your customers. And throughout the year, we have organic checkpoints that afford us the opportunity to, you know, tap them on the shoulder with, with a subject matter that's not necessarily real estate, you know, because it's so important to create that balance. You know, your customers wanna see that you are human, that you're able to relate to them in a different way that's very organic. And we are now at a time where, you know, we have Christmas rolling around. We have New Year rolling around. Like, if you're pouring back into your business, do not lose these two checkpoints to be able to craft messaging that you can pour back to your customers and show them that you're thinking about them differently. That's not necessarily call me today to buy or sell a house. Like, you are showing them that you are that you are human. You know, maybe for for the twenty twenty five message or for the happy new year message, like, you give them things to think about. You know? Have them relate to you. It's like, hey. You know? As I'm gearing up for twenty twenty five, here are some of the things that I've been thinking on. Here are some of the things that I am working on. I would encourage you guys to do the same. Here are some of these check points for, you know, things to kinda consider as you're entering into twenty twenty five. Like, it just makes it so much more relatable that you're being that resource to these individuals that is totally outside of real estate. Because the key is you wanna be front of mind when that real estate need does arise. You know? And I guess you do have another category of customer base in your database who are waiting for the new year to ultimately buy and sell a home. You know, the messaging for these individuals may be a little bit more tweaked and maybe a little bit more catered to, them being in position, appropriately for that time of the year. But regardless, if you're looking to pour back into your business, don't lose sight of reflecting and creating a plan for twenty twenty five, understanding what has worked, what has not worked, and how you can push your workflows forward. And then secondly, do not lose this as an opportunity to communicate with your customer base. Yep. That's great point. You know, and I wanna break a a piece down, where we talk about communication because there's a couple different ways that you can build influence with someone. One, you can give them information as a resource. Right? Let's think about, there was a period of time where, the big tagline and what really got people to to engage with you in a real estate function was to say, hey. I will tell you how much your house is worth for free. I will come over. I'll give you a free CMA, free home value. That was a big tagline. Right? And then why did that work? Well, it was a resource to people. It was something that people were interested in that they didn't actually have ready readily available to them. Right? But we know that technology has changed, and now everyone can go online, accurate or not. You can go online and basically get your home value for free anyway. You can go on Zillow. You can go on homes dot com. You can go you can go anywhere and find it. Right? So that doesn't necessarily work anymore because that resource, that information source isn't as valuable as what it used to be. So if you're thinking about how do I stay valuable, how do I make it where I have start to have influence with people, it's you have to provide them with information that they don't necessarily have themselves, that they can't necessarily readily get for free on part for themselves in thirty seconds. Right? So that's one way to think about it. So if you think about this time of year, this is a time of year where you are then doing your personal branding. Hey. I'm not necessarily going to go and really talk about what your house is worth today, the week of Christmas. That's probably not gonna be something you're ultimately really interested in about this week. You may be interested about it in January. You may have been interested in several months ago, but right now that messaging is really not going to resonate. So the best thing that you can do right now is build your personal branding. Right? Because people wanna do business with people who they like and they trust and, of course, who show levels of expertise. But right now is not that time to show that level of expertise. So I would swing the pendulum away from resource information and expertise. It's kind of I want you to think about me as an expert. I'm gonna move that more so to the personal side, and I'm gonna it may be make it like a eighty twenty split. So eighty percent of the time that you're interacting with me, if I'm putting information out there, it's gonna be personal branding right now. As I get closer to months where I know that people are starting to think about real estate needs, I'm gonna swing that pendulum back into a resource where when you think about it, it's because I'm giving you market updates. I'm telling you what's happening on interest rates. I'm telling you what's happening with inventory because now that's what's valuable to you. And so, again, it's about having that purposeful communication when it makes sense for your clients to receive it. We've given the example in the past. If you look at, like, the fitness industry, how they change their messaging all the time just to fit what people are interested in the moment. If it's during the holidays, they're like, hey. Get in shape for the new year. Lose the holiday weight. You know? Get lose the Thanksgiving pounds that you put on. New year resolution. Hey. Start twenty twenty five off with the healthy. You get to summer months. Hey. Get your beach body. You get into like, you know, there's always the same product. They are just changing what makes sense and what you are going to pay attention to based on what they know general consumer, you know, desire is going to be at that time. And so it really makes sense for you to be thinking about that. So personal branding, reaching out with personal connection, letting them see you in the holidays, either where you're doing you know, maybe you're giving back or you're just reaching out and saying, hey. You know, wishing you, you know, happy holidays, Merry Christmas, whatever that looks like right now for you until you get to the other side in January, which will like you said, you start that effective conversation again. Like, hey. If you purchased a house last year, let me let you know how I let me provide your, you know, your closing statement so that your tax time becomes easy. If you're planning to purchase in twenty twenty five, let me let you know what you should be doing right now to prepare. You know? That's the type of messaging that you get through right on the other side of the house. I love I love how you say that. I mean, that's that's a very well said way to organize this. Right? Because there's two types of messaging that you can have with your customer. You can either have a resource information messaging, or you can have messaging that's more geared towards personal branding. And really understanding that throughout the year, you do wanna treat it as a pendulum swing. You know, sometimes you wanna be a little bit more heavy on the resource side. Sometimes you wanna be a little bit more heavy on the personal side. Sometimes you wanna have a blend of both. But regardless, understanding that that exists is gonna make it much more effective for you to create your messaging as you are communicating with your customer bases. And if we are looking at the side of, you know, personal branding or even on the resource side, you wanna have the messaging be something that is unique to you. You wanna distinguish yourself relative to what the messaging can look like by someone else who is speaking that same messaging. Mhmm. You know, if you're taking the time to craft that message, really sit down and think about how can I incorporate my personality into it? How can I incorporate things that are distinguishable or that are going to set me apart from somebody else sending that same message? You know, right now, again, you know, Merry Christmas. Very easy to say, you know, Merry Christmas. Hope you and your family have a happy holiday and just leave it at that. Right? But can you take it a next step further? You know, can you interject, you know, something that's more personal to you? You know, you gave the, example of, you know, are you out there doing, you know, charity during this time of the year? Are you wrapping gifts? Are you doing these things? You know, maybe do you wanna capture that moment and kinda share that story and share those experiences and take it much more personal to your customer base along that same theme of wishing them and their family happy holidays. Like, you're now giving them the story and you're allowing your customer to enter into your life, and now they're able to relate to you in a much more different way. You know, do you like animals? You know, do you wanna make sure you have animals and some topics along those lines inside of these themes like pets, etcetera? Like, make it personal to you because that is what's going to resonate with your customer base when you are creating these, themes and these concepts that are distinguishing you from somebody else. That's right. You know, speaking like the the animal theme, Anthony and I out of Las Vegas, when we were out there, you know, he was organizing an event where it was like a rescue, a rescue shelter, basically. It's a a a charitable event where they're raising money for for, you know, displaced animals. And, and it's it's gotten it's grown every single year. K. It's grown every single year. So, you know, he has become more visible in his community attached to this particular thing. Now he's not doing it to get more real estate business. That is a byproduct that he's getting more real estate business because of this other effort that he's doing. And so he would be completely happy if that never was, you know, the benefit and he was just truthfully, you know, pouring into his passion there. But, again, it just shows you that people want to do business with, you know, people who have the same kind of passions and who they like and who they trust and, of course, and at the end, who's an expert at one, you know, at their their real estate function. It just makes your job that much funner. Yeah. Like, when you're doing it from an angle of things that you enjoy to do and you enjoy to accomplish, like, it just makes your day to day that much more exciting. Yeah. It really does. So I wanna make a quick prediction, and I wanna think about this. We've got about ten minutes left. So I wanna talk about this for twenty twenty five. It was an observation that I had. So yesterday, I was actually driving out to New Port Richey to meet with some of our agents who we are, doing a, townhome development in, right off the water. And so it's thirty two townhomes. LPT was able to get, the exclusivity on this unit. Starting price point's around a million dollars. So nice townhomes, really unique to this area. Each unit comes with its own private boat docks and, like, rooftops. Really great area. Right? And so as I was out there, I was just kind of, you know, looking you know, just kind of observing the area. And within about thirty minutes, I passed ten new construction communities. Right? And so I started thinking, okay. Within this period, there are significantly more new construction options that are gonna be available in this little area. This doesn't mean this is an entire country, but I imagine this is more widespread than just here. We we're we've been actually tracking the data for for quite some time. But probably about, you know, ninety to a hundred and twenty days as some of these things start to come out of the ground and they're, you know, they're ready to be sold, there are going to be more new construction sales in that area than there will be for resales. So if you are thinking, okay. You heard us kinda talk about, okay. We know we know there's only gonna be two rate cuts predicted for next year, which means that our current buying environment is not going to change all that much, which means that the same problems that we're experiencing today because of a high interest rate environment are going to happen next year, which means that we can start to build a strategy around that to start to say, hey. I'm not going to allow this to make me a victim to say, oh, I'm not doing as much business because transactions are not I'm gonna figure out how to get more market share because I understand what I'm preparing for. And so as I'm thinking about this, you know, and and I also will say that in the last probably a hundred and twenty days now, we've taken one point four billion dollars in new construction sales here at corporate level for our agents, helping them pick down, you know, exclusivity on on communities from luxury to, you know, RV lots, like the the full gambit. And so one point four billion dollars. I mean, there are entire brokerages that don't do that in in terms of sales for entire year, and that's new listings that we've got coming that are gonna be in for sale for twenty twenty five. So if you think about that theme, we know that developers are going to see that, hey. There's an inventory constraint. Buyer demand, of course, is down some because interest rates aren't as favorable as what they were before, but it's not so far off that, you know, it's matching the inventory level. So we have higher demand than what we have on inventory. That's why you're seeing prices continue to stay steady even though high, you know, interest rates are kinda going up, which is generally what you would pull a lever to move prices down. So with that being said, in twenty twenty five, if you are working with someone today, you should start preparing them to think about new construction sales. Not only are you going to probably have more, you know, favorable interest rates because the builders, a lot of times, are subsidizing those interest rates through buy downs and x y z, you are also going to have inventory available that may not necessarily show up on the MLS. Like, those communities are going to get sold. Mhmm. Someone is going to buy them. Generally, what we're seeing in our developments, fifty to sixty percent of those buyers come directly to us just because of the nature of the beast of it being, you know, not all the units are on, not on the MLS and people are driving by. They're cure whatever. You know? So that ends up being the nature of the beast. So I would recommend if you are struggling with finding inventory, you make yourself a new construction expert going into twenty twenty five. You will I promise you, you will thank yourself at the end of twenty twenty five if you think about it. Yeah. I mean, this this is a reality. Right? I mean, this is a segment in our industry that is growing in many pockets at a very drastic rate. I mean, that example that you gave, I mean, just driving between two cities, I mean, you just immediately just stumbled upon ten new construction areas. And, you know, I guess right now as we're going through this whole, you know, reflection of twenty twenty four and creating your plan for twenty twenty five, you know, really ask yourself, you know, is this a segment in the industry that I wanna, you know, tackle? You know, is this a segment of the industry that I wanna incorporate inside of my portfolio? Is there a percentage of my deals that I want to come from this side of the business? And if it is, and you say, yes. I would love to be able to help my clients go there. Well, now the question becomes, how do I do it? Right? Like, what is the approach? What do I need to incorporate in order for me to capitalize on this opportunity? And a few weeks ago on Real Estate First Fridays, I wish I had the date on hand. I didn't know we were gonna segue into this one, but we did talk about that, that gentleman that we met when we were, I think it was at FubCon or Zillow unlocked. Yes. And he was expressing, where we were interacting with him. He's like, oh, what type of niche do you focus on? And he expressed that he's a new construction expert. And we're like, what does that mean? Like, what does it mean to be a new construction expert? He's like, yeah. He has, like, ninety percent of his closings happen inside of the world of new construction. And it, like, really, like, puzzled us. Like, how do you accomplish this? Like, how do you just stumble upon a whole bunch of new construction people? Do you stand in front of a new construction neighborhood and just wait for people to drive in and, you know, stop them on the streets as they're rocking? Like, what do you do? And he he had that statement of what was it like? He was like the aggregator of information. Correct. He would he would be the expert because he has aggregated all of these new construction communities. He understood what everyone's floor plan was, what lots they had available. Like, he had all of this information aggregated that when he had buyers reach out to him, you know, he postured or positioned himself in a way where he showed the buyer this information that was not necessarily found inside of the MLS. Right. So once he understood the buyers need, the areas that they were looking for, the price points that they were looking for, not only would he set them up on the MLS's etcetera, but he would also now pull out his, binder of this aggregated information of, process of of getting newly constructed and and and newly built. You know, let's talk through, you know, to see if some of these are ultimately solutions for you. And that in and of itself distinguishes him relative to many other agents in the industry. Because how many individuals do that? Like, who has that information readily accessible? You know, of all of the communities and one particular, you know, zip code that a customer may be finding that are being built. You know, in that example that you gave yesterday, you know, imagine if you have a client who is looking in those ZIP codes that those ten new constructions are are passing by. You know, if I wanted a purposeful approach for that plan, what if I was able to open up, hey. Here are the floor plans. Here are the price points. Here's what you get for your dollar. Here's, you know, the styles of the home. Here are the floor plans of the like, you're able to provide that level of information in your initial client meeting that you're having with them. Like, that's a level of resource that the customer may not be expecting when they communicate to any other agent. And, you know, whether or not you wanna, you know, have ninety percent of your your market share be a new construction or less, you're still positioning yourself very differently that even if they go to the secondary market, the amount of value that you just provided to them, the likelihood that they're going to go with another agent is probably gonna be diminished because you are showing them something that is so unique in you to help them accomplish their mission that you are not you're you're you're reducing that level of vulnerability that you have for that customer to go elsewhere. You know, that is the biggest risk in our business on the buyer side of the equation. More often than not is a buyer ultimately sticking with you and finding another agent or whether you're gonna be the one that's ultimately going to, you know, be there when they go under contract on the home that they find. So being able to overwhelm them with value that you are creating for them, showing this, like, purposeful solution for them resonates very differently when when they're, you know, even considering hiring somebody else. Agreed. Agreed. I love that, Ben. So, again, just as a quick recap, I would be thinking about the end of this year. If I was saying, hey. I'm still okay with working as many hours as I was working at my my peak. How should I spend those hours? The the best use of my time is I would be making sure that I'm really concentrating on my personal branding, and that would be either personal phone calls, text messages, social media posts that are around this time of year. I would really be doing my kind of that. And then as we are transitioning towards past Christmas and we're getting into the New Year, people are into new resolution mode, I would then start transitioning that like, hey. If you're thinking about purchasing in twenty twenty five, let me tell you the top three things that you need to know. Reach out to me today. I'll be creating those calls of action going into January. And then, as an inventory standpoint, I would be reaching out to all of the local builders that are in my area, getting the price sheets in terms of what all inventory that they have available because it's not gonna be on the MLS. You you know, they have the price sheets, though. I would be pulling that information out and making that a separate email that goes out on a weekly basis to anyone who I'm, you know, searching for in the resale market. Anyone that I have set up on the MLS, I'm gonna take that information and say, hey. Just so that you know, here are all the inventory that's available. And it's gonna change each week. So you're gonna have to reach out to the builder each week or set up the relationship with a rep there that says, hey. At the end of the week, if you could just send me what's available this week or what's sold. And that way you start providing information in a pretty easy and systematic way to buyers who are looking. And I'm telling you, you will get additional sales. You will be looking like you're positioning yourself as the expert, and then you will ultimately be helping them find houses that they did not know existed because a lot of people don't necessarily know or have the desire to want to go put all that information together. But I'm telling you, it will make a meaningful difference in your business. So that is my advice to you as you are going into twenty twenty five. One of many things that you can do to be successful, but if you are in an area where you are struggling finding houses, you're having people on drip campaigns for four, five months, and the problem is that you're just not finding anything that fits their needs, new construction can be the way. And in addition to that, what I would also have you start to think about is sometimes new construction is a little bit more expensive than the resale market. What I would do is start calculating, like, okay. How much would they save on insurance, on a monthly basis? And but from going from a house that's maybe ten or fifteen years old and compared to something that's brand new, how much do they save in energy cost? I'm gonna take that total number. Maybe they save three hundred dollars a month is is what the total may be. I'm gonna say, okay. Well, three hundred dollars a month is, you know, five thousand dollars in home purchase price or, you know, ten whatever that number ends up being, you can you can do it based on the interest rate and figure out how much of a payment, how much more buying power that gives you and say, hey. Just so that you know, okay. We can purchase x amount of dollars more for the same thing it would cost you at a resale, brand new warranty, yada yada yada, and then you can have also, you know, negotiate with builders to brighten down interest rates. So just think about all those strategies if you are wanting to think about this as a path for twenty twenty five, how to really be an expert in that area, and it will serve you well. So any any final words for you? Absolutely. I mean, always be purposeful inside of your business, guys. Like, don't just be in autopilot. You know, be very much purposeful in the decisions that you make. And as as you're incorporating things inside of your day to day, like, go that extra mile. You know, don't just keep it fundamental or basic. Like, really take that time. You're doing it anyways. Take the extra time to figure out how you can creatively go one extra step forward. And, you know, again, if this is a time of the year where you are pouring back into your business and reflecting on your business and where you're looking to go, you know, in addition to creating that plan, also set up checkpoints throughout next year that you are going to reevaluate your business and retweak it. One of the biggest mistakes that we make throughout the year is, you know, we focus so hard on, you know, rebuilding our our our train during December months. And then once January first hits, we hit play and then we go in autopilot. And we don't retweak it. We don't retouch it until the next December rolls around and the next December. And and then we just kinda let it take its course for twelve months. You know, I think that's too infrequent to touch your business. You know, your business is a living, breathing machine. You know, you are going to have to constantly tweak it, you know, oil up the cogs. You know, you gotta make sure that things are working correctly. And for some of us, we have to be very organized with that. If not, we're gonna let the year get ahead of us. And we're gonna sit back next December and say, I can't believe we're in December again. You know? Let me share this story. I mean, I was hanging up my Christmas lights, you know, a few weeks ago, and I'm opening up these bins and, like, I literally remembered where I left things from the year before. Like, that's how quickly time flew by, like, in my mind. And it it will happen in your day to day. When you're busy, time's gonna fly. So you gotta take those moments to sit down and, like, really organize that trajectory. You know? So if if you're catching yourself in those swings where it's like, I can't believe it's it's summer. I can't believe it's spring. I can't believe it's winter. Take this moment now to create that checkpoint and live by that checkpoint. When that day rolls around, use it as your moment to reflect back on your business and retweak it and not let that time pass by. Well said. Alright. Well, we'll leave it there. And thank you for for joining us today. Boot camp, we are excited to have you here at LPT Realty. Please join us on motivational Monday. We're gonna be talking about some things that we are launching in twenty twenty five as a brokerage, and we are gonna go through a high level overview of how to kinda business plan into twenty twenty five. We'll be doing that with Robert Palmer, founder and CEO, on this motivational Monday. So looking forward to seeing you guys then.