Brandon Blue: How to Start a Career as a Real Estate Agent (Real Estate Agent at Rennie Group)

hi Brandon thank you so much for coming on to the show today it's such a pleasure to have you now our first question is we would love to hear about your story and career development let's start from the very beginning okay how dides your postsecondary experience lead you to where you are today so I took a bit of a unique journey of course working in real estate I've always had an interest in it and upon graduating from high school I was living in Quebec at the time and the youngest you could be to register for

the Real Estate College out there was 19 years old so a month after I turned 19 I registered I did the full program it was a four-month program at that time and I was one of the youngest realtors in Quebec you know all my friends were going to University and living in dorms and kind of enjoying the postsecondary life for me I decided to get right into commission sales and just Dive Right In and in hindsight didn't do very well because you know a 19-year-old realtor there's not many people that will trust a 19-year-old with

the largest investment of their life but it did give me great experience which of course benefited me down the road as I got older and gave me a head start about you know compared to other people that were starting the industry later and so what does a typical day look like for you as a real estate agent can you walk us through some of the key tasks and responsibilities you handle on a day-to-day basis of course so the good thing about real estate is that every day is different no matter how much you want to

try and set some sort of schedule it's it's really hard because there's new fires that are coming up new problems that need to be solved you know new things that need your attention that you don't necessarily anticipate and no two deals are the same so typically I'm a father of three and a halfy old twins so I'll try and wake up early I'll go to the gym at around 5:30 just get my me time out of the way come back home get breakfast ready get the kids either set up with an nanny or off to

daycare but from that 8:30 onwards it's never ending phone Halls it's 300 text messages a day it's going around to different showings and visits and coffee and everything but legitimately between 8:30 and 5: it's never the same some days I'm in the office for 3 or 4 hours other days I won't see the off inside of the office for a week just because I I I don't have time and I'm constantly traveling to people's homes because that's where a lot of these meetings take place and so what are some misconceptions people have about working with

the real estate agent I would say that common misconceptions can be that we are just commission greedy selfish people don't get me wrong every industry has you know people that don't represent the industry well but I would say as a whole there are absolutely quality people that are in real estate that really take their clients interest and their fiduciary du Duty very seriously you know those are the realtors that are quite busy and you know it's no mistake that this is a referral business so if you provide good service to somebody the best marketing you

can possibly do is get those referrals and you know if you do well by somebody and they feel like you've treated them you know to the best of your abilities and really looked out for them and fought for them then they're the first ones for fre you to all their friends all their family and that's of course how business expands and integrity I think is a very important Cornerstone to any business but real estate in particular if a client likes you and they've identified you as their realtor you will be the realtor for life people

are exceptionally loyal as long as you treat them well can you talk about a particularly challenging real estate transaction you've handled and how you navigated through it so these are tough we are not lawyers there's all kinds of realtor stories so there's going to a showing a private showing and you're entering a house where you know some person knows or has been notified that you're coming but I've walked into open houses where like people are home and they had no idea that I was coming it was a scheduled showing it's on lock box and you

kind of knock and you know people will either answer or not I had a friend recently who just two days ago she went into a property that was on lock boox knocks nobody answers Rings doorbell nobody answers lets herself in and there's the homeowner that's lying there completely naked on the couch right so you know it's one of those where you don't really know what you're getting into you know those are kind of you know interesting challenges she actually thought that the person had passed away and it turned out they were just you know passed

out drunk from the night before but you know there's those things that of course come up and then beyond that the really complicated ones that nobody likes is let's say if you know there's a a deal that's supposed to go through you know people removed their subjects and they put the deposit down but they're depending on the previous people that are buying their place in order for them to complete on the next place and it creates this domino effect amongst multiple properties if one of those dominoes doesn't properly fall and let's say somebody can't get

financing well then that can affect everybody else and that can lead to lawsuits problems you know stress and those typically are the most challenging where lawyers really have to get involved and that's where as a realtor it's really important to have a good legal team around you and people that you can not only call at 10:30 at night with questions but also send your clients to to really get you know a good legal opinion can you share some strategies for effectively marketing a property in today's competitive market of course so there are Trade Secrets but

I find everybody has different methods I mean last year was in the top 2% of all Realtors there's 15,000 realtors in Vancouver you know I do a ton of business anywhere from 70 to 100 million a year the tried and true methods that I think work great is aggressive advertising I really utilize video I think people are tired of going through photos all the time and it just kind of becomes the same thing and even in photos you know they all look great so it's happened so many times where you're looking at photos and you're

like this looks beautiful and then you get there and you're like wow this actually looks nothing like the photos you know it's something where video I think is more honest but it also allows you to educate future buyers with coming through the property and you know being able to kind of outline the benefits and the highlights of the property more than photos can right so I think that's really important and of course using Target marketing when it comes to social media making sure that people see the video do the walk through and that way they've

almost kind of pre-seen it and are excited to get there and that I think is a big benefit that more and more Realtors are doing and that's only going to accelerate another just old school thing for selling places is open housing it sounds crazy and it's amazing to me how many people don't do them but at the end of the day our job is to effectively Market this property to get as many people in the door as we can because only people that walk through that door are the ones that are going to be placing

offers so if you're not having open houses and you're not allowing buyers to wander in on their own to me I think that's a wasted opportunity I can't tell you how many buyers have come in where they're not even planning on buying a place and you know they live in the area you know let's say use a simple condo example in Olympic Village where they'll be living in a one bedroom and they'll be wandering around and they'll have coffees in hand and it's a Sunday afternoon and they're like oh let's yeah we see the sign

let's just go do it and then they wander in and this happened to me recently where they're like this is really nice we really like this let's call our agent and then sure enough you know the agent calls me in a bit of a panic after the open house and he's like my gu just saw your place we want to put in an offer and the agent hasn't even seen it that all comes from open houses right so you know bodies need to come in and giving that benefit I think is really worth it and

that's a big part of our job is working on weekends and making sure that we're there I have to say Brandon I look at all of your videos on Instagram and the Loft that you posted right across from the new Vancouver Gallery after seeing your video I actually went to that Loft myself well like it wasn't open but I was interested in buying it so I love all these strategies that you're sharing I think it's really creative and I think it really captures people's attentions keeps people engaged and that's the best part and I think

recognizing that like we are in an increasingly video world there's a lot of people that are afraid to be on camera and it's no different people used to be afraid to have their photo taken you know oh I don't like the way I look right but you know when it comes to video and speaking on camera you know it's a skill that's worth developing in business because even just like Zoom calls you know these are more and more popular and within video in marketing people feel like they get to know you they see you you

know they understand kind of your marketing strategy and also you know it helps pick up extra clients so if I make a great listing video for somebody you know send it to the client the client then sees it and they're going to send it to their entire network of friends as well check out my place check out the place that I'm selling and look at a great video that my realtor did well it's a referral business again so when they see that and they're like you know what that is great when we sell our place

want that kind of video for our place as well because it also kind of serves as a cool Keepsake for the couple I love it now I want to ask you some questions regarding careers your career tips and advice for people starting out so let's say someone wants to start out in real estate what specific strategies or actions would you recommend to accelerate their growth in the early stages of their career so my career started very quickly and I done at all legitimately I've sent out tens of thousands of pliers to different neighborhoods you know

I read a whole bunch of real estate books on how to Market yourself and what you're supposed to do you know and there's so many different real estate coaches out there that will tell you you know practice these scripts and do this and identify a section and farm that section and you know really make that your own and you be the expert of this very specific area those might work all I can really speak to is what's worked for me and what that was was just focusing on people and understanding that we are not in

the real estate business at all this is the people business and maintain relationships with people that that you already know new people that you meet you know it helps to be an extrovert because meeting new people and just connecting with people and having a relationship that builds a big part of why we're brought in in any financial industry whether it's you somebody that's a private Banker to you or a mortgage broker a realtor or notary these are all people that you trust and trust is a huge aspect when it comes to touring people around and

helping them see that you know we're not just trying to push the first place that we see on them because it makes it an easier deal focusing on people I can't stress enough is beneficial and actually being legitimately interested in them their lives you know helping them people see through it if you're not and if you're not that type of person you might really struggle and there's a lot of people that do struggle in real estate because if you come across disingenuous it can really hurt you if that makes sense additionally I would say one

of the things that I've always done is uh coffees and this is where enjoying people's company and having a large Network really comes in I'll do coffee two to three times a day four to five times a week with people depending on what my schedule looks like I'll keep lists in my phone of you know different cities that I'm in or different parts of the city that I'm in and if I have a couple of hours or an hour between showings or something I will text a couple of people that are in that area and

just see if they want to grab a Qui coffee and just do something unplanned impromptu and just stop in if somebody just had a baby you know I'll carry around champagne or wine in my car and you know just drop it off on their doorstep and just leave a nice little note and then you know text them and leave it and it's just stuff that is thoughtful always remembering that we are replaceable at any point somebody can always find another realtor there's so many of us we're nothing special but the client is the boss and

the client is somebody that you really have to prioritize it's about them it's not about us in your experience what would you say are the most important qualities of a successful real estate agent most important qualities I would say is trustworthiness is knowledge and really being able to network you know you can be the most trustworthy person that has the most knowledge but if you stay in your home and you don't leave your your four walls and you don't get out there you won't be successful right you know you can Network a lot and you

know everybody can know you but if nobody trusts you there's no chance they're going to use you right they might all know you but it's like well you know like he seems like a nice guy but I wouldn't do business with him and of course if you don't know your stats you don't know your product you don't know your price comparisons you don't have that kind of knowledge then that's also something that people will see through and they're not going to refer you so I think a combination of those three is the most important and

that's something that you know it's something you can work on if you're not used to getting out there and putting yourself out there socially start working on it right start you know join interests join things that you're into if you're new to a city that can be really hard but find your group of people that you really like and you know just try and provide value when the opportunity comes up now last question I have for you the job market is constantly changing and evolving with advancing Technologies and so can you share some advice with

the young folks in terms of how they can stay competitive and adapt to this fast-paced changing environment in terms of accelerating their growth and career that's a big question you know the the market and the horizons are always changing I was just part of a talk where you know they were lecturing on AI and what that means for the future of real estate and you know just things in general I mean it's a very hot topic right now I think there is always going to be new innovation new things coming out new ways to search

for properties there's always going to be somebody that's looking to cut out the realtor as well and really streamline the process of purchasing a home and I think in general I mean not to mortgage brokers like anybody real estate industry related is somewhat curious as to how AI will affect their job in you know the years going forward to stay on top of it to be honest I think it just comes back down to the human aspect of our job and like to put this in perspective like we watch you know Netflix shows selling Sunset

and all these things where it's all glitzy and glamory and great but in reality like I deal with you know a divorce where you know there is some major turmoil between the couple and there's kids involved and I'm representing both sides and I'm having to manage extreme emotions on both sides while still trying to get them the best price for their property and hide all of that from potential buyers because that's not something we would disclose as to the reason why we're selling that's not glamorous right estate sales you know if somebody passes away you're

dealing with a family that's is going through major grief and understanding how you can help with that and how you can make things easier and better and how you can serve your clients you know that's not glamorous and that's also something that I don't think technology or AI will ever be able to really replace us on right it just comes back down to being in the people business and people need to trust you and if they don't they're going to find somebody that they will and people in general don't trust a computer for certain things

sure for certain information but dealing with sensitive emotional issues you know that I think is something that is priceless and that's what really sets apart I think some of the industry leaders okay now I have a question if you were to give one piece of advice to your 20-some year old self starting off in your career what would that be it's tough to say because like I've lived my life doing a whole bunch slew of jobs like you know I was a actor for a while you know I worked in different sales job at like

Best Buy and Future Shop and I've had a whole variety of experience with sales and marketing and traveling and all these things and I really look at it as every experience that I've had up until this point good or bad has made me who I am today and you know if you can always pick the good parts out of those parts of life then you know it allows you to capitalize on the experience and apply that at a later point in life and like I grew up very modest means you know we did not do

well as a family my parents were divorced when I was super young I moved out for the first time just after my 16th birthday you know I've gone through different trials but everybody has something they're going through and I was lucky enough to have a mentor when I was young tell me that you know how you deal with this and how you learn from this will Define the type of person that you are and truly I I think I would have told myself that at 20 to say say that I know life sucks right now

you're not working at a job that you don't like that you want I was at one point living in a one-bedroom condo with two other guys our rent was each $273 a month and like just struggling no joke and it was interesting but I think I would have told myself to just keep doing what you're doing keep pursuing it but also keep learning and recognize that you know all of this experience is building to something and probably I would have appreciated the process a little bit more as when you get to a level of success

it's amazing but it is funny how the first thing I want to reminisce on with my old roommate that we used to live in that circumstance was how much fun we had back then we just didn't really know we were having that much fun if that makes sense so when you look back at those tough times you would say would you say that it all made sense it happened for a reason yeah like I think people just deal with the cards they're dealt and you can choose to either accept it and not change or you

can choose to complain about it or you can really try to take what you're learning and build and it's that whole idea that you're either you know learning or earning right is what they say when you're in a job right if you're in a job and you're not making good money but you're getting great experience and learning towards something that you want to do amazing right or if you're in a job where you're earning enough money that you don't care that you hate your job you're perfectly fine doing it in order to earn enough income

that maybe that allows you to go back to school or study something else or start a new career then great but ultimately I think you know goal setting and having an overall Vision as to what you want your life to be like even if it doesn't turn out that way it's still nice to have something you're working for so it's always in the back of your mind and allows you to see the lessons that are presented on a daily basis I love it so Brandon my next question for you is if I'm a realtor who

just got my license what are some things I can do to accelerate my business in the early stages I get asked this question a lot and this transition period of just getting a license to doing your first deal can be really intimidating the tough part is you have everybody around you that's close to you that knows that you don't have the knowledge and they know you just got your license and you they know that there's no experience there but let's say they trust you but is that enough right a couple of the things that I

normally suggest is finding a mentor within the brokerage that can help you out and not only with you know some of their tricks or helping them out on open houses or just getting you out there and experience you know what it's like to actually be in the industry or be out doing showings but also having them in your back pocket as a co-lister so if let's say you've gotten your license your best friend wants to sell their place they know that you don't know anything cuz you're brand new to this but they also want to

support you you can go to them and say listen I work with somebody in the office they're phenomenal they do a ton of business they're teaching me bring me on and I will co-list with them and that way the two of you can get together and really you know accelerate the listing because you'll have the experience of somebody that knows exactly what they're doing but also as a new agent you're going to learn which photographers they use Which floor plan people which video people how their team drafts the cont contracts puts it all together really

is able to you know give you a bit of a pathway that you can copy down the road when you have your own listing after you've done a few so that to me is huge because there's a tremendous amount of learning and I would say that most agents in most offices would be happy to take half as much payment and Mentor you along and pave the way for new agents coming forward other things is really becoming an expert in your field as quick as possible and don't invest too much money in advertising around you there's

a story I remember hearing of a guy that left Real Estate College got a business loan and spent $150,000 on billboards everywhere and advertised plastered himself everywhere thinking that that would bring in a whole bunch of business and pay itself off when in fact it didn't you know Billboards and one of those things I mean think about how many realtor Billboards you see every single day in your morning commute and how it means nothing to you unless you you know the person unless you see them and you're like oh that's so and so like oh

yeah look at him he's on his bus again you know so there needs to be that Foundation of a network and relationships in order for that type of advertising to work but I would just focus on the people you already know going for coffee but finding a good Mentor that will really pave the way and work out all the Kinks initially because those can be Rocky right love it Brandon thank you so much for being on the show it's such an honor to have you thank you so much I I really appreciate you having me