Being a new real estate agent is exciting and daunting at the same time.
The real estate license course does not prepare you for how to actually be a successful Realtor.
Mallory Tidwell shares her experience as a new Realtor with eXp Realty.
With eXp Realty’s mentorship program and new agent Fast Start training she found quick success!
Transcript:
Chris Bounds 00:00
Mallory! How are you doing?
Mallory Tidwell 00:03
Oh good.
Chris Bounds 00:04
Weather in Destin, Florida.
Mallory Tidwell 00:08
Hot. It’s been hot, but it is you know, dog days of summer it is August.
Chris Bounds 00:16
Yeah, but you guys, you have the nicest beach to cool often.
Mallory Tidwell 00:21
We have the breeze, the breeze help. So it’s okay.
Chris Bounds 00:27
Not bad, not bad. Could be worse. What does your business look like today?
Mallory Tidwell 00:35
Thanks for having me on.. I always appreciate chatting with you or Jamie or both. It’s good, a closing this afternoon as always the good days closing days are fun days. Another one next week. It’s good. I’m doing a good bit with residential, but I have learned that more my passion is towards those condos. I really do love some condo sales and interacting with families for buying condos.
Chris Bounds 00:58
The Airbnb friendly condo you posted
Mallory Tidwell 01:03
Yes, well, especially as I could wait, say that again. Sorry.
Chris Bounds 01:07
Well, there was one you posted. I chimed in, I was like, Hey, is this Airbnb friendly? Because he seemed like a perfect one.
Mallory Tidwell 01:14
Yes. It’s especially towards those everyone wants to put it either on a rental program or do it where they can, self manage it. Figuring out the niche for which is best for each family. They are all short term rental friendly, which one is bringing in the best ROI. I love that analyzation of that, I like the figures. Working with several who are figuring out which one’s gonna be the right fit, and then watch it make them some money.
That’s my favorite. I’ve learned that’s my favorite. I do love the residential, today’s a residential. It’s a great family moving here military family. Those are awesome, too. But they also want to buy a short term rental as soon as they get down here. So kind of on to the next vacation area sales that kind are more prominent, I guess.
Chris Bounds 02:05
Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you live on pretty, pretty blue water. I imagined those types of properties, they move, they move quickly.
Mallory Tidwell 02:18
They have done, especially with us kind of being a hotspot. We’ve kind of in the vacation Oasis since last summer. It hasn’t slowed down. It’s actually just grown bigger. We don’t have any vacancy and people are noting that if they can buy something, whether it’s been on a rental program, previously or not and get it on it, they can immediately get some guests done even starting in the fall here. They’re jumping on it, and I don’t blame them.
Chris Bounds 02:47
How are you introduced to eXp Realty?
Mallory Tidwell 02:50
Matt Gardner, famous name, I know. He reached out to me, I was a couple of months away from being able to take the test it was during COVID shut down. He knew come june of 2020, I’d be able to take that test and he just explained a lot, get on a Zoom and just expanded on it. I’m kind of a pretty intense researcher. I spent some good bit of time comparing notes. I don’t think it can be beat. I’m so grateful. I wouldn’t go anywhere else.
Chris Bounds 03:22
We talked on an original interview, which it’s on my YouTube channel and it’s done very well. That original conversation that I had with you like, it got a lot of views, a lot of comments.
Mallory Tidwell 03:35
Is that’s the one when I came in from a jog and didn’t know I was actually live on a video?
Chris Bounds 03:39
Yes, yes.
Mallory Tidwell 03:41
I think that was deleted. Oh my God. They recorded my video, Okay. It was real.
Chris Bounds 03:48
That’s what people want. You mentioned like, you did do the research, you were comparing. What were a couple things that really stood out, eXp really is the best position for you the best choice, given the alternatives.
Mallory Tidwell 04:09
The figures made the most sense, I feel like the cap is incredibly competitive and beats out many to be able to have 2000 paid out commissions. The 80/20 split is phenomenal. That even previous to getting into that 80/20, and of course capping and all that. You’ve got that Mentor Program. That was the basis of everything. My mentor was phenomenal.
I credit her for so much because without that, and she was a daily interactor with me for those three transactions that I mean, the test is a nice start but you really don’t know much when the test is finished. I feel like every transaction, I’m learning something and I spoke to a friend that she’s done 100 and she’s like, I just learned something new I didn’t know from from this one.
You’re always growing, but you’ve got to have a solid foundation because this is not a arena, you need to make mistakes. You’re working with money. You need to kind of be aware and know what you’re doing. I’m grateful for that. I think that’s been awesome. The brick and mortar, not having that was a concern for me and that may be for some other people. I think I was able to push through that and knowing you’re going to build connections with realtors, whether it’s eXp or not.
Specifically in the eXp family, I feel like everyone is very aware that we necessarily don’t have a brick and mortar to go to and interact with each other and they make up for it in the way that you do kind of build a relationship apart from that. About a week and a half ago, I was kind of boots on the ground for an eXp colleague that was going to be away on a vacation and I wasn’t really needed much.
But, we’re friends and we were able to still look out for each other. Last night, a colleague was able to open a door for me, because I couldn’t get there as quickly and she lived in the neighborhood and she’s an eXp. You’re not gonna be isolated, I guess is, you don’t have to be if you’re just outgoing enough to reach out and get to know them.
Chris Bounds 06:17
I’ve had on multiple occasions, like newer agency, eXp agents reach out. Hey, can I do some open houses or other type of collaboration because we don’t have the physical office. One thing I like to stress with folks is like, eXp corporate isn’t a cloud. eXp agents, were real people in real communities dealing with real houses and real clients.
All of those are real. There’s no cloud about the agent, the operations in the cloud and we don’t necessarily have to go in office, because ultimately when you’re at the office, in real in the real estate industry, the brokerage industry, that’s not where sales happen, and sales happen in houses. Where medium requires buyers and seller, that’s where the money happens.
Ultimately, teams have offices, individual agents-like earlier, I was talking with Kelly Andel, she’s building her own office. Certain agents may want to do that, and that’s okay. I think Matt shares an office, like your sponsor with another real estate professional. How has the eXp impacted your business? Since the point you talked about the mentorship program, which is huge. Your first three tenant transactions and just really get you on a quick start, but since that point, how has it impacted your business?
Mallory Tidwell 07:53
It’s moral support. It’s interacting with people from newbies, to the ones that are just doing million dollar deals. They’re all open to chat. I feel like it is a family. I think that’s what’s something that’s very special about it. I don’t feel like anyone’s looked down on. I feel like you really have sweet connections to folks. I feel like I can call on several and getting questions answered. I’ve been grateful to you, you’ve helped me on a couple of things, too. So it’s a special group of people. They’re all very stellar. I’m not one that was not.
Chris Bounds 08:30
That’s always nice. But what is the, for new agents-Because we already we talked about the brick and mortar, you’ve talked about the mentorship program? Is there anything else that new agents should consider? Because ultimately, when you’re getting your license, you have no less than 500 brokers calling you?
Sometimes it’s 15 times a week. But for the new agent that doesn’t know, some of them they already know where they’re going to go. For a lot of them that don’t and they’re open. It’s confusing, because ultimately, you have 500 headhunters and almost high pressure sales folks like reaching out to you. What should they consider about eXp that maybe we haven’t touched on?
Mallory Tidwell 09:27
I think, because off course. I think those speak for themselves, but you’ve got the rev share, you’ve got different ways to build beyond just your specific. Maybe you’ve been mortar that’s competing for your attention to grow bigger, beyond just your small town or large town place. I feel like this gives you connections across the country, that you wouldn’t have otherwise and it allows you to scale faster.
And overall I just think it’s a winner. I don’t like going anywhere. I think it’s good, sales are great. Obviously, that’s dependent on how much you hustle. But expecting to double volume from last year and it’s fresh. I just had the one year mark about two weeks ago. Good things are coming!
Chris Bounds 10:15
You very openly said this that, that you’ve done it as a mom first, (inaudible) second. You’ve been able to prioritize your life in that order and still be a successful agent and be a good value of a good agent for your clients, which is impressive. First year in the books, what was your transaction total?
Mallory Tidwell 10:37
Last year was a couple of million right at the cap but didn’t make it. This year-12 last year.
Chris Bounds 10:46
That’s huge.
Mallory Tidwell 10:49
Somewhere family, okay.
Chris Bounds 10:53
Transactions are transaction. A lot like the last 30 seconds here. There was a stat where halfway through this year, all agents not just new agents, all agents. 40% of them did not have a single transaction. You got 12 of the last four months. That’s a win. That’s a huge win. You’ll hit our con this year, right?
Mallory Tidwell 11:15
I’m planning on. I got three(inaudible) so far here. We’re getting close for those first 40 days or whatever we got here.
Chris Bounds 11:24
All right, let me know how I can help make that happen. Thank you so much, Mallory.