187) Introducing the Dream Team

In this episode you will meet my Dream Team realtors Shawn Poindexter and Tiffany Doré.  They not only found our Dream Home but they also helped us to secure it and let me tell you, the competition was stiff! We had to take bold actions and they were there to counsel us wisely through the whole process. 

Shawn and Tiffany are both excellent realtors who earned every penny they made in the transaction of getting us our home.  I wanted them to come on episode to educate all of us on how real estate operates and why realtors deserve the commissions they make.  We also discuss the importance of choosing a realtor who is a good fit for you and how having similar values can make the process more fun and effective. They also answer some other questions about what their jobs entail and why realtors deserve a little more respect than they sometimes get.

I hear people say all the time , why don't we just sell it ourselves and save some money? In fact, I have been guilty of that myself recently but came to my senses quickly. LOL You will too after you listen to this episode and understand just how much realtors do to help us get our dream homes and why they earn every penny.

Tiffany Doré is keenly attuned to how fortunate she is to live in a wonderful paradise like Santa Barbara because her family has been here for five generations. Her common sense and broad knowledge of the Santa Barbara real estate market enable her to achieve superior results. An organized, people-oriented person with a bachelor's degree in communications and a background in banking and executive search, tiffany possesses the necessary attributes to make the experience of buying and selling real estate an enjoyable and fruitful one.  Tiffany resides on the Riviera with her husband and three daughters and is also deeply committed to taking care of the Santa Barbara community and giving back.

Tiffany Doré
Village Properties
LICENSE #: 01806890
(805)689-1052
tiffanydore@villagesite.com


Shawn Poindexter is a former professional football player, now turned realtor. He believes the same work ethic and desire to excel on the football field will translate into successful deals and satisfied clients off the field. Shawn resides in Santa Barbara with his wife and infant son.

shawn@villagesite.com

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is Maureen Kafkas, the BrainBS co-chair, to tell you about the episode today. But before I get to that, I want to remind you that the BrainBS podcast is here to offer you a psycho-spiritual approach to life that will inspire you to live consciously and make your overall health a priority. While it can enhance your quality of life dramatically, it is not meant to be a replacement for a needed intervention. So if you are struggling with your physical, emotional or mental well-being, please seek the professional support that you need. Okay, so before we dive into the episode today, I'm just going to give you some brain BS updates. We are this is kind of funny we're in Illinois and we haven't been here. Well, I left November 6th for my cross-country trip, so I haven't been here since then.

Speaker 1: 0:47

We were at the airport and we were walking to baggage claim the other day and I, Bob, said, are you going to remember where the grocery stores are? And I laughed and I said, well, and then I was picturing the ones in Santa Barbara and then I was like well, I know where Whole Foods is. That's on Willow Road. And then I was like well, I know where Whole Foods is, that's on Willow Road. And then I was like but gosh, I like Marjolaine's. He's like Marjolaine's, that's a restaurant that you worked with when you lived in Denver in the early 80s. It's like oh my god, it's Mariano's.

Speaker 1: 1:20

So I bring this up because it's a real thing as you get older, Like your brains just don't work the same way Do I think I have, like, early dementia? No, I think I have a normal aging brain. But it's just having two homes can be fun and living in different states can be exciting and exhilarating. But I'm not going to lie. As I I get older, it can be kind of confusing. You remember something in one cabinet but it's actually in the other and you would swear on your life that that item was in that house. So anyway, I did discover Mariano's.

Speaker 1: 1:56

So it's all good, I know what I'm doing again the other thing that's kind of funny is we have a Tesla there and it drives completely different than my car here. So in a Tesla you don't step on the brake, you just lift your foot off the gas and my car feels like if I just it feels like it just accelerates so fast. So, and then different things you press will turn the car off in mid mode that are like blinkers on my car. So I am being challenged cognitively with being back home after months of being away. It's kind of funny. It's kind of weird too, like where you call home. So anyway, enough about that.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Now let's talk about the episode today where I'm introducing the realtors who helped me get our dream home Sean Poindexter and Tiffany Doré. I now know how to say her name properly. I learned in our interview that I wasn't saying it the correct way. Anyway, this is an opportunity to learn why realtors are so valuable. If you're one of those people that thinks they shouldn't get their commission and you get a little stingy and you want to get around it and I've been there before, so I get it I think after listening to this episode, you're going to understand why that's not a good idea and why it can end up costing you money in the long run. So sit back, settle in for this episode called Introducing the Dream Team and I'm calling them that because they got me my dream home and I'll forever be grateful and I'll be friends with them for life.

Speaker 1: 3:22

Hi, my name is Maureen Kafkas and I'm the Brain BS Coach. When I learned that the average human brain has over 60,000 thoughts a day and that most of them are lies and what I call brain BS and that they cause needless suffering, I started to learn how to separate the fact from fiction in my mind, and I've never looked back. I truly believe that living consciously, understanding how our brains work and learning to feel our feelings are necessary for an empowering and fulfilling life. I bring my expertise and extensive knowledge to inspire people in the Santa Barbara area and beyond to learn how to live consciously, tap into their personal power and become leaders in their community. Hello and welcome back to the podcast, the Power of Community and Collaboration in Santa Barbara. So if you didn't listen to my last episode, you should, because it's all about how I manifested my dream home, and I couldn't have done it without my two guests today, Tiffany Dory and Sean Poindexter. So I'm going to let Tiffany introduce herself first and say hi and share whatever you want anybody to know about you.

Speaker 3: 4:28

Hi everyone. My name's Tiffany Doray. It's a weird name to pronounce. Most people call me Dor because they don't see the accent over the E, so I go by both. I actually pronounced it wrong, sorry, no, gosh stop. And I've lived in Santa Barbara my whole life. I've raised three amazing daughters here and I've been selling real estate in Santa Barbara for 18 years. Wow.

Speaker 1: 5:04

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 5:04

Okay.

Speaker 1: 5:06

Nope, that's good for now. We're gonna get back to you for sure. Sean, why don't you introduce yourself? Sean's been on the podcast before too, so if you haven't listened to that episode. We do an experiment on our um, a brain bs experiment. So, sean, what do you want the audience to know about you? Hello everyone this everyone.

Speaker 2: 5:23

This is Sean Poindexter and, ironically enough, tiffany. I always say to Siri call Tiffany DeRay. And then it always says call Tiffany Doerr, and I'm like what? So I moved to Santa Barbara four years ago now. My wife and I did. We have a beautiful son named Maddox. He's one years old and I've been working on real estate with Tiffany for almost two years now, you know, a year and a half without my license and another half year with my license, and it's a super exciting career and I look forward to what else it has to offer.

Speaker 1: 6:00

Yeah, and it seems like in the short time that I've been working with you guys and I bought houses before and stuff but I think I'm more aware of it now that I have a podcast and I'm doing the things that I do how much of the job is creating relationships, like all of it really?

Speaker 3: 6:17

isn't it Very much so? I mean, if you're not establishing a relationship with your clients, you're going to lose them as clients, and in this industry you come across a variety of people, personalities, and you start to really learn how to read people and their body gestures, their length, their choice of language, and but it's what I love about this career is it is a confetti of people, different professions, and I don't know what it is, but I love everyone that I've had an opportunity to work with, and so I consider myself really lucky.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Yeah, it seems like a lot Go ahead, sean, no keep going.

Speaker 2: 7:12

No, no, no, go ahead. Yeah, just to piggyback off of what Tiffany said. I mean, she stresses it to me all the time Sean, you just meet the most amazing people in real estate and I've noticed that since you know I've started. I read books that it mentions that in and yeah, it's, it's awesome. You know you got the entry buyers that come in and they're super excited and that's awesome to work with that energy. And then you work with clients that are looking for nine, $10 million homes and they're just the most down to earth people as well. So it's really like you said, it's a relationship business, but we're kind of just we're in the business of people and loving our people and helping them achieve their financial dreams.

Speaker 1: 7:54

Okay, well, I talked about the synchronicities and everything about how we got the house on Canon and how we added that extra $34 and all the fun stuff, and how I was never in a committed relationship with a realtor. I'm only monogamous with my husband. In my relationship A realtor, I played the field and whoever could bring me the house. It was like open game and I was pretty open about that. But that's one of the first things. So what we're going to do in this episode is I'm going to ask you some questions that people really want to know about realtors, but they would never ask them to their face, just so they understand why you make the money you do and why you're worth it. Because I definitely believe and my, my whole motto is it's all about collaboration and succeeding together. So when I, when I get something that I really want, like the house at 201 Canyon I'm I want you to make your commission and I want you to get that money because I know that you deserve it. So I want to.

Speaker 1: 8:54

But before we get into that part of it cause we're definitely going to talk about commissions I think I want to bring up, first and foremost, how sometimes, as people who let's focus primarily on buying a house today. If you want to buy a house and you go to think about doing it, you literally get stressed out because realtors kind of make you feel obligated. That's what it feels like. They make you feel not all of them, not you guys, but make you feel obligated to use them and somehow like if you don't use them, you're hurting their feelings. And we just talked about relationships and you're not gonna click with everyone. So you gotta find someone you click with if you want the right energy to get what you want. Would you agree, tiffany?

Speaker 3: 9:39

Oh, wholeheartedly. And something I've learned in this industry is you really cannot take something personally if a buyer that you'd been working with all of a sudden, the a week later, they call you and they're excited and they say we bought a house, we're in escrow. And you're excited and they say we bought a house, we're in escrow. And you're thinking great, I've shown you like 30 homes. Why didn't you use me and some.

Speaker 3: 10:14

But I don't say that. So instead, what I say is that's fabulous, where's the house? How did you come across it? Fabulous, where's the house? How did you come across it? Which realtor did you use? Why did you choose them?

Speaker 3: 10:32

Because it might be a learning experience for me and I always end it with is it something I did or did not do to make you pick me to write the offer? Oddly enough, I've found that some of them just didn't understand that if I've been out showing them property, that surely I would be the one to write the offer for them. I would say and it hasn't, knock on wood, has not happened to me often, but a lot of times they'll use the listing agent to write the offer because somehow they think they're just going to get a better deal or something, but we can't take things personally. There's so much in this world to go around and people have the right to use whomever they want, and it's going to get trickier. In real estate today, starting in July, we are really having to fight for our commissions on the buying side.

Speaker 1: 11:42

Okay, so why? Okay, well, we'll we'll talk about that in a minute, but so so the relationships are important, but I also want to say that, as it can, as a person who's looking for a house, I would never be with someone who's taking me to all kinds of houses and then ditch them to. I would do that Like right. I mean I would do that like it right, I mean I would never do that. But I, but everyone gets to do what they want and there could be different reasons why they end up doing it. That will never make sense and we just have to let people do it, because if you get caught up in that, you would be getting like pissed off left and right, if you're right yeah, and it's it's not worth it.

Speaker 3: 12:23

it's a waste of good energy, and instead, if you're put in a situation like that, the best way to move forward is give them their blessings and hope and and wish them well and genuinely mean it. And it seems like a few times that I may have lost out on something. I'm not kidding you. The next day or within a week, something bigger and greater shows up unexpectedly. Yeah, when you give your blessing to someone that didn't choose you, your blessing to someone that didn't choose you, somehow it just it's like taking a bath and you're fresh again and the world sees you for who you are, and instead of harboring negative energy.

Speaker 1: 13:20

Yeah well, the key is, though, you have to genuinely mean it. You can't say all the right words and think that that's going to bring more good things to you from the universe, because energy doesn't lie Right, so the attention behind what you're saying is always going to be louder than any words that you might have. But, sean, do you have anything that you want to say on that?

Speaker 2: 13:43

I mean, tiffany covered most of what I was already thinking In our situation. I had just met you and Bob, and so for me to say, hey, maureen, you got to use me. That's to me. I get why you say I'm not in a monogamous relationship because I could just be some random guy that sends you everything you know and nothing that you desire. So I understand that to an extent. I Also, to that point, know that if a client does give me the information that I'm going to be the hardest worker in the room and go help them find that home. And I'm so blessed to have someone like Tiffany behind my back that has the X's and O's of real estate. And so there's also the value of, okay, you got to trust somebody and know that they're going to work very hard for you. And then also, you know, like to your point, you just, you just never know if someone's going to be finding you that listing.

Speaker 2: 14:43

I think this past weekend was a prime example. There are a ton of good realtors in this town, without question, and Tiffany had a condo this past week and I had realtors send clients in over the weekend when it was raining and they hadn't even come in on Thursday. Well, that condo already had an accepted offer and it's like you didn't come in on Thursday. You didn't see it. So now your clients missed out on an amazing property, an amazing investment. I know people have things going on and stuff too, but you know that that is also another reason why it's. You know it's kind of good to keep your cards open, but if you also have a realtor that's working hard and putting in offers and you're just getting beat out cash and loyalty is everything I completely understand that yeah, and I didn't like for me.

Speaker 1: 15:31

I, you know me and the universe, I just trusted. So I wasn't worried about it or anxious about getting the house, or I knew it was going to happen in its own perfect time. Little did I know from meeting you and like really starting to just go look at Mountain Views again, that it would be a few weeks. Um, that's kind of crazy.

Speaker 1: 15:52

I didn't know either the craziest thing is that I met Devin and David, who sold the house on the same day as you two, and it was like 30 minutes apart and I'd never met any of you on before. It's just, it's still. I just love the whole story and I'm always gonna love that house because of the way we bought it and the way we came together and we talked about numerology and spirituality and you know all the things that matter to me, yeah, and I like a realtor who has like kind of similar values and and likes the same stuff. So you can like really enjoy talking to them and stuff. So I do think that the relationship is super important.

Speaker 1: 16:35

I know people are worried about money with realtors. Like I hear it all the time where they say, oh, if I just didn't have to pay that commission, or too bad, we have to pay. So let's talk a little bit about commissions, because so one of the questions I had was why is the percentage fee for selling a $5 million home the same as a $500,000 house? Are you doing more work for the $5 million house? Yeah, go ahead, tiffany.

Speaker 3: 17:12

Okay, when you have a house listed, there are so many steps and processes to bring it to ready for market. A condominium sometimes needs so much cleaning up and staging and I am so hands on during that process. I have a new listing, 1122, camino Viejo in Montecito, and it's a trust sale and the three brothers that inherited the home. They live on the East Coast and they couldn't pull away from their family and their careers because they're all very successful in working and hustling and I ended up taking the whole house apart, like it like it was mine, emptying drawers, closets, underwear, furniture I mean the whole kit and caboodle to get it ready, bringing in painters, and I noticed that there was a pothole before you got into the driveway and I said, hey, we should get that fixed.

Speaker 3: 18:28

You know it's like the threshold to the home and I worked my butt off but on a condo. All work just as hard and have and the commission. Typically, a person who takes a listing will get two and a half percent commission and that person has already negotiated the agent that brings the buyer to your listing and they they as the listing agent negotiated that they get two and a half percent as well. So if you think of it this way the listing agent did more work, has paid for advertising, photography, getting the house out there in the social media on Zillow, redfin, everything you can think of, but they're getting the same commission as someone that walks through the home with the buyer?

Speaker 1: 19:29

Yeah, that's another question that somebody asked, so what's that about?

Speaker 3: 19:41

But we need those agents that represent buyers. As a listing agent, I love all the realtors out there that come to me with a buyer, because it takes two to make this sale happen and it takes two to work as a team, because you've got a seller and a buyer and you need to constantly make sure that the communication is so open. You disclose, disclose, disclose, and then you work in harmony and you have a meeting of minds and everybody walks away happy. You have a meeting of minds and everybody walks away happy. So as a listing agent, I'm working just as hard with the agent bringing the buyer and vice versa.

Speaker 1: 20:35

So it's needed. We work really hard for our commissions, yeah, okay, but so, oh, all right, one second, sean, but I think but I get what, I totally get what you're saying and how you work so hard and why both of you should get a commission. You definitely made that point, but I think it's. The question was why is it the same percentage as a $5 million house, as a 500K house, like just because that's the way it's always been or and that's?

Speaker 2: 21:03

I think she was just framing it as like she works equally as hard for both of them. And you know it may be more money on one end, but then you're also devaluing all of the hard work that you put in as a realtor by saying, hey, I'll take a cut on my commission just because it's at a higher price point. She works just as hard for a condo as she would for a big listing. And the thing I could think of when you asked this question is the stat came out and said 40 or sorry, people that own a home have 40% more wealth than the people that don't own a home. So that 500 000 condo that you get your client in is increasing their wealth that they have over time. And then also we can use canon as an example.

Speaker 1: 21:50

You know that home we're not going to talk about how much it was, though, because I'm not yeah, no, I'm not saying it.

Speaker 2: 21:55

Yes, it was at a higher price point, um, but it's also a forever home, it's a dream home and, uh, without, I think, the guidance of your realtor, it would have just been an opportunity missed out, because the the home was priced lower than it went out for and, um, having the ability to see the value in that was what you know brought the deal together on the table, because there was nine offers and six of them didn't even hear back. So it seems to me like their realtor didn't really see the value in the home, like Tiffany and I did.

Speaker 1: 22:36

Well, you definitely have argued the point that you work hard and you deserve a commission. I still don't know that we really touched on why you should get the same amount for a $5 million house as a 500, unless it's just that you're lucky enough and you do enough work that you get the listing, and that's part of the process. Go ahead, tiffany. So I guess.

Speaker 3: 22:57

I'm trying to understand a little bit more about the question, because you don't get the same amount. You get two and a half percent on 500,000 and you get two and a half percent, let's say, 5 million. It's not the same amount amount. You get less commission on a lower priced home and you get more on a higher priced home. So maybe is it are you asking this question because other people have asked it? Are they asking? Are they asking it in a way that they think that if you sell a higher home, you should get the same amount of commission that you got? Yeah, 500. So you should only make $12,000. Yeah, I think that's right.

Speaker 1: 23:51

So it really doesn't the way they worded it. The percentage is different. The percentage might be the same, but the amount of money you get is different because it's a different. Yeah, the percentage might be the same, but the amount of money you get is different because it's a different. Yeah, I mean, I think we talked enough about to the point, but it's like I just wanted to address it because I heard it from a couple of people when I was asking questions. But I think that you I think you guys made your point because I definitely, because there's also people who think like, what about?

Speaker 1: 24:19

would you say to the people who think, oh, I'm just going to get a lawyer to write up the contract, I could sell this myself? I don't need a realtor.

Speaker 2: 24:29

That happens. I'm actually in the process of dealing with the gentleman that a condo sold right next door to him and he thinks he's going to get a hundred thousand dollars more. Well, now, his property has been sitting there for two months and he's planning on moving out of town on Wednesday and has no one sitting in this property. So, yeah, I can hire a lawyer. But okay, does that lawyer know the area? Does that lawyer know the house? Does that lawyer know other homes that have sold at this price point? Yeah, it all sounds good and yeah, he went and saw his comps, but clearly he hasn't marketed it well enough to actually sell. And that's just what you get when you try and do things on your own. I think you wouldn't go to a courtroom and say, hey, I don't need a lawyer, I could research and do this on my own, with guidance from somebody else. So I feel like realtors do need a little more respect than they have been getting from certain peoples.

Speaker 3: 25:26

So, yeah, and you know, if someone needed legal work done, they wouldn't go to a realtor to write a letter to someone that they might be considering suing. Or they wouldn't go to a realtor to draft a will. They go to the professional in their field. And we are the professionals in our field. We live and breathe real estate.

Speaker 3: 25:57

We could tell you breathe real estate. We could tell you you bought the house on on Circle Drive and did you know that six other houses within the last year and a half sold for this and they're like, yeah, we kind of saw that on Zillow, but did you know that this house had all these extra amenities and this is why they got that price? For the other house had soil issues and a geologist came in and they had to build a whole underground infrastructure to build up that dirt. So the house wouldn't slide away. An attorney wouldn't know that because it's not his profession. It's not his job to understand that. It's our job to understand that yeah, good point, sister I like it's also like on that, like an athlete agent too.

Speaker 2: 26:49

I mean, all athletes have agents that find them the next deal too, right, it's kind of a it's, it's a given thing, right, they're professional in their career and they have the connections and the contacts to make deals come together. You know, if a player try to do that by himself, he might call 10 gm saying, hey, I want to work out, and they may never answer because he has no relationship, no connections with them either. So yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:12

So in what they're they're trying, they think they're saving themselves money, but in the long run it could end up costing them money. Yeah, oh, sits there, they're paying taxes or whatever on it.

Speaker 1: 27:23

They're not getting you know, or whatever you want to say so, and and also it kind of goes against the grain of like what I'm all about with, uh, collaboration and everybody's succeeding together when you get too focused. I mean I I have seen people that have sold their own home and and they've done it successfully. So I'm not trying like I don't want to make it sound like we're trashing those people and saying, but there's definitely homes that you should not try to do it by yourself, especially if it's competitive and there's a in the markets like the least bit high. Yeah, you know, cause then it's just not gonna it's not gonna end up paying off and it's just it's about focusing on yourself and not thinking about the other people. Like you said, there's more than enough to go around.

Speaker 3: 28:15

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:17

I didn't mention this either. The same gentleman that's doing the fizzbow has fallen out of escrow three times. It's like you know, if you had a realtor, the deal probably would have gone through, and now he's had to drop his price, and he's dropping his price to what he would have had to pay a realtor, and it's like you should have just done that in the first place.

Speaker 3: 28:35

So yeah, yeah. And now he's moving out of town. How's he going to open up the house for anyone to see?

Speaker 1: 28:42

well, he's going to need a realtor. It's a full circle moment. Yeah, hopefully he's listening to the podcast and he understands. What about um tiffany? What you said about um, starting in july, you're gonna have to start fighting for your commissions. What's that about?

Speaker 3: 29:00

Well, I'm going to be really honest, I'm not educated enough on it to give a full blown speech about it, but there's been some lawsuits and the National Association of Realtors, of realtors, which we in real estate world the acronym is NAR they paid out a huge, huge lawsuit and so, or if you're representing a buyer, you're going to have to have a lot of contracts and exclusivity signed to have that buyer work with you, and the buyer then would be paying you the commission, where it's always been the seller, because the seller's making the profit on their home, so they would pay out the commission which the realtor that represents the listing negotiates in the beginning. So it's it's something new and we've got to start practicing and understanding our worth. It's so funny because I can explain in roundabout ways my worth, but until you work with us you'll really understand our worth, and so I have to practice explaining my worth. But here's something Don't call me a realtor.

Speaker 3: 30:38

Call me your investment counselor. I am here to counsel you on which property has the best value and which one, at the end of the day, will give you your most return. People go to financial advisors all the time. Really smart people still use financial advisors. Maybe stop calling us realtors and call us advisors in real estate.

Speaker 1: 31:12

Hmm, yeah, yeah, I do too. What about? Oh, go ahead. Do you want to say something, chuck?

Speaker 2: 31:18

Well, just to touch on the situation that tiffany's talking about, what had happened was is I think it was missouri. I'm almost positive they weren't transparent on the buyer's agent side and the seller's agent side, so I believe it was the sellers. They didn't know that they were paying the commission. Someone didn't communicate um that clearly in Missouri.

Speaker 2: 31:40

California has been ahead of this for years now, to my understanding, and it's known, and they've always been negotiable. In fact, I remember Bob asking us when we were sitting on the couch. He knows it's a negotiable thing, but since the lawsuit had passed in Missouri, the same guys went to every state, did a copycat lawsuit. California decided that they were just going to pay, so that they paid, and now realtors that have listings are no longer allowed to list the percentage that they pay the buyer's agent Right. So starting July, starting July 1st, that doesn't mean that it's they're not going to negotiate, cause in my mind I'm going to negotiate for buyer's agents to get paid because I want the seller's house to sell and the more eyes that are brought to this property, the better and more likely it is to sell. That's just the reality of it, and we actually listened to a guy speak today. I believe his name was. Was it Austin Jones? Maybe that was the lady.

Speaker 3: 32:47

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:48

Austin is the lady. The state of Washington has been doing this since 2018. And the gentleman said 99% of the listings still offer buyer's agent's fees and the only three percent in this sorry, the only one percent, I think it was point zero three percent, um, that didn't were builders, and builders thought, oh, we're just going to build these homes and people are going to flock to them and buy them. Well, now the builders are having to offer buyers agent fees because they're not selling and they need that revenue coming in because they built this project. So now even those builders that thought that they could do it by themselves are having to offer two percent to buyer's agents because it's you know, they're just not marketing it correctly. So okay.

Speaker 1: 33:33

Well, you, you brought up transparency, so I'm gonna that's my next. I've got two more, two more to talk about um, the transparency. So this is when we were making our counter for our house with the two other people that did, we had no idea what the other people were countering and the lack of transparency. I have a problem with that because there's not too many other things that you go to buy where you don't know, like at an auction. You would know because the people would be saying it and going back and forth. So, and then I know, tiffany, we talked about this because you talked about it's kind of different in New York, I think, but maybe speak to this lack of transparency because, luckily, in our case it was only $34 over, but you don't know how much more to offer. So it's sort of like it's a big gamble.

Speaker 2: 34:28

You know there's no knowing exactly what's happening, what people are offering, and there's no showing Like, is there any transparency in the process at all between I'd leaned on devin so hard and he's a fiduciary to his client, so he has to protect his client in order to get um the best deal for his client. Um, and devin and david wouldn't say anything.

Speaker 2: 34:54

Um and the transparency of that it's not there, but it is another opportunity to just shout out how valuable Tiffany's knowledge and expertise is, because to come in $34 more than somebody else and to win a listing based on that, that's peer experience and peer knowledge of how to make a deal work.

Speaker 1: 35:22

Well, I love that because I think she deserves that recognition and I'm going to give myself the recognition because I was totally on board with it. I was behind the scenes, behind Bob's back, in the way that we had to to get him to do what we wanted. So sorry, bob, if you're listening, sometimes the gal who got to do what she has to do so.

Speaker 3: 35:44

I think it was 10 o'clock at night. Okay, so I'm gonna. I've been thinking about my numbers, tiffany and um. I have this number, that number, this number, that number, and it all adds up to 34.

Speaker 2: 35:55

So let's do 34, but't tell Bob it just makes me think of the name of the podcast, just power of collaboration that I mean. Without that it's like where would we be?

Speaker 1: 36:07

But it's really key who you pick to collaborate with. Can you imagine like if we were talking about numerology and energy and all this and it was someone who's not into that at all'd be like what are you talking about? You know, and there's probably people who don't listen to you when you're kind of coming from that perspective and they miss out. Yeah, right, because you have to trust your intuition and you have to. You just, you just have to. With all of it, the whole process of buying a house, you have to trust your intuition.

Speaker 3: 36:39

Yeah and I tell you, when we work with clients like you, maureen, who know that we're being sincere and we're not some cheesy car salesman, you know it's. We're not that. And if we're offering advice, it is tried and true and it's. We're seasoned with advice through experiences. Wins, losses, and it's really sad when we see a client lose a property because there were eight other bidders.

Speaker 3: 37:19

And the thing about keeping the offers blind to the public. Who's writing an offer? You got to think about it and twist it in a different way. It's actually fair for some that can't afford to go up 30% from the asking price, so let them write their highest and best offer. So if we just say yes, we received six offers. You know, if you're a seasoned agent, you can look at the statistics from the last three months and see how many homes went over price that is now public and the list price to the close price. Add in the percentage and you can pretty much turn around and tell your client we need to increase it this much.

Speaker 3: 38:16

If you want the house and here's how we need to sweeten the pot do you need to do inspections? Are you comfortable with the house the way that it looks? They provided us with a few inspections. Have you read them over? I've read them over. See, we also become inspectors on top of it. We learn how to read reports and ask and answer questions, and if we don't have the answer, we call up the home inspection. I tell you, when I bought my house, I knew more about what needed to be done, and and I'm a, I'm a realtor. But it's funny, we? I can't hear you.

Speaker 1: 39:02

Sorry, bob just came in and I muted myself because I didn't, the dog started barking. But I totally agree with you. You guys wear so many hats and you're totally worth every penny, in my opinion, and I highly recommend both of you as realtors, because not only did you go above and beyond, and I see you doing it with all your clients, it's just fun and I love both of you. So I got to work with you, all right. So I have one more thing about oh sorry, sean, one second though. One more thing about disclosures, like the rules on disclosure, and then I have the collaboration questions for you. But go ahead, sean.

Speaker 2: 39:40

No, I was just thinking of adding one more point in the on the, the synchronization that um had happened during our time, uh well, one. We ended up inviting you to our son's first birthday party, and everyone loved you, so you fit right in with the family, which was it was so fun.

Speaker 2: 39:59

We love them too yeah, and then it was funny because Tiffany has lived here so long. We'll hop in the car and go on tour and she's headed to the property before I can put it in my maps and we're always going to properties and I don't I'm terrible on the maps. I get lost in conversation, so I won't tell her. She has a left coming up and she'll hit a left because she knows well, one day we did get lost, I didn't have service and she's like you know what. I'm just gonna flip around here and we drove right by your home before we had even found you, the house, and I ended up texting you hey, we drove by, just wave, and it's just funny that that yeah, it's, it's where my car took it.

Speaker 3: 40:39

It took us, I know it's kind of energy's crazy.

Speaker 1: 40:42

I love it. I love it, but okay, so what about the disclosures? Because we're dealing with something at our home now that wasn't disclosed and I found out like the first time we bought a house here you had to um disclose any sort of like infractions or anything going on with it. But then they said they changed that law because realtors said it was too hard to sell houses no way.

Speaker 3: 41:08

Who said that that's so? Oh my gosh. No, you know, it's such a litigious world. I'll tell you a story. So I don't know this. It happened somewhere else. A long time ago. Someone wrote an offer on a property that was right across the street from a cemetery. They bought the house. A week later they sued the owners that they bought it from and said you never disclosed that you live across the street from a cemetery and that's the whole view from the house was tombstones. Oh, wow.

Speaker 3: 41:54

So not only do we disclose, you share everything and we have to fill out something acronym, avid agent, visual inspection, disclosure and we have to walk from room to room to room and write anything that we absorb that is unusual or defected.

Speaker 3: 42:19

We can't diagnose it, but we can say rust around the heater vent, stains on the ceiling, discoloration in the walls, which we want to say it's water intrusion, but we're not the experts, but we're disclosing.

Speaker 3: 42:38

And then it's really important, if you are listing a property, that you, the listing agent, sit with your clients and help them fill out the transfer disclosure statement and the seller property questionnaire, because the seller has to write anything that has ever happened while they've lived in that property good, bad ugly you have to talk about. If you've even seen a few rat droppings in the attic but you've never seen rats. And if they don't disclose it but they just didn't think that they needed to, then we failed as your realtor to protect you. And it's really important for a realtor to disclose to the agent that's bringing the buyer anything and everything that they know. And if something new comes up while you're already under contract, you better disclose that. That, yeah, and anytime you disclose something, you have three to five days to review it to make sure you're still comfortable with it as the buyer okay, because this was like a like something with the city, like a red flag.

Speaker 1: 43:58

Oh no, you should have known about that it seemed like it to me, but that's something I'm gonna have to look into then, because we we were um led to believe that that law changed. And you there are certain things you don't have to disclose, but all right, no, no, no.

Speaker 3: 44:13

The only thing you don't have to disclose is if somebody's died in the house and it's been three years or more since they passed.

Speaker 1: 44:24

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a. I wasn't planning to ask that question, but is that freak people out?

Speaker 3: 44:29

Because that kind of drives me toward a house, which is kind of crazy, but you know people ask um, I was at a showing today and somebody asked and I said you know what? I really don't know. But now I'm going to send the boys a question to ask them Did your father die in the home or did he die at the hospital? And I said regardless of what the answer is, I will let you know. And I'm really hoping that they say he died in the home, because how blessed are you to die in the comfort of your own home versus some sterile hospital.

Speaker 1: 45:04

Well, well, I am. No, I'm just gonna say one thing to that. I totally agree with that in general, but my dad thought he always wanted to die at home and it turned out he had so much pain it couldn't be controlled at home and we offered to take him home and he didn't want to, and because the the hospital staff that he was with at the nursing home they'd grown to love him. So they they told him they loved him, he told them he loved them and cried with each other. It was beautiful. So under.

Speaker 1: 45:33

That's in a really good place, yeah yes, which isn't always the case, but just in a little shout out for the people who like not everybody.

Speaker 3: 45:43

they think they want to be at home, but not everybody's meant to die at home, oh that's that's true, but I and I wasn't saying anything bad about going into a facility where they help and I mean my gosh. What would people do without hospice and all of those places? They're heroes.

Speaker 1: 46:09

Yeah, but that property, I looked at it, I looked at pictures, the one that you're selling now and it is beautiful.

Speaker 3: 46:12

Thank you, it is beautiful.

Speaker 1: 46:13

It's really beautiful property. Okay, so let me ask you a few collaboration questions, and then we're going to wrap it up.

Speaker 2: 46:20

Oh, can I just touch on. So tiffany's taught me a ton of things. Um, and you know, two things that will always stand out to me is she always says location, location, location, because you can't be location and then disclose, disclose, disclose. She's always telling me location and disclose. You know? So that's. I mean, I'm six months into this and I know disclose everything and anything that you can find out.

Speaker 1: 46:45

Well, I want to talk about this after the podcast, about something specifically, but we won't talk about it on the podcast. But anyway, what do you guys think is your favorite thing about collaborating in Santa Barbara specifically?

Speaker 2: 47:06

Santa Barbara specifically, I would say just the people that you meet. Nothing feels better than helping other people succeed in whatever they're passionate about. I collaborate with kids all the time. I train kids all the time out here, because they have a desire to play sports in high school and have dreams to play in college, and so I love to help them achieve that goal. And they put their trust in me as a coach too. So that collaboration is good. And then I also have a passion for real estate. So you know it's fun seeing these young couples and know you and your husband try and find that property and then we get to help them, you know, secure the home of their dream or, you know, the first home that they have ever owned. So I love just helping people succeed yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 47:56

What about you, tiffany?

Speaker 3: 47:59

I literally pinch myself every day that I get to play a role in someone's life, to find them a place that wraps its arms around them, clue, hint, and they may not. They may not even realize that they're saying their likes and their desires or what they really don't like about a home, but I'm just like downloading everything into my brain. And then it's like when I see a property and the light goes off because all those chips have aligned in my head and it's like this is for the Jones and call them and I take them there and they say this is it. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. We never thought we were going to find something.

Speaker 3: 48:57

And they do, and you know the location of where the home is, you know where the local grocery store is and you're telling them they're going to be so happy and if you're lucky, you may even know a couple of families that live, you know, one street down or something like that. It's like it's so rewarding, and especially when you know that they are putting their really, really hard-earned money into something that you back up and believe in and know that if a year from now something in their life changed and they have to up and and out of Santa Barbara. I like selling properties to clients that if that happened, I know that I could turn around and get that same exact money back for them, or more.

Speaker 2: 49:56

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 49:56

I take a lot of that into consideration. It's an investment and I respect that.

Speaker 1: 50:02

All right. So we kind of are you guys. We're like starting to run out of time so we have to zero in because we're. No, it's good, I love you guys, I want to talk to you all day, but I just want to get to the other questions too. So we're like the collaboration is helping people. It sounds like for both of you. Yeah, do you have to add something to that, sean? Make it snappy, because I got three more questions just quickly.

Speaker 2: 50:27

Uh, yeah, and so the collaboration, like you said, is both ways. So I help um you guys out, you help me out. And then now, look, you know we're we're on a weekly work basis where we meet with one another and you're coaching me and you're helping me, uh, grow through childhood trauma. I mean, I don't ever think that I would have, you know, been working with you, of all people, on something like this. And now here we are. It's amazing, and I feel myself growing as a man, as a husband, as a father and then a leader in our community through the work that we've been doing. So collaboration is key.

Speaker 1: 51:02

Well, I appreciate you saying that and just to be clear, I'm not a therapist or a trauma specialist, but sometimes you just have to really connect with human beings and understand them and understand how their brain works and help them to see that. And you, I'm not saying it takes a place of a therapist, but it can certainly take you a long way towards feeling better so that you're in a better position to choose the therapist wisely and you're damn good at it.

Speaker 1: 51:29

So thank you, thank you, okay. So, all right, we're all right. I'm gonna ask you these last three, because it's like part of my thing now, but we're gonna keep these short, all right. So what, um, what's the most challenging thing about your job in Santa Barbara specifically? And maybe there's nothing.

Speaker 2: 51:50

So for me I can say it's just you know learning how to communicate with people that you know come in and are already standoffish about you. You know people come in and like here goes this dude trying to be a salesman like Tiffany's, like a used car salesman. I never want to be that, but I also want to help people understand that I can provide them with great work ethics. So that that's difficult, that's definitely difficult.

Speaker 1: 52:21

So yeah, getting them to trust you and really recognize the value of who you are as a person, in a realtor.

Speaker 2: 52:27

Yeah exactly.

Speaker 3: 52:29

Yeah, that's it. That is one of the challenges. I wish I would have known this question in advance, because I've definitely stormed through some challenges. But here's an example I worked with a buyer and I've sold homes for this family and helped them buy homes, and when I would find something great and I said, let me take you there to see it, and they didn't find the time and a few days later it showed pending meaning that there's, somebody else got it.

Speaker 3: 53:08

And then they call me up and say well, why didn't you show me this property? And I'm like well, read your text. Look at your email. I've tried to set up an appointment to get you in there, so that's a challenge.

Speaker 1: 53:21

Yeah, challenge is the logistics. Okay, what about? So I didn't ask you about this beforehand, so it might be something we want to consider and put in the show notes. But what can you offer for anyone listening today? Is there something like some specific offer that you could give them and you could think about it and we could put it in show notes? But that will make it worth them contacting you to get to know you and actually talk to you.

Speaker 3: 53:51

I think what I would suggest is pick up the phone, give us a call, let us take you to coffee or lunch, or come meet us at our office, tell us what it is that you're looking for and let's do a meet and greet and figure out if our personalities come together and if, for whatever reason, they don't, maybe we could suggest someone that might fit your personality or you can collaborate better with.

Speaker 2: 54:24

But I I would encourage anyone to interview multiple realtors to find their match all right, so we'll put that in the show notes, like how they can get in touch with you, sean I would say, if you want to find a realtor that has, you know, a plethora of knowledge about the area and expertise about the area and also hustles and is always seeing you know listings, I would say, definitely reach out, because Tiffany has that expertise and that knowledge and that hustle. You know I'm constantly hustling, you know you were, you were the first person to see your home and that's because I don't, I don't wait. You know, as soon as I hear about an opportunity, I'm in the car and I'm gone.

Speaker 1: 55:09

So yeah, and I went into that yard and looked at it myself before anyone let me in.

Speaker 2: 55:14

Yeah, he has more, way more guts than me, cause I couldn't do it.

Speaker 3: 55:18

I I've got to tell you, I've got an expression for Sean Poindexter that kid does not let grass grow under his feet. He is constantly on the move he works hard.

Speaker 1: 55:31

You guys are like the dynamic duo. You're the dream team.

Speaker 1: 55:35

Yeah exactly, and I'm going to say that I ask people what can the podcast audience do for them in the community? What can the podcast audience do for them in the community? And I think that one of the things that I'm going to do, based on listening to you guys, is I'm going to promote realtors and how much work they do and how much they help their clients and that they deserve respect for all the knowledge that they have and the expertise they bring um to their job yeah, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3: 56:07

Thank you so much, and thank basil too, in the background.

Speaker 1: 56:10

Oh, ginger there too. All right, well, thanks for coming on the podcast guys. We won't be buying or selling any home. Well, we are going to be selling um at some point.

Speaker 3: 56:25

Oh god make sure you interview, yeah, I think this could be my interview.

Speaker 1: 56:32

All right, so, audience, I know you learned something valuable here today. I'll see you next episode. Hope you enjoyed the podcast today as much as I enjoyed creating it for you. If you're inspired, I appreciate a five-star review and sharing podcasts with anyone you know so that I can have a bigger ripple effect on people around me and you can too. If you want to learn more about me, you can go to wwwthebrainbscom and you can schedule a connection call with me or sign up to be a part of a BrainBS experiment. See you next episode.