Beards on the Street
Parry Ward and Aaron Pehrson, two Real Estate agents in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a team at Century 21 Everest called "The Luxury Agency". Beards on the Street is two seasoned agents chatting about Life Experiences, Love, Family, Friends and of course the Utah Real Estate Market conditions. Parry and Aaron primarily focus on a system coined "My Top 50" based around showing up for the people in there sphere consistently and with purpose.
Beards on the Street
Beards On The Street - Episode 39 - Real Estate Revelations and Personal Endeavors: From VIP Connections to Market Insights and Nonprofit Cheers
We're kicking off the new year with a beard-centric bang on our 39th episode of Beards on the Street! As we reminisce about our journey from the year 2000, our beards aren't just facial hair; they're symbols of our identity and growth. This episode is all about the joy of genuine connections, with the spotlight on our VIP 50 program, where we ditch cold leads for the warmth of personal relationships. Hear us share how the shift from chasing numbers to cherishing quality interactions has enriched our lives and business. We're also piling on the gratitude and sharing our affirmations to help you cultivate a mindset of positivity for the year ahead.
Have you ever wondered what makes a real estate team tick? It's not just about selling houses; it's about building a community, both within the team and for our clients. Today, we discuss the magic behind our service Rolodex, an ever-expanding list of top-notch tradespeople that's become our superpower for supporting homeowners. The Rolodex isn’t just a tool—it’s a testament to the power of trust and community. Plus, for those eager to jump aboard our real estate family ship, we're shining a light on the camaraderie and growth opportunities that await. Join us for inspiring tales of team members who've found their calling and are making waves in the real estate ocean.
Wrapping up with a bow of appreciation and engagement, we get real about the current real estate market. We're breaking down the doors of opportunity with insights on FHA loan rate drops and how they're opening windows for buyers and sellers to maximize equity. But it’s not all business; we share a slice of our personal lives, from boat renovations to a family voyage to Mexico. These stories are the bricks that build our community, and we're laying them down for you to walk on. We cap off the episode by cheering on Little Miracles, a nonprofit close to our hearts that's helping single mothers with home renovations. Tune in, and let's raise the roof together for a fantastic week ahead!
Hey, hey, hey, how's it going people.
Speaker 2:Morning, y'all happy.
Speaker 1:24, 2024 baby, Holy cow dude. Who'd ever thought that my old ass would have made it to 2024?
Speaker 2:Dean, I remember how big a deal when 20, when 2000 happened, right and I I remember thinking forward 2020 or whatever, and I I couldn't even wrap my head around it.
Speaker 1:Here we are, 2024 here we are, wow, well, welcome. Welcome to beards on the street. Uh, my beard's a little longer mine's, not yours it's a little longer too. Man, I don't know how, how long I'm gonna go this time. I have one of my close probably till my wife tells me to enough's enough.
Speaker 2:I had one of my close friends go dude take care of that thing. You know, I think your beard looks great what's he talking? Talking about it was a girl. What is she talking about? I don't know, but I listen to girls. She didn't know nothing. Yeah, I think it's just motley all over the place.
Speaker 1:I don't.
Speaker 2:No, no, all right, okay, no dude.
Speaker 1:I mean it's got great Dude.
Speaker 2:Talk to me you make me feel good.
Speaker 1:It's got great shape. You're shaved up top. It's got great lines, I'm shaving. Yeah, I don't know what she's talking about. You have to give me a name and I'll rip her Right. So so, guys, 2024. Welcome to the new year of Beards on the Street. This is our first episode 39, of the new year.
Speaker 2:Dude, we've done 38 episodes, dude, we're doing good, we're doing good, we're doing way good. You know what? I don't know that I've ever had a year I've been more excited about.
Speaker 1:I know I'm pretty stoked dude. I mean like really excited about. Do you want to know what my affirmation is? What? So to bring everybody up, we've talked about it before, but every single morning we write down 25 of the same affirmation, and then we write down 25 things that we're grateful and thankful for, and my affirmation for the new year is 2024 is going to be an epic year.
Speaker 2:Dang it's going to be an epic year. Dang it's going to be. I just know it. I do too. It's going to be fun. This is going to be a fun one for us, I know.
Speaker 1:I concur.
Speaker 2:Things in our world are starting to click.
Speaker 1:They are this VIP 50 program is actually starting to get some damn good footing.
Speaker 2:I'm kind of getting it figured out. I'm excited about it for sure. Yeah, I know Shauna's figuring it out, oh, shauna's figuring it out.
Speaker 1:You know Shauna on our team. We've had her on before. You guys have met Shauna, just had a closing on Monday or Tuesday first thing in the morning and it's got others scheduled and coming up and I've had a number of closings in the last month or 30 days and you've got a bunch coming up. That's right, and I've got some coming up, you know. But I will tell you this. You know, guys, and just we talk about it all the time as well, but our business with this VIP 50 is 100% based on you guys as our little freaking army and we appreciate you.
Speaker 1:I am so thankful for this VIP 50 program. You know I've let's talk about what it actually is a little bit Okay. I've just started reaching out to all my VIPs here in the first of the year to just let them know that I love them and I appreciate them and it's funny, aaron, because I talk to these guys all the time but the conversations have been long and just amazing, really excited guys about it. So let's talk about VIP 50. We put this program together a year or so ago and it's all based around.
Speaker 1:You know, in the past we've done like a lot of other teams do and we've spent ridiculous amounts of money with Zillow and other lead generation companies, basically buying leads or names of people that are looking to buy or sell real estate that we don't know and they don't know us. And the problem with that business model is that there isn't the trust, there isn't the, there's zero relationship. Yes, zero relationship. And so, uh, we decided that that wasn't working for us and we changed our entire team system based around we, we create our vip 50, uh, and then we actually expand it to a vip 100 once you've hit the 50. So, um, and it's all based around that you, you recreate or not recreate, but you re-invigorate your relationship with people that you know and you actually start showing up for them. So, you know, our system has basically about eight touches per month with each individual.
Speaker 2:That's on our vip 50 so essentially what it is is it's we call it our VIP 50, but it's it's. It's kind of condensing down. We you and I both know it's being a better person, a better friend I both know so many people but it's basically it's a. It's 50 people that we've started, really We've started, and now we're expanding to the hundred, but it's 50 people that we've decided that we are going to go all in with Yep, communicate on a, on a. I mean, it's taught me a bunch. It's taught me a bunch. It's. This year has been a year of enriching of relationships, yep, I think. I think that's the big, that's the big takeaway and what I'm excited about.
Speaker 1:You know, aaron, I mean and we've talked about this I used to be, you know, self-admittedly kind of a shallow friend. You know I had 5,000 friends and of course, I have my core. You know people that I really love and spend a lot of time with, but the bottom line is, is there's a lot of other people that are important to me in my life that I want to show up better for.
Speaker 2:It's a, so it's a way for us to be purposely connected and engaging them on a on an ongoing, consistent basis. Yep.
Speaker 1:So, if you have not been contacted by myself or Aaron and you would like to be on our VIP, contacted by myself or aaron and you would like to be on our vip, reach out to us, man, let us know, because, uh, I know I'm building mine, um, because I've got plenty of people I want to be in contact with and what that means.
Speaker 2:And what that means is so, on a monthly basis, we're doing our.
Speaker 1:We have a mixer do we do the mixer? A lot of you have been to the mixer.
Speaker 2:It's amazing we have a charity that we're, we're always wrapping our energies around. Basically, it's our tribes. We're basically bringing our crowd around and supporting something locally and having a good time at it. That's it.
Speaker 1:And it's very low-key. There's no agenda to these other than the charity.
Speaker 2:It's just people meeting people Actually, and us spending time with our people. Well of course that's the agenda.
Speaker 1:But the bottom line is is we've had multiple situations that we could talk about of our people that didn't know. Other people in our groups so to say that have linked up and created some pretty freaking amazing stuff, dude, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know the caliber of your network. Obviously it impacts your ability to reach your successes and I know we have a couple of friends that have in our groups that have made major leaps through the connections in our group.
Speaker 1:Yep, and quite frankly, I mean mean we always hold them at, at at you know a bar or someplace like that. But again, if you drink, great, if you don't drink, great, it does not matter. We are not putting these together to to have a big freaking party and everybody get shit faced. That's not what it's about at all. This is 100% about networking and having quality time with people, and if you want to have a bevy while you're doing that, then fantastic. It's a great atmosphere.
Speaker 2:And you know what All of us are hungry for that human connection. For relationships and you know what, if you can look forward to something on a monthly basis where you're going to see us and new friends, cause I mean, there's several of my friends that are that are running around together, for now, because of it, my wife is my wife. I love you. Thanks, hey, thanks for the the way you take care of me. Yeah, the way you take care of me, yeah the way you take care of me.
Speaker 2:She hates it, by the way, when I call her that. She's not my mom. Whatever, she's way too young, way too cute to be my mom, but she sure takes care of me.
Speaker 1:Well, she takes fantastic care of me.
Speaker 2:And I am so freaking grateful as a byproduct.
Speaker 1:I will take care of you. Yes you are Not only by her but by me, Right? Absolutely, it's a two-way street. You take care of us too. So, yeah, guys, that's our VIP 50. That's what it's all about. And, if you are interested, I actually had somebody reach out to me this morning and specifically say I want to hear more about your VIP 50 and I want to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's freaking awesome. Yep. Well, you know we have our service Rolodex. Part of the value we're trying to bring our crowd is if you have you or someone you care about as a service provider of any sort, we want to add you to our Rolodex. All the time we're hitting plumbers, we're hit I. I know I've given so many hvac uh referrals.
Speaker 1:You know, uh, furnaces, air conditioning, that kind of thing, whatever um, and I'm right in the middle of it, I'm gaining a lot of good ones to to load up because of the rebuild on the condo. So, yeah, I mean I've actually really, you know, just so everybody out there knows, I've got, I've got uh painters now that are just amazing that I can add to it uh, countertop, uh granite countertops, cabinets, cabinets, uh, I believe, I believe nate's already a part of it and already on it. Yeah, he should be, he should be crane cabinets, uh, you name it guys. I mean it mean we've got and we're building on this thing all the time.
Speaker 2:And it's people we know like and trust. You're our crowd and you're in our VIP 50, but our Rolodex. So we're actively looking for ways to add to your business. So we hear of opportunity. We're going to push what you do, you bet, and improve your life as well.
Speaker 1:Hey, I can't tell you how many times I've gone on our website because somebody asked me for a referral of some sort. I know we've referred out goals.
Speaker 1:We've referred out. We need to do an update. We've got quite a few people we need to add to it. But, guys, what we're talking about is just go to our website and let me see if I, so that you can see it. It is luxuryrealtyagencycom. Just go to our website, luxuryrealtyagencycom, and you'll see our Rolodex right there on it.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's simple, and our newsletters are posted there every single month. If you want to start having us email you our newsletter, then go to the same website and when you go to the newsletter page, there's a button to click to get subscribed to it and then, every single month, you automatically get it. And it's a cool newsletter, guys. I mean, I'm telling you I was talking to somebody, my buddy Travis, and I was asking him if he was getting the newsletter and he's like, well, I'm not sure. I think I got one. And then we were talking about music, because I go to a bunch of concerts and love seeing him there. And I'm like, travis, start looking at the newsletter, dude, because we post all of the concerts we're going to for the next month.
Speaker 1:Yes, and we need to do better at that in communicating when we're going to for the next month yes, and we need to do better at that and communicating when we're going to be inviting everybody out. Yeah, yeah, we want to. We want to start getting some of these events that we're going out to and and I mean guys, it's a win-win-win for everybody. Number one you get to listen to some badass freaking music. Number two we're supporting local businesses, or local businesses and local artists or national artists, depending on who we're listening to. You get to hang out with me and aaron. We're being social, we're about and it's just so much fun you know so, and you know how much I love music.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, absolutely I'm telling you you're a music guy this says that we had a broadcast error. Disruption of the full thing. Hang on.
Speaker 1:We're good. We're good, good, sorry, had technical difficulty. It said that we lost broadcast. I don't know what that means.
Speaker 2:You blow me away, dean with your technical prowess, I mean no, your comfort and the tools you operate with. Like this stuff we're doing is all your baby dude. It's fun.
Speaker 1:It is. I love it and it is fun. It is fun, dude. I want to throw this up real quick, aaron, uh, just talk really quick about our team. Look at that sexy team. Yeah, we're growing, we're growing, we're growing. And any of you agents out there that see this podcast or watching our podcast and kind of following along with what aaron and I are creating here, we want people on our team that are that, are that see the vision and want to be a part of what we're doing so let's talk a minute, a little bit, about some of the support though.
Speaker 2:So I mean, obviously, the broadcast room that we have here, the podcast, all the all the podcasts all the social media tools which we offer make, allow or make available to our people.
Speaker 2:So this is a tool and an asset that you could use as an agent if you were to join our team and participate, but also our, our mixers that we're doing. Um, you know shauna I'm just going to talk about shauna for just a second, but she's a year and a half in the business, right, she is, and she, she's going to be a, she's going to be a horse dude, she's going to be a just a powerhouse in this business she is going to have such a good year, sure, and, and she says all the time she just said it the other morning how she loves, loves being on our team.
Speaker 2:You know what I think it's. I think it's been healing for her. We're the support she's getting, but she's also such a contribution to our space I can't even imagine her not here.
Speaker 1:No, I can't either. And Travis, I mean, he's our newest addition to our team.
Speaker 2:I freaking love him, Love him for sure.
Speaker 1:He's in the process right now of building his VIP 50. It's a lot of work.
Speaker 2:You know what's fun about all of this though? The cooperative, the compound effect because we just read that book Right the compound effect of your crowd with my crowd, yeah, with Shauna's crowd. And I'll tell you what, when we go to, our mixers are becoming so fun. They are. You know everybody, dude, our Christmas mixer was awesome. Yeah, absolutely, that was so good. I'm excited about how they're developing. They really are.
Speaker 1:They're developing and other agents out there. Man call us, tap into what we're doing.
Speaker 2:I got teased about this. Someone goes you have as many real estate people come to these as, and that's what it's about. That's what it's about that does not.
Speaker 1:With our system. There is no competition.
Speaker 2:There's no competition. It doesn't conflict with All it competition. It doesn't conflict with all it does. It helps If those people come, it's more enjoyable. It's what it's for Exactly, you know. And they're not competition. Nope, my friends are my friends, your friends are your friends. But I'll tell you what you've got some awesome friends. Thanks, so do you. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1:I love it, yeah. So, uh, yeah, guys, uh, you know big, big things this year. We want to grow our team uh, by a number of people.
Speaker 2:So the market the market's been rough, but if you guys want to learn how to tap, into your business right and and, and you know, really cultivate relationships and which translates to opportunity. But really, I'll tell you what this kind of business is fulfilling. It's fun, it is yeah, yep, I agree, man.
Speaker 1:That's the big thing. I freaking love it. Okay, a couple other things I wanted to chat about here. Let me make a couple changes.
Speaker 2:While you're pulling it up, I think we ought to discuss the rate drop that happened.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's talk about it right now. Oh my gosh. Okay, we're back below 6. On an FHA loan, on an FHA loan, so with, say, a 2-to-1, 3-to-1 buy-down, you could get down in the fives.
Speaker 2:Actually, that's current rate is closer to four. Five point six four. On a two one buy down, we could go down to three point six four. Wow, you could be below four on the rate right now. Wow, yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's huge so, guys, so the sellers, sellers are willing to uh, to, to contribute at the average sales price right now, the the most recent rate drop we saw the one that dropped us below six. It's like a $400 a month savings on the average payment. That's massive, that's huge. I mean. Think about the buying power. I mean that will translate into probably near $100,000 additional buying power, probably If somebody wanted to keep the same payment, yeah. Or if they're not and they just wanted to be comfortable, things just got way more comfortable to buy a house, yes, they did.
Speaker 2:So, I love it, man. Second thing I've been hearing and paying attention to they're likening our spring, where we're at in the marketplace and people who are sitting on the fence listening okay, listen to this, Listen. They're likening right now the run that we're going to have, similar to what we saw at covid so what aaron is saying is get your ass off the fence. Well so don't wait, because if you wait, when?
Speaker 1:it starts. Yeah, it's going to be. Uh, it's going to be.
Speaker 2:You wait till june and you'll. You'll see you'll, the people who buy right now that you know, now, between now and March.
Speaker 1:Your competition for the home that you want to buy is going to go up exponentially.
Speaker 2:And we're going to see a bump. People who buy a place right now, between now and March, they're going to see a bump just because of what's going to happen. I mean $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 instant bump in their pocketbook, in their equity position. Their value is going to jump because of supply and demand, because the demand is going to go off the charts with rates dropping Yep and they're scheduling six more drops this next year.
Speaker 1:So bottom line is whether you're a buyer or seller, don't drag your feet, man. It's time. It is time For sure. Okay, enough about rates. You got more?
Speaker 2:no, it's good, okay, I'm just excited about it.
Speaker 1:We've been waiting for this, so I don't think I don't think you've seen this oh man, check that out, baby buddy waters.
Speaker 2:I have a fond little look at that. That place has a spot, so shut up, shut your pie hole.
Speaker 1:So what this is, guys, is I. I decided this year to pull all my seats out of my boat and have them all reupholstered, and it is good looking isn't that cool.
Speaker 2:You're stoked for that.
Speaker 1:I'm so stoked your boat, do you notice?
Speaker 2:the name.
Speaker 1:Yeah, muddy waters, yo baby muddy waters uh, also throw up there, we uh that boat's too damn big to go into muddy waters, dude, yeah well so, uh, my wife decided we've talked about this for years that we were going to go to Mexico for Christmas, and so we went and she booked it and took her and us and her kids down and these I just wanted to share some of the pictures. Actually, here's a good one.
Speaker 1:Listen to this dang, that's live dang well it was was live, isn't that awesome, oh yeah. And then, uh, I also wanted to do a big, big, big shout out with Shauna and Brett. I had a closing. I know it came right down to the wire to get everything together and get it done, but congratulations, shauna and Brett. Yeah, thanks you guys.
Speaker 2:Brett, you killed it. Yeah, good job dude, Good job man. Yes, sir, Shauna couldn't be more happy.
Speaker 1:Nope.
Speaker 2:Neither could we. And you know what? I'll tell you what. The client, uh demba, was a happy man and so was a little boy. I never got to meet him, so, yeah, I just looked at the videos and the pictures and stuff and yeah, oh, listen listen to the stories about of what he's gone through to get here to where he's at.
Speaker 2:I mean mean true American dream capitalization, I mean comes over from Africa has been able to put away and be able to save his own down payment over the course of the last few years. He's working on, has been working on bringing his wife over and that's happening right away. So he bought a home. He's reuniting his family.
Speaker 1:That's massive.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's amazing amazing. That is what makes our job so freaking fulfilling, yeah, be able to be part of that little process, oh my gosh so amazing yeah, his little boy. Sean was talking about his little boy, um, just at the, at the, at the closing table, and just just so excited, you know, because this is also going to help his little boy be able to spend more time with dad. Wow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what else you got, Aaron? What else you want to chit-chat about buddy?
Speaker 2:You know I'm just super stoked about this new year. I know my crowd. I'm going to be really. I'm going to really dig in and really be involved. So you're going to hear a lot of me, yep.
Speaker 1:A lot of touches, yep Newsletters, mixer invites. They don't know what touch means.
Speaker 2:Touch means that we're just for help, and I mean we were bringing in a ton of food that they were creating and in the up in the, in the cells, in our cells room, in our, in our big meeting room, uh, it was a big conveyor style and basically they built these packs of of you know, several meals. Essentially that went home with the kids, yeah, you know, and stuff like that. That, uh, this foundation's part of they're always looking to do so this, uh, this month, uh, we're basically it was a qr code to donate some cash. Um, all of it will go directly to this charity, uh, to directly to some. Uh, what they're trying to do is basically it funds their ability to to do these events to target and do these kind of events.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no it's, it's, it's such a great cause and and of course, we're around it all the time, and and and participating all the time. Said it again. I wonder what's going on. I guess we'll find out when we re-watch. That's right, whether there's a pause or not. So if there was a pause, I I apologize, something weird's happening. But no, this mixer, I'm excited about it, bud.
Speaker 2:I just want to again invite everybody out. If you're watching this or you get a chance to see this, come hang out.
Speaker 1:Come take a look at what this is. It's not an all-night thing, just swing in and hang out for a minute, you don't have to drink.
Speaker 1:You don't have to stay long, just come in and say's not a crazy bar atmosphere it's a sports club, basically it's just basically a restaurant that we take over most of the time we do take over yeah, so, uh, anyways, uh, yeah, I would, uh, I would come out and check that out if it was, if it was me, because we have a great time and I get to meet some really, really cool people. Yep, all right, brother. Well, um, I think that's enough for us. Uh, yicky, yakking on the on the airwaves and subscribe to our uh youtube channel subscribe.
Speaker 2:Subscribe to our our newsletter. Subscribe and please reach out if you have any interest in coming out and being part of our little networking group or our social yeah, dang it.
Speaker 1:I thought I had put up a video I guess I didn't of my new tree.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, dude, that's so cool, yeah yeah. So we had this idea and it's basically a metal tree. You've done really cool. I mean really cool, but it's a tree of life. And you know what the idea is? With Magnus, we're going to be able to put up the names of our 50 because it feeds our tree. It's the tree of life for our business, you bet.
Speaker 1:That's right in front of my desk that I get to look at every single day Physical representation to the value and the importance of each individual in our group. Yep, no, I'm excited to get everything put together and I got the tree up. Now I just got to get my creative skills together.
Speaker 2:It's winter. The tree shouldn't have leaves yet.
Speaker 1:Well, my tree's got a lot of leaves. It does have a lot of leaves. I just got to get out the cricket and the what's that other thing called Scuttlebug or Cuddlebug?
Speaker 2:Yeah, Crafting gear, guys Crafting. So, ladies, if anybody needs anybody to come host.
Speaker 1:Oh, and I got a laminator. I'm going to laminate some stuff, yeah, yeah yeah yeah, so I'm excited to.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be neat next week. Next week it'll be done, yeah, and then I'll I'll post some stuff out there. Wait, cool, so you can see it. Absolutely all right, people, thank you, thank you. Thank you for, uh, taking the time out of your busy lives to to scope out our, our podcast and listen to us ramble on a little bit about goings on that's happening around us and our team. We love you guys, we, we love our, our, our people that that come to our mixers and participate in all of our programs, and we want to make it grow um, one last thing.
Speaker 2:If you guys can think of anybody or a charity, a local thing that we can direct our energies toward, please reach out. We'd love to hear about them. The more personal the better. Exactly so we would love to see it. I believe it's next month. Actually it'll be March. I was told they're not available till March, but we're going to be having Little Miracles. Yeah, which is a neat nonprofit that you know takes care of single mothers and does home renovations for single single mothers.
Speaker 1:Such a cool program. I've went and participated. It's a lot of fun. I can't wait to help with that one. Okay, guys, again, love you a long time, appreciate you and have a fantastic week. We out See ya.