Estate Professionals Mastermind - Probate and Senior Real Estate Podcast

Starting real estate in a new city, new niche | Real Estate Success Motivation

• Probate Mastery • Episode 94

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“You throw a rock and you hit seven real estate agents, it's crazy! …. I wanted to set myself apart.”

Interested in becoming a probate agent, wondering if you can pursue a career in law as a real estate professional, or looking for tips about relocating as a realtor? Watch this episode.

In this real estate success story, we hear Susan’s story of starting real estate in a new city. She describes the action she took to start getting leads and building her real estate referral system while continuing to educate herself.  This episode will inspire you to carve out a path for your success today so you can build a career that lets you work less, earn more, and do good.

Podcast Page:
https://probatemastery.com/starting-real-estate-in-a-new-city-success-story

Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdWO_jIt_Ic

0:00 Introducing Susan Chase - CPRES, CPE, Probate Realtor and law school student
6:54 Why you should get into the probate real estate niche (Real Estate Niches)
12:54 How to start getting real estate leads after moving to a new market?
14:46 How to differentiate yourself from competition in real estate (Probate marketing tips)
20:24 What makes people successful in real estate?


"Just take the course! Just do it. It, it's gonna change your life and it's gonna give you the confidence that you need not just in professional, but in all areas of your life because you're creating your own future and your own destiny, and you're not leaving it into someone else's hands."

Join our Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/estateprofessionalsmastermind

Take Probate Mastery: https://probatemastery.com

Take the EARN Course and get the easy button for earning attorney referrals: https://courses.magnumopusproject.com/earn

The Ultimate Script Framework (FREE): Here's the mind-map we use to navigate ANY real estate conversation (cold calling and in person): https://courses.magnumopusproject.com/get-your-free-mind-map-YTO Get it free

Learn more at www.probatemastery.com

..If we're gonna be that professional, then we have to take action for our own lives so that we can be that guide for other people.. All right. Welcome everybody. My name is Chad Corbett. For those of you that may not know me, I'm the founder of the Magnum Opus Project, Creator of these courses and others, and today, these are my favorite calls. So there's a lot of currency in business, a lot of KPIs. How many leads did you produce? How many dollars did you make? How many courses did you sell? The one that matters most to me is how much of an impact did I make? And that's what drives me every day. I hit financial independence, thought I would give up. I thought I. Take the easy life and go be on vacation. And what I learned about myself is I really love teaching and I love contributing, and I like to see the impact, and I like to see it in your business, and I like to see it at the consumer level, and I like to tell these stories. So today you have one of your peers who's generous enough with her time to share her experience after becoming a certified probate real estate specialist through MTI Education. A certified probate expert through Probate Mastery, and most recently graduated one of the few early adopters and, and action takers of the new course EARN. So she is highly, she highly values education and re keeping a high bar for herself professionally in the probate space. And she's getting surprise, She's getting a positive result. She's getting the result that everybody wants. I wanted to have Susan come share her experience having taken both of these courses, especially jumping on the EARN course very early and completing the earn course really early, and putting that into action. So Susan, welcome to the community and thank you so much for being willing to share today. Thank you, Chad, for inviting me to come on with you, it's an honor. So hopefully I can inspire people to get their certification and get going with it! Let's give them some context. So let's tell 'em about your business. Like who are you, where do you come from? What is it that you do, what do you primarily focus on? So I've been residential sales since 2014. My first license was in Washington State and I worked in the Seattle, the Greater Seattle and East Side market up there. And it's always been a seller's market for me. I bounced around at different companies just trying to find my niche. And then in 2019 at the pale end of it, I moved, I relocated to California and it's been pretty good, you know, hit or miss. I joined the company who, They provided leads and they were okay and all that, but you know, I just never really felt fulfilled completely just being like a cog in the wheel and just answering the phone, like it just didn't.... it didn't serve my higher purpose, which cuz I love serving the community and... before even real estate, I was a dental hygienist for 25 years and I worked for the Navy as a civilian hygienist, and so I have a lot of like one on one interaction with people and I gravitate towards the older clientele. They have values that I can align with. They're just really great people who don't really have people looking out for them. And so I always felt like an advocate for them in any way that I could. And then in 2021, though, I had an opportunity to go to law school. So now I'm a second year law student as well, . So, (that's amazing!) Yeah, so, so I'm trying to combine all of my knowledge and skill set into one kind of package where people can come and get all of their solutions met, whether it be real estate sales, or you know, in the probate space on the legal side of it. So that's, that's my story in a nutshell. So I think we may need to start a sub-community within the community because one of the really cool things that I've seen happen since we kind of blended the population of attorneys, investors, and agents is we have several investors and agents who have now been so inspired that they're in law school. Nina Grayson, if you haven't met her, isn't that far from you, she's in the LA market... She is the most recent one. She jumped in, She's in her first semester of law school. But the inspiration was really these conversations and the

realization:

holy crap, These people really do need help and I can serve at a higher level. So you, you might wanna reach out to all the others in Estate Professionals Mastermind, anyone who has been inspired to go to law school to serve at a higher level. You guys should get together and, you know, have a little community within the community cuz it's growing, like more people are feeling that. I'm really curious. Having, being, I'm assuming about halfway through your law school curriculum. Do you think you're headed toward elder care, planning, administration? Like, what do you think? Yeah. My heart's telling me that that's where I need to go. This summer I did an internship with a probate attorney and so I worked on partition cases and trusts and wills, that kind of thing. So estate planning, probates, trusts, and elder care. I think that's where my wheelhouse is gonna be. Cuz there's a lot of people which so surprising to me that they just don't know. And they don't know what they don't know. And so I, I don't know. I just can't handle how some of the people in industry You know, how they, how they treat their clients, and I just don't like them. My and my parents are getting older too, and so, you know, I'm, I'm their only daughter. Well, I have a brother too, but he's outta the country and so I'm it. And so I feel like, you know, because I'm having to help them take care of some of the stuff. They don't know what questions to ask or whatever. Like I step in and so... it feels really natural for me to be in that role. yeah. Well, I had earlier this afternoon -you, you know, of EstateExec, the software that we've integrated in the earn course. Dan Stickell who is the CEO of that company, the founder and ceo, he's Harvard educated. Lots of experience in software. What led him to create the leading estate management software and, and the, I guess, in the world at this point, was the experience of going through this with his aging parents. And we had a long conversation, unfortunately, I don't think we were even recording that, but just about the need... I love this community so much cuz it's an interesting intersection of software, law, real estate investing, brokerage, property management. And it's, it's really coming into its own, like as a, as a place. So one of the things we're working on is a direct. Where regardless of why you're here, why you're part of this community, you actually have an opportunity to say, Here's who I am and what value I can provide. So we'll be able to share real estate referrals among CPEs. We'll be able to say, Hey, in Des Moines, Iowa, This is the, you know, an estate sale company that's been vetted through this community. We know that they're more leaning in the benevolent side and one of our members trusted them, so call them. So the really neat thing is seeing the need be filled. That's one of the things I set out in 2013. I sat down and said, what are you building? Why are you building it? Who do you need to help you? Those simple questions I asked myself. And the why for me was consumer impact because I was in one city similar to you, dropped into a city, knew nobody, didn't even have that state real estate license yet, and I quickly found myself gravitating toward the probate clients and they were the most grateful. Like clients I've ever had. They didn't fight you on stuff. You didn't have to compete with 94 people. They just were so glad that they had somebody they could trust. So that I thought, you know, in my own kind of vision exercise, I'm like, how can I scale this? Like there's no way I can serve 3,149 counties as a practitioner. So it is really, really good for my heart to see that this has. Is, every day becoming more and more of a national community with people like yourself, people who not only you buy my real estate course you're going to freaking law school because you've committed to this and to helping these people, and that is so cool to have people like you in the community. So you're a great resource and thanks for being here. So let's talk about this, this hard transition. I'm sure it wasn't easy to leave an established marketplace where you had a good book of, you know yourself. It sounds like your sales side business was healthy, but for lifestyle reasons. You said, Hey, I'm, I'm moving 2,500 miles away to start over. So for anyone who might be new to this conversation or afraid to jump in that thinks it's just too much for them to accomplish, like, I have a similar story. I left Maui where I had a median price of 1.35 million. Ski front beach, front to rich people and moved to a city where the median price was one 40. And I didn't know a soul, but I was able to become I think in the first year I had 52 closings, and most of those were probate deals. So let's hear that story, like how hard was it to just step in completely new to a market, but using this expertise you've built, how, how easy did it. Well, I don't, I didn't have that, that big of a success my first year. So, but it's, I had my California license in 2017. My oldest child was down here for school and and I thought it would be beneficial for me to get my real estate license here. And what I, what I ended up doing for a little bit was helping, I was a liaison between the university and the parents who have their children, you know, living outta state and they needed somebody that they can trust to help them find. Places to live outside of the dormitories. And so I was the liaison cuz the school, they couldn't handle all the parents and all that stuff. So I was doing that, but I was still living up in Seattle so I was flying back and forth and it was just so crazy. So finally I just decided now I'm just gonna move down here. And I joined a company that actually provided leads, not probate leads, but just regular leads. They. It could be any, any price point in any city. And you know, if I picked up the phone then and I got the call, then I would go meet them. So it was, it, it was good for what it was, but then when I found the probate mastery and then the earn program, And then the other probate stuff. I just really gravitated towards that because that, that's where my heart is. I, you know, I'm surrounded by wealth. Like there's so much wealth around here. It's crazy. People. They can, they can buy whatever they want here. But those aren't the clients that I like working with. Because I don't know, I just, I, maybe it's the ones that I've met. I'm sure they're not all like this, but you know, I, I, I wanna be a partner in their process and not somebody that they. Look down upon, if that makes any sense. Like there's just something different about their mindset and I, and I just don't like that, so, so I keep grabbing, I would, I would summarize that as you wanna be an advisor, not a servant, right. Yeah, that's it. An advisor. You know, but being new to the area, they all have their advisors and so, you know, it's a little tough to, to break into to that market. And I didn't even wanna try. So, you know, if I got the calls and it happened to be somebody like that, great. But my focus is really helping people who need help and, you know, working for this attorney this past summer, actually I started back in February and I still kind of doing some work for him. You know, and we do some pro bono work too. And, and the people that, that come to him with their problems, like they really have problems and they, they don't know what to do. And so to be that, that, you know, sound logical. Voice for them and to help them see the bigger picture and then how, how to accomplish these tasks to, to get to the overarching goal, whatever it is for them, you know, that, that to me is more meaningful for sure. And I, And then people are really appreciative, like you said, they just so, they're so grateful for, to find someone that can help them understand the legal documents and just the process and. You know that that speaks, that says something more than, "I'm with ABC Real Estate. I did the next number of deals last year, and I, I'm the best listing agent in all of all of Irvine! When can I come over? When can I see the house?" Yeah. It actually says, what is it that you need? Yeah. I mean, the way that I look at real estate is, you know, everyone's got a problem, like if you wanna buy a new car, you go to the car dealership and you buy a car like the it's the commodity. Like the house isn't the issue, it's the, all the stuff surrounding it is what, what the real issue. And it just happens to be that they need to unload this asset or they need to buy that car, whatever. So it just happens to be that thing. But if you take away the thing, these problems are still there and, how to navigate through that. There's not a lot of people that can help with that. So.. So you got started kinda reaching out to the families, and you found some success there. Tell us why you saw an opportunity, like why Earn was attractive to you and why you saw that as an opportunity and also what you've done with it in the short time that it's been here. Like we teach in Probate Mastery, build a referral network, but we didn't go really deep. With EARN. This is how the exact, how you do it. So how would you compare and contrast and what percentage of your current business or the conversations are coming from the families versus the attorneys now. Wow. Well, I think you know, the Probate Mastery is great cuz it gives you the, the general, like this is what you need to do. But it's the mindset, too. So if you're going in looking at it like, Oh, this is gonna be a great easy niche I can just get into cuz no one's doing it... then that's the wrong mindset and it's gonna backfire, I think so for me, I got the product mastery because I wanted to set myself apart. You know, from other agents who say they can do all that stuff, but they don't really know how to do it. And so I need to, for the clients, like when you're searching online, They need to just see something and then they can do more research and dig into that particular person, agent, you know, whoever they're looking at. And I just love the education part of it cuz I love to learn, and then so when the urn came out I thought, Oh, this is, this is even better! Everybody knows a real estate agent. You throw a rock and you hit seven real estate agents. Like, it's crazy. The barrier to get a real estate license is you know, not that hard, right? So people get it and they think they can make a quick buck or whatever. So the having the earn program was another feather in my cap because then I can approach these attorneys and you know, have some professionalism behind my belt. And like I put it on my picture line. I'm really curious, having taken the earn course as well as being part of a law school curriculum, how much of that is actually taught in law school? How, how often do instructors actually talk about the real life struggles of an attorney as a small business owner versus just the law? Like, do, do you feel like, am I right in thinking that's just left out of the curriculum in law school? Because so many attorneys seem to just be stuck and not know how to scale out of it. And that was a big objective of mine with the earn course. Mm-hmm., how can we get more referrals for real estate agents, but also get these attorneys to be more efficient and, and grow their own firms? So I'm curious if they've taught you anything in law school about that. Well, the instructors that I have, the professors, they're mostly adjunct professors. And I go to Trinity Law School and they've got a great online program, which is so awesome. And so the teachers, the professors, they can either be in California or elsewhere in the country. And They, they teach us about their real life practice. They'll, interject how their practice is. And they all seem to be busy. There's attorneys that are more general practice and they do everything towards criminal, property, contracts, whatever. They'll do all that. And then there are some that are really specific and they only do constitutional law or, their trial and litigators. So, everyone seems to be busy. They're very busy . So it seems realistic to me that if I do branch out and start my own company, that I could be busy, but that's not what I wanna do. Not right out the gate... Because of the EARN program and with my real estate background, I think the combination, it's not that common to have both. I think there are, there are some, but I don't run into a lot of agents who are also attorneys or attorneys who are also agents. So to be that liaison, right, where I can drum up business for the attorneys and then they can in turn help me with the business too. So I think it's a symbiotic relationship that could happen. And I haven't sent out any mailers or anything like that. I just kind of go to networking events and position myself, like if I know certain attorneys will be there, if they're especially a probate attorney, I will make sure that I'm going to those events. I mean, I, don't even really have my business cards yet with all my certifications on it. I know that I have it. and then that gives me the confidence that I need when I go out there and I'm interacting with attorneys or other agents. So I love that and I, I wanna underscore it and congratulate you because so many people in my career of training and coaching, so many people are like, Well, I'm gonna get started as soon as I get this flyer done, or as soon as I get this webpage up, or I gotta get business cards or this and this, that, and those are just crutches. They're convenient excuses to not admit the fear of rejection and why you're not actually meeting people face to face. So it's, it's really good to hear you say that. I completely gave up business cards in 2016 or 17. I quit getting them printed because it forces. It forces me to make a memorable impression on whomever it is. I want to call me back. So it's kind of an accountability move to not have print collateral to lean on. It makes me create a real connection with the human that I'm trying to create a connection with. I've never had a business card close a business deal, and so to now, to the extent where I will actually like, you know, be like, Hey, you know, grab your phone and I'll airdrop my contact card to them versus giving them a business card. And I'll make it memorable. I'll make them laugh or I'll teach them something, like I'll make some memorable moment. So, good for you. and also, What do you think will be the next thing, like of all the options we gave to earn attorney referrals? It's always a work in progress. I don't know if I'll ever perfect it, but um, I dunno. I think I'll continue to just meet face to face because, well, you know, I built out LinkedIn and the social media, that's easy, that's low hanging fruit. So just, you know, getting that so it's consistent across all platforms I think is really important. So, that the message is the same on Instagram, on Facebook, on LinkedIn. Twitter, I don't really use Twitter for work.. And then videos, I'm gonna be creating a bunch of videos just educating people really to stay out of probate cause it's not a fun place to be. So, So I'll start with educating people who may or may not know about it, who may or may not be in it. And then also videos of when you're in it, what do you do? So One of the things that I wish, I think it probably needs to be a standalone course for the reason I already expressed, but one of the things you can do is build a digital course or a video library for all things estate planning. So you know why. If you know why anyone with a net worth of more than a hundred thousand really should have a living trust, and what that means. And bring in like this is a great opportunity. It's also a great thing to do inside of the Facebook community, as I suggested in in the EARN course. So bring in an estate planning attorney, bring in an elder care planning attorney, bring in a care manager, bring in a nursing home administrator, and start to build that archive. Once you have that archive, it's a great library to use to attract other attorneys into your sphere of influence. So something for you to consider. You may actually take all those videos, throw them into something like Thinkific or Kajabi, and then offer them to every single person you, you make contact with, whether that's at a professional networking event or if it's consumer conversations. When I was up in Seattle, I partnered with a mortgage lender and they had a radio program, so I was their co-host and we would do, you know, we would do interviews. So, but yeah, I have my whole tripod and lights and it's all portable. I could just keep it in the trunk of my car and just have a impromptu studio wherever I am at. So what's your advice to someone who's not taken the course? Just do it. Just do it. Just set aside time. Get a calendar, write it down. I mean, you gotta write it down. I know people can keep things in their head or whatever, but if you write it down and then tell somebody that you're gonna do it, cuz it's accountability. you know, if you don't have the internal motivation or the internal accountability, then get someone to help you stay focused because, you know, the course isn't that hard. It doesn't take that long. It, it's so beneficial to get the information and just go with it, but you know, you can even do it when you're in law school, guys! Yeah. No excuses. No excuses. Yeah. I mean, whatever excuse you've got: no! Because if I can do it, then anyone can do it. So... And then for the people who have taken the course and they just don't know what to do with it, cuz it really does seem daunting and I think a lot of people just have this inherent fear of the courthouse or lawyers and judges and clerks and anything legal. Everyone's just like, Oh my gosh. But you know, online is great cuz a lot of counties have things that are accessible online. They have a number you can call, and people are really friendly actually when you call them. So that's not a barrier either. It's just. I look at challenges and things that I'm not an expert on, but I wanna be. And I, don't look at it as fear. It's all mindset. When I first co-founded all the leads, I was, until it consumed me, I was trying to give a half an hour of my time to every single person who signed up. And that exposed me to thousands of real estate professionals around the country that were trying to get probate up and running in their business. And one of the thing, it was the most common thing, like people being intimidated by the court, intimidated by the attorneys. They never stood a chance of talking to the family because they couldn't get out of their own way, like their mindset. So one of the things I would do is actually threeway call the probate clerk in their county. And I'm like, Okay, while the phone is ringing, you need to come up with all the blind spots, all the questions, you don't know the answers. And they're like, What? What do you mean they're, they're not gonna answer! And I'm like, Hold on, it's ringing. And I remember doing this in San Jose, California, you know, high net worth like, and we got transferred two or three times. There was actually an attorney that they had sitting there waiting for phone calls to answer legal questions. Yeah. Yeah. And I would hold people accountable to break through their own limiting, limiting beliefs and mindset and be like, There you go. You literally can't think of questions to ask a probate clerk because you already know it. Now go do something with it. Yeah. And that, and then they would, but you can't, That doesn't scale. I can't do that with every single person. Like I, I've tried to build it into the course like, if you can't be self-accountable. That's what estate professional's mastermind is for. You've got Susan to be here and say, Hey, I did it while going to law school. Don't tell me your excuses. What date will you have this done? Like, go find yourself an accountability partner to get the result you want. The worst thing in the world is to invest in a course you never take, or to take a course you never take action on. Like, the probate fair is not coming by your house. You need to go build a real relationship with an attorney, So. All right. Well, Susan, thank you so much for your time. I know you're extremely busy and I really appreciate you giving us the time and your advice. Anything you'd like to say in closing to the community? Oh, just take the course! Just do it. It, it's gonna change your life and it's gonna give you the confidence that you need not just in professional, but in all areas of your life because you're creating your own future and your own destiny, and you're not leaving it into someone else's hands. And especially if you are gonna be the advocate for families, you know, to help them navigate through the probate system. You know, they're putting their trust and their life in, in your hands to help them get through this. But if we're gonna be that professional, then we have to take action for our own lives so that we can be that guide for other people. So Great advice. So, guys, if you wanna connect, Susan Chace is in Estate Professionals Mastermind is that how you'd prefer for people to reach out after seeing this? Yeah, the mastermind's great. I've got my email susan.chace@radiusagent.com, and the last name is spelled a little different. Looks like Chance without the n, and uh, phone number (949) 355-5071. That's my direct line. So you guys are special cause I'm giving you my direct cell phone. Other than that, no, just connect with me. I'm, I'm here for anyone who needs help with any of their real estate probate issues or just wanna chat about law school or anything, Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being a valuable part of our community and for being available today. Appreciate your time and we look forward to watching you grow and celebrating when you graduate law school. We need to have a party for you and Nina when you finish up. So, Yeah. Where's Nina at school? Do you know? I don't, I can't remember which school she chose. She's in the Hollywood area. I don't remember which school she's going to yeah, I'll call, Yeah, connect with her. She's, She's really enthusiastic. You guys have a lot in common. I think so she'll be a great connection. Wow. Thank you so much, Chad. I really appreciated this invitation to come on with you and talk to you. Sure. Hopefully we can do more, Do more in the future. Thanks so much for your time today. Of course. Thank you. Have a great day.