Jay Marks- The Sky is Falling.. Meanwhile, Everything is Fine

Justin Stoddart  0:00  
Hey, welcome back to the Think Bigger Real Estate Show. I'm your host Justin Stoddart, very, very excited about today's episode, somebody who I respect and admire, and he is just a wise man. And I'm learning more about him. And he's somebody who is being featured on some pretty big places around the country for the work that he's doing. He's a 25-year industry veteran out of the Dallas Fort Worth area recently featured on WaterCooler Is that right? Jay?

Jay Marks  0:27  
Yeah, WaterCooler, right,

Justin Stoddart  0:28  
With Chris Smith, and Jimmy Mackin. And Jay and I've met a couple of times, and been following each other on social media for the past while and just has a lot of really great things to share. And I thought, if I can convince this guy to come on the Think Bigger Real Estate Show, it's going to be great for everybody who listens. So, Jay, thank you good for your time for being here. On a post-Memorial Day episode of the Think Bigger Real Estate Show.

Jay Marks  0:52  
I'm glad to be here. And you forgot to mention also that you and I are good buddies, so help a friend.

Justin Stoddart  0:58  
Thank you. And that's true Jay, Jay's a man of faith, good man all the way through. And he and he has a great perspective on the real estate industry. And so let's dive into this, Jay, kind of the topic of today is Oh, my goodness, the sky is falling. Yet at the same time, everything's gonna be just fine.

Jay Marks  1:20  
Everything's gonna be just fine. That's right.

Justin Stoddart  1:22  
Let's talk about that. I think that's it, that's great, because there is a bit of a reality check is that like, for some real estate agents, I believe they're, they're at the brink of extinction. Now I say some real estate agents, because some, in my opinion, are not doing what's good for the consumer. And we're living in an era more and more where the consumer is going to win. So for those agents, I think there will actually be applause that like, thank you, right, that those agents aren't with us anymore. Now, will there always be a bad apple infiltrating into every industry, of course, but I do think that those agents that are not innovating, they're not truly adding real value that the consumer will be replaced by a robot. And yet, there are people like Jay marks who are doing some incredible things with their clients, with the community and adding real value to where there's nothing to fear. So Jay talks a little bit about more kind of your perspective on that, why you say, the sky is falling, yet at the same time, everything's gonna be just fine.

Jay Marks  2:23  
Right? You know, first of all, it's been a statistic for years, that 87% of all real estate agents don't seem to get past the, to your first two years of their career. You know, as I walk into a room, I'm 25 years in the business, I can count on one hand, how many people been there, as long as me or between 17 and 25 years, there's not a lot of us up in the corner talking about the old days. But I will tell you this, that it doesn't really matter who takes over what and who buys who and what new technology if you are being authentic and being you, and most of all, staying in contact with your customers in your sphere of influence. You know, just this morning, we had our Monday morning meeting, and a part of our Monday morning meeting is to look at every closing. And at the end of every closing, we look at how the transaction goes how the client experience ago and is this person, someone that we would like to put in as a VIP, or someone that we want to make sure that? Yeah, let's include them in future marketing at a higher level. And someone really wants to in touch with you get referrals and things like that. And, you know, some closings are smoother than others. But we are we want to make sure we're adding value prior during and after the closing, we want to be the resource ever. Sorry, long answer.

Justin Stoddart  3:40  
Well, I think it's interesting what you just said there, Jay, if you're actually asking your team, is this somebody that we want to add into our VIP list because I think there tends to be a bit of a feel of like, if the person is has a heartbeat, then, of course, we want their business. But there are people out there that recognize the value and those that don't. And all they want to do is Jeremy on price when they don't have eyes to see the fact that there's a value that you're offering. And so the fact that you guys are making a decision, is this somebody that we want to invest our time in, right? Is this somebody that we want to invest time and resources into, to add superior value because they're going to get it and they're going to receive it and they're going to want to continue to reciprocate in the form of future business as well as referrals.

Jay Marks  4:26  
Right? You know, just recently Justin we had, we just put it under contract, we're going to close here in a couple of weeks. But I had a wonderful opportunity to put a house on the market of a friend of mine. And the friend of mine was very clear on the phone, we were talking he goes just so you know, I'm interviewing XYZ company and XYZ discount company. And he made it perfectly clear Matter of fact, when I wrote for my ride for my appointment, a road, that's a new word. When I arrived at the appointment, he'd already interviewed Company A and it was me then it was company see afterward, who was touting the I can do all of that for a really, really low price, like 1,500 dollars, something like that. And I was successful in convincing him of my value, and what we had to offer. And when we were putting the house under contract, I brought him here to my office and feel it behind me I've got a big TV on the screen there with the table, and I put all the offers on a spreadsheet on the screen. And that's what started going through him. He actually commented his wife, that company could not have done this. Because it was so no frills. And yes, there is a time and place for a discount and a quick transaction. Yeah, like whenever you're buying a book on Amazon. But whenever you're buying a house or selling a house, there's so much more to it. And it was neat to watch him realize the value without me having to say anything.

Justin Stoddart  5:51  
You know, a friend of mine mentioned to me that he doesn't believe that, that robots will ever entirely replace real estate agents because real estate is such a large wealth determiner. And I thought about that. And I thought, if and I'll add this in, if a real estate agent is actually in the business of helping people determine wealth, or increase wealth through real estate, I totally agree with him. There's some that don't write that actually, the only thing they do is help somebody buy and sell as opposed to teaching them how to buy, how to sell, like, where to buy, where to sell, when to buy, when it's like the things that you described you put up on the screen was data and insight that actually allows people to make decisions that will increase their wealth to where your fee becomes irrelevant, right. Whereas people aren't offering that then I'm concerned about them. And they ought to be, as I mentioned before, replaced by a robot and or they just need to up their game, right. 

Jay Marks  6:54  
So I think

the thing that the most current thing you just said there is people need to up their game. You know, whenever you show up for a if you're going out on a date, you're you've got nice clothes, a clean car, you know, you have an evening planned, you're ready to go. The same thing when you go on an appointment, you know, you want to be ready, you want to be on time and have all your facts and data...