Historic Home Red Flags in Jacksonville: Ep 342  Aubrey Wessolowski

REE #342 Full Audio

[00:00:00] Aubrey Wessolowski: I love real estate because, I mean, opportunity everywhere. I get an opportunity to build relationships with, I mean, people from all over, whether they're friends of mine, we get to build on our relationship, family, and then it just rolls on and on from there.

[00:00:50] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Today, we're talking historic homes, hyperlocal expertise, and what happens when a [00:01:00] finance background meets real estate. My guest is Aubrey Wasilowski—

[00:01:05] Aubrey Wessolowski: You it.

[00:01:06] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ... with the Gilman Group. I had her mom on just a weeks ago, Marilyn, at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Network Realty.

A Jacksonville native who traded a career in fintech for helping buyers and sellers navigate Avondale, San Marco, Riverside, and Murray Hill. She brings an economics degree, a design eye, and a deep roots in these neighborhoods. Aubrey, welcome to the show.

[00:01:28] Aubrey Wessolowski: Thank you for having me.

[00:01:29] Tracy Hayes: Thank you. Reading that intro there, tell us a l- a little bit about just on a day-to-day basis when you're working with clients, because we were just talking about interest rates and so forth, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: ... day after the rates went up here. H- Do you kinda that into your repertoire because of your, your interest in that field? Do you kinda have a little extra conversation than, say, a, a typical agent would?

[00:01:52] Aubrey Wessolowski: I think so, and I think not only staying up to date on where interest rates are at, where markets are [00:02:00] at, where market sentiment is at, you could have all the analytics in the world, but if you're not able to articulate that to an everyday buyer or seller, I think, you, may be doing them a disservice.

But I hope that I'm able to boil that down into layman's terms, you know, anywhere from a first-time home buyer who's looking at rates and doesn't maybe understand that historically rates have been, you know, around some of these numbers for 50 years, but the way the news presents it today looks very scary.

But if we can have, you know, a more well-rounded conversation about where rates are at, where rates are going, the jobs market, kind of put all of that into perspective, I think it's very helpful.

[00:02:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Well, I think some people—I call it stepping over a quarter to pick up nickel.

[00:02:47] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

[00:02:48] Tracy Hayes: That's something in of my, in my call center days of working at Quicken Loans and now Rocket, where that was a thing we would say. And when you actually start breaking down the numbers ... It's like right now, you know, what, should someone move right now? You know, [00:03:00] because maybe they do have a 3 or 4% interest rate on their home. You know, what is the math there?

Well, maybe you do have some equity. You can a down payment. Now you're gonna live over here. What does that mean? And obviously you can refinance. I think people lose, sometimes get caught up, and they don't do it every day like—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Or seeing everybody's situation like you and I do every day.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

Tracy Hayes: They don't, y- you have to kind of have a way of expressing it to them to, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... explaining, you know, what that 30,000-foot map looks like—

[00:03:27] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

[00:03:27] Tracy Hayes: ... to them, and what the actual future will bring, 'cause we've seen it, oh, you know, numerous times.

[00:03:32] Aubrey Wessolowski: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, there's a million different reasons to move, right? So, I mean, it has to, at the core, make personal sense to somebody. And we look at the numbers. Maybe we can look opportunity where we weren't looking for it before, and bring in all of the right heads to make sense of it.

Yeah. You know, maybe they have a financial advisor that can boil that down, too, and look at bigger picture and not just, you know, what their, you know, day-to-day finances look like. Well, like, what is your long-term [00:04:00] goal, you know? So—

[00:04:01] Tracy Hayes: You know, I never found a financial advisor that actually wise advice on buying a home, though.

[00:04:05] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:04:06] Tracy Hayes: They usually are—

[00:04:07] Aubrey Wessolowski: Well, you know, there now, some pros and cons there, but—

Tracy Hayes: ... taking a lot of different—

[00:04:12] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

[00:04:12] Aubrey Wessolowski: You know, opinions. But e- even a lender perspective, right?

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:04:12] Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, they can also look at somebody's balance sheet, if you will. And again, you know, looking at maybe the bigger picture, you know, finances and, again, someone's goals.

You know, maybe their is to move to a different school district, or maybe their goal is to, you know, move in, say, an elderly parent, you know, because that help may be valuable to them.

Tracy Hayes: Well—

[00:04:38] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, you s- you s- you just have to work out the numbers over time. I think a lot of people—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: You know, it's like, you there's a great meme out there right now that talks about, you know, yeah, you could put $20,000 down and save yourself much on the payment, but if you took $20,000 and bought the rate down, it would save you this much more.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: And it's looking at it in pers- those perspectives—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Instead of just going, “You wanna put more money down? Great,” and just go [00:05:00] with it, and saying, “Hey, you know, there's some other options.” And because we've had such a interest rate shock, of course it's been—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm ...

Tracy Hayes: You know, really since it was May of '22 when the rates—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: ... started to go up, and so forth, that, you and then the b- whole buy down thing comes in and all that kind of, you know, we were talking—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, yeah.

Tracy Hayes: All those types of strategies and, and, going into it. But let's jump in. Let's get back to, to your beginning. You're native Jacksonian.

[00:05:23] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[00:05:23] Tracy Hayes: What led you into, you know, going after an economics degree? What, was your vision of what you wanted to do as a career?

[00:05:29] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, man.

Well, a lot goes that. I think I knew, you know, I actually initially wanted to be in the fashion industry. I actually wasn't thinking economics. That's such a huge difference in career path. But initially I kind of wanted to go into more of a fashion merchandising or a design role. And again, looking at the bigger picture and what would serve me best long-term, not necessarily what I saw for myself as a [00:06:00] 16-year-old.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:00] Aubrey Wessolowski: Um, looking a little further down the road, I didn't know what that looked like. I feel like, you know, I, I went into business school being like, “Well, I wanna go into business.” And I think something was just enticing about it, like, you know, whether I making deals. And it's funny to look back on now because obviously I use so much of that, but I was in the forest.

I really know what that meant—

Tracy Hayes: Did you—

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... on a daily, practical—

Tracy Hayes: ... did you ever get an—

[00:06:22] Tracy Hayes: Opportunity to get into the fashion world in—

[00:06:25] Aubrey Wessolowski: Any perspective? Um, in some capacity. I mean, for fun, I worked in retail, at a different stores, throughout college. And then after college actually had a fashion and lifestyle blog with a friend mine here locally, so that was super fun.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And, you know, we could practice our writing skills, photography skills. The lifestyle side of it, we were visiting different restaurants. We were getting free meals restaurants, which, you know, it—

Tracy Hayes: It—cool. Hey, hey ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: As a, as a, as a new college grad was— ... a big deal, 'cause we're like, “Oh my gosh, do you wanna go free lunch today?”

Absolutely. And then we'd write about it—

Tracy Hayes: They were giving you free lunch—

[00:06:59] Tracy Hayes: To—

[00:06:59] Aubrey Wessolowski: [00:07:00] Oh, yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: To go—

[00:07:00] Tracy Hayes: Write a blog about their—

[00:07:01] Aubrey Wessolowski: To write a blog, to post it on Instagram, so that was fun. And we'd style things, you know. We'd, we'd style different shoots for, you know, maybe a different store. We'd interview somebody local that we thought was an impact.

So I got to work that a a little bit locally, which was super fun. Shout out The Honey Do. It's still out on Instagram, but it's more historical reference at point. So I would say, yeah, there were some creative juices were flowing back then. And then I actually ended up, you know, graduating with my econ degree.

I of fell into that, honestly.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But, you know, loved going through, you know, UNF. Again, a big, you know, local school.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So, you know, can definitely speak to that.

[00:07:45] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[00:07:45] Aubrey Wessolowski: But, undefeated team.

[00:07:48] Tracy Hayes: But—

[00:07:49] Aubrey Wessolowski: But—

[00:07:49] Tracy Hayes: I don't understand why they don't have football up there.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I know.

[00:07:52] Aubrey Wessolowski: I know.

[00:07:52] Tracy Hayes: I c- I was telling one of their board, I won't mention his name, but he's—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

Tracy Hayes: He's in my industry.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Okay.

Tracy Hayes: And I'm [00:08:00] like, “Why does that school not have football? You would be the next Central or South Florida.”

[00:08:04] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, yeah.

[00:08:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. In my, in my opinion.

[00:08:06] Aubrey Wessolowski: I wish. I know. Yeah. I'd be a huge fan, but at least we have Jags.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:08:06] Aubrey Wessolowski: Um, so, anywho, yeah, I, uh, went, you know, throughout kind of retail into working in the blog, worked in restaurant industry.

And then, you know, again, back to business—

Tracy Hayes: You know.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I had a little bit of, yeah, knowledge about the real estate industry kinda growing up in our family business. But it wasn't really at the forefront, and I didn't really start thinking about that until I got into more of a corporate role. And I just to have a bigger impact than sitting behind a desk—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and answering calls for, you know, maybe I was just member of a much larger team in a, you know, a big corporate business. And it just didn't feel like as connected to the end goal as I wanted it to be.

Tracy Hayes: Well—

[00:08:57] Tracy Hayes: Your creativity—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... your creativity that [00:09:00] you were showing earlier—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, no, I, I know exactly.

Tracy Hayes: We, we could talk for hours about—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... that alone.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes. Yes.

[00:09:00] Tracy Hayes: 'Cause that, that's a, a, challenge that I have in my—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... many creative ideas that I have.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:09:00] Tracy Hayes: What, so what happens in your corporate world that—you're like y- that you make this leap. Was there a layoff or what, what happens that causes you to jump in and, and get your real estate license?

[00:09:22] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. So the biggest thing would be the birth of my first daughter, Georgia. So it was a huge shift, obviously, a mom. This was right the pandemic. We went into the pandemic lockdowns when she was six months old. And luckily I was already working from home. I had a lot of flexibility in my corporate job.

But I still, you know, had her in daycare. I was picking her up. I mean, I was cutting those meetings short. I was, I was—leaving—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... work. I was like, “I can't wait to get done with this call, hang up the phone, and pick her up from—

[00:09:55] Tracy Hayes: School.” Does it always blow your mind, do you ever calculate how much money is being spent on some of these [00:10:00] corporate conference calls?

[00:10:01] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh—

[00:10:01] Tracy Hayes: If you advertise every—everyone's—

[00:10:03] Aubrey Wessolowski: Salary ... it was like a weekly call.

Tracy Hayes: And it—

[00:10:04] Tracy Hayes: Was like a—

[00:10:04] Aubrey Wessolowski: Weekly call.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:10:04] Aubrey Wessolowski: We'd have to be on it whether there was anything to talk about or not, right?

Tracy Hayes: Yep.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And I'm like, “Oh—”

Tracy Hayes: Yep.

Aubrey Wessolowski: “—my gosh.”

And every day it was something like that, and it was just like, “Why? What are we really solving here?”

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: “What are we doing,” right?

Like, I could be giving my daughter a snack right now, I could be taking her to the park.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And it was that sort of shift in my mindset that was like, “What are we really doing that's here,” right?

Tracy Hayes: Yes.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Like, I have to be here from 8:00 to 5:00, if not, you know, before or after, depending on the client's time zone.

But, like, it was just kind of, you know, a placekeeper on a calendar—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... all the time. And really my, you know, mindset had completely shifted and wanted to maximize my time and what I was doing my time personally, you know, professionally, all of the above. Right. So, I was really starting to get disenfranchised with my job when she was probably about a year old, and really started thinking about, “Okay, what's next?”

My mom had jumped into real estate pretty [00:11:00] full force, was very busy from the get-go. I can't—

[00:11:02] Tracy Hayes: Remember—Yeah ... how long was she in real estate before you got in? I can't re—

[00:11:05] Aubrey Wessolowski: She was maybe in for just about a year as well.

Tracy Hayes: Okay.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, so say it was incredible timing.

She, you, she was studying for her test as she was helping me, you know, with the—

Tracy Hayes: New baby.

Aubrey Wessolowski: With the ba- y- Yeah. Yeah.

So, at the house. So we were both in a whole new world, you know, both of us each trying to figure things out that were new to us. So, anyways, that whole, you know, situation was happening with her, getting super busy, and I was, like, on the other end, like, “I do not love what I'm doing.”

And her and I would, you know, just on phone, talk about real estate, talk about the market. We both lived, you know, a stone's throw from each other. She's in Avondale, I was in Murray Hill at the time. And just seeing what was happening in our neighborhoods, and also being just very plugged into our neighborhoods.

And she's like, “You know,” one day, I mean, it was just as simple as that. It was just like, “You know, why don't you just quit your job and come help me?”

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Like, “I could use help with marketing. I'm running all the time. Why don't you, you know, jump on social media? Could do [00:12:00] that.” Like, I think we both were starting to see we could help each other, and, you know, she was helping me the baby, and I could help her with work, and we could both, like, do really well at different things—

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... to help each other and be productive a- at the same time, and get to help others. So it felt very natural, and I think her just saying that, oh my gosh, I was so scared. I remember sending my boss an email and just being like, “Well, this is it.” And he called immediately. I even think two minutes had passed, and called me, and I remember it was dark out, and I just stepped outside to talk to him on my back deck, and was like, “No, really quitting.”

I was like, “I'm really done. I'm just done.”

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.

[00:12:39] Aubrey Wessolowski: And it was a little bit like jumping off a cliff, but—

[00:12:42] Tracy Hayes: Well, well, just y- because of the hundreds of agents that I've had on—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... everyone gets to this point.

[00:12:47] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

[00:12:47] Tracy Hayes: I've had a few really young agents on there doing very successful, but most people are coming from another career.

[00:12:53] Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

[00:12:53] Tracy Hayes: The support system that you n- obviously, you got, you're going through, “Okay, well, my mom's in the business. She's doing really [00:13:00] well.”

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: “I know she's got my back, so ... And I, I can learn. I see what she's doing.”

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: So it's not like you're outside the business. You can get in real quickly w- well—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

Tracy Hayes: ... just by going—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Hit the ground running, yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you watch, watch what she's doing. You're having a of conversations, so you already have a, a, a pre-up there. But obviously, for, most agents that I'm sure you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you've seen this when they come into bus- to have that, financial, padding—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: ... or your, uh, y- I assume your husband was working—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... that you knew that, “Hey, we could go thin for little while.”

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: I mean, did you, did you work this out? What kind of conversations does that sound like?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: You know, working out your husband. What was, what was his thoughts?

[00:13:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. No, he was like, “Go for it.”

I mean, he is my biggest supporter, obviously. Now we have two girls, and it's, yeah, I mean, every day is a figuring it out thing, but he knew how unhappy I was in my previous role. And he just wanted me to be successful at anything I could do, and vice versa. He actually had lost his job during COVID, went through a big layoff, and bounced [00:14:00] back from that tenfold.

Yeah. So we were like, “You know what? If we did that, you know, with his career—

[00:14:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:14:05] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... why not?” You know? It just felt—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... like a time that was very, there were so many shifts happening in the world, it was like, “Let's just throw this one there, too, whatever.” So, yeah, we kind, yeah.

[00:14:14] Tracy Hayes: Well, it does, it does help that mom is running.

[00:14:17] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[00:14:17] Tracy Hayes: And to—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

Tracy Hayes: ... say that you're gonna tag onto her and—and—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... things would roll, d- it makes it easier, but—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... I think family members can be the biggest drag down.

[00:14:27] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:28] Tracy Hayes: Or in this case, the support that he's like—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... “Yeah, let's do it. I, you know, I've got your back. Your mom's got your back.” It, it just—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... puts a of wind in your sail.

[00:14:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: 100%. I mean, I won't discount the fact that I basically jumped in, you know, with already a, you know, a pretty good footing, you know, under me already. It was not like, okay, like some new agents we see time and time again, and then especially nowadays seeing things on social media and seeing things, you know, on TV, looks very easy to get [00:15:00] into.

“Oh, I'm just gonna throw some pretty pictures up—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and I'll, you know, get a logo and it'll be fun.” Like, it was a little, you know, outside looking in, it's l- you know.

[00:15:09] Tracy Hayes: Wait, it's about six years now? Is it, is that—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes, mm-hmm.

[00:15:10] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[00:15:11] Tracy Hayes: But so in that time period, how many girlfriends have approached you, said, “I'm thinking about real estate”?

I imagine it's—

[00:15:17] Aubrey Wessolowski: I lost count, yeah.

[00:15:18] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So w- today, is, you know, you're at a, a cookout this weekend or whatever—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure ...

Tracy Hayes: ... or out to or something, and, and one of your girlfriends approaches you like that, what kind of conversation are you having? What are you them or what are you asking them?

How do you kind of—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... prep them for what real life real estate is?

[00:15:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: I think time. You know? I mean, that was something that, like, when I, you going back to my old career, you know, it wasn't necessarily like it was the 8:00 to 5:00, 9:00 to 5:00 schedule. It's, you know, what are they looking for out of their time?

You know, what makes them feel most productive, if that's even what you're looking for. But the schedule a real thing in [00:16:00] real estate, right? I mean, I feel like I'm tied to my phone—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... all the time. You you're a business owner. I think that's another thing, too, is you're not just an agent.

You're a business owner. You're doing the marketing. You're doing the finances. You should be, you know, on top of your reporting. You should be on top of, you know, multiple things in your business every day, really.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And that's a moving target every day.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So, a- and then how you actually going to capture business?

And have people trust you, and how are you going to capitalize on opportunities that, you know, if you're at home or if you're a mom, or, you know, some—like some of my girlfriends, you know, are you building your business at the playground? I mean, you can.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But will have to be your mindset, and if you can't turn that off, or you wanna be able to turn off, just know that that is probably not going to be—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... the business for you.

[00:16:50] Tracy Hayes: Well, there, there's no ... in the business that we're in when you reap what you sow and there's no one else, you're not on any salary or anything—[00:17:00] you, whether on my side, on the mortgage side, on the real estate side, if someone calls you at 8:00 at night, you, you gotta take the call.

[00:17:06] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:17:06] Tracy Hayes: It's just they're calling for a reason, and, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: And you—

[00:17:09] Aubrey Wessolowski: Should feel lucky they're you—

[00:17:10] Tracy Hayes: Yes ... at 8:00 PM too. Too ... and, and you dude. Now—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... obviously, as you get more experience, you build up, maybe you, you, you do have an assistant or, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm.

Tracy Hayes: ... maybe you do have a partner where one of you is taking a call 'cause you, “Hey, I wanna go on cruise this weekend.”

Aubrey Wessolowski: Okay. Sure.

Tracy Hayes: You know, I'll take your call. Just forward your phone to me and—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... take care of it. Those are the ideal situations, but when you're getting started, you, yeah, if you're the playground, you're still a real estate agent and you need to, and your, your marketing is letting everybody that you know know that this is what you do.

[00:17:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. I think those kind of conversations, being really honest with my friends. I mean, I've had friends that I'm like, “Yeah, absolutely, you'd make a wonderful agent.”

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But I have other people that I'm like, “You may not love that.”

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I'm here to tell you, I mean, it's the good, the bad, and the ugly, and—

[00:17:52] Tracy Hayes: There are people that like to check out at 5:00.

[00:17:54] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. They're—

[00:17:55] Tracy Hayes: Okay—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Which, they're—

[00:17:56] Aubrey Wessolowski: Good with that ... that's, that's awesome. But yeah, I just think being [00:18:00] honest. But, you know, I'm supportive of anybody wants to try it out and, you know—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... I, it's just like anything. You don't know until you know, so.

[00:18:06] Tracy Hayes: Well, since you make this, here, let me ask you this question directly.

Why do you think so many, you know, I think the number is give or 80% never renew their license when the renewal comes around? So we don't know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... whether they fell out the first month or lasted a year or not, but on their two-year renewal, they're out.

[00:18:21] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:18:22] Tracy Hayes: Why do you think that is?

[00:18:23] Aubrey Wessolowski: I think it's for all of those reasons and then some. I mean, I think honestly, it's the—want to not check out, right? Like, to not that off, you have to really want to, you know, in order to be successful in this business. Doesn't mean that you don't have boundaries. It doesn't mean that you can't take time for yourself.

But if you don't know how to manage that in a productive way, I think people just get burnout.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, it, it happens, and it happens to every agent. I mean, it's just how you bounce back from it. So, but I think, yeah, two years, and then you got, you know, CE [00:19:00] courses, and I gotta go back school?

And now I gotta do ... You know, there's just a laundry list of things that I p- I think also that might not be very enticing somebody else. They may look at it completely different than I do.

[00:19:12] Tracy Hayes: I'm gonna make you think about this question here.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: So coming in, your family had your business of developing and forth, so you kinda had an idea.

Moms and—Mom became a real estate agent about a year before you did, so—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you have a, you have an idea. But what was the biggest, I don't wanna say s- wanna the word shock, but what was the biggest, like, aha thing about estate—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... when you actually stepped into it?

[00:19:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Hmm. Good question. The biggest shock honestly wasn't—I don't even think it's a negative thing. I think it was actually how much of my background in finance and, you know, let's call it working leads. I don't really see my clients as leads. I don't, you know—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... buy leads or anything. I'm a r- in a relationship business.

But I was already doing so much of that, that I felt w- I [00:20:00] could pick this up and run with it, 'cause I was already doing so of that in my previous job. And actually one of the roles that I enjoyed the most in my old company, and I end up going, shifting a different role, so I was like—

Tracy Hayes: Mm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: “Man, I this.” Like, I think the biggest shock was that it was like, “Oh wow, I'm actually pretty good this.”

[00:20:17] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:20:17] Aubrey Wessolowski: Um, and you not to say that the—

[00:20:19] Tracy Hayes: The, the follow-up, the nurturing.

[00:20:21] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes. Yeah. So, so much of that I was already doing and I didn't know how that could, you know, go into this new business.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But I guess the other thing that maybe, more on a shocking, surprising way was, how much you could just constantly be doing. I mean, you know, you're a content creator, you know, gotta have your face on everything, be everywhere, be at networking events, be at the office, be really tuned into everything.

I mean, you could kind constantly—

[00:20:50] Tracy Hayes: I think your, your— ... be doing something ... your mom, and this out in one of her reels, and I remember in the, in our conversation, how she actually phrased it, but she gets caught up in the, her high, [00:21:00] her—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... enjoyment is the process basically.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

Tracy Hayes: She didn't say it quite that way, but she enjoys the entire process, which is important in it—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... 'cause if you do not like negotiating—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right ...

Tracy Hayes: ... if do not like following up and nurturing, it can a long road.

[00:21:18] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes. Yeah. I think she may have phrased it, and we hear this a lot nowadays, is, you know, working in your business and therefore you're not working on your business.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: You kinda have to do both. So, you know, we try to be very intentional about when we're not maybe, you know, working in our, in our business as much, then we're working on it. And so we back and we go, “Okay—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know, what marketing efforts can we do better? What skills can we refine?” So that way as soon as it gets and we're in car, you know, hours a day again, that we're like, “Oh, we already did that. We took care of that last week.” So, but it's, you know, you to always be thinking what to do next. And if you're not—

Tracy Hayes: Well, the—

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... constantly working on that, then—

[00:21:56] Tracy Hayes: Um— ... ...

[00:21:57] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you fall short ...

[00:21:58] Tracy Hayes: I think that, you know, if we were, [00:22:00] uh, I should probably go in and research and, or, or go back talk to a lot people about the, you know, we talk about social media and getting your dopamine hit.

[00:22:06] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:22:07] Tracy Hayes: And what I was thinking about when I was asking that question is her dopamine hit is the actual, the game.

[00:22:14] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[00:22:14] Tracy Hayes: The, you know, the getting, getting that person, getting them to trust and like you—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... finding the home them, negotiating the deal, and, and—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... and, you know, doing what needs to be done to get closed, right?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

Tracy Hayes: That's what ... And then when you get that—you go through that and you get that dopamine hit, now you're searching for the, how do I get the next dopamine? Okay, let get my marketing going. I gotta—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... let me increase my follow-up, 'cause I wanna get to the next hit.

[00:22:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. I mean, feel like we still get just as excited as we did five or six years ago when we were first getting this whole thing going.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But, like, having a new client, having a buyer, seller, you know, developing a whole new plan, like, we really, it feels like it's brand new all over again e- every time we do it. There's never, it never really gets old. So, that hit, if you will—

[00:22:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. ...

[00:22:58] Aubrey Wessolowski: It's like, yeah, we're always, yeah, we're always chasing that [00:23:00] high.

[00:23:01] Tracy Hayes: Um—The, the high of the next deal, and it's always nice to be rewarded. I mean, real estate agents—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you can make good money, but it's just one of the challenges that I don't know if will ever be solved, although, you know, there's out there, I think one of the big things, obviously you followed your mom—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: But when you look at other agents today, how important is it when in being with the right brokerage, how has that helped you, from that standpoint? And there's a lot of agents, they choose the wrong brokerage initially, and sometimes that kills them.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: As, or sometimes they'll go years before finding that right brokerage that all suddenly starts pouring value or teaching them some of these, “Oh my God, I didn't even realize this about real estate,” or—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: “Hey, this is how I could be a more effective follow-up person,” what—whatever it is.

But finding that brokerage that really, that you mesh with.

[00:23:47] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:23:47] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:23:48] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, so she was already at Hathaway, Hathaway, whenever I joined, so kind of went into it just trusting her judgment—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: Um, and other agents that she had known, that also either started there or [00:24:00] worked there. Actually, the real estate agent I hired when I my first house was a Berkshire Hathaway agent.

So, you know, again, just being plugged into the and who was, not a real estate agent, the most productive brokerage, but, like, as a consumer, you know, I saw those signs. I noticed those signs in the yards.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: At, you know, the houses that I liked and the ones I was interested in, something was eye-catching about their marketing.

And so I felt confident going in—to that just because I already had so much consumer awareness and I was like, “Okay, I think they're onto here.” And then speaking with Josh, our broker, obviously he's amazing and an amazing trainer and coach, and gosh, a therapist. So—

Everything, you know, kind of fell into place, and I think with anything, in the right room surrounded by the right people, the right technology, the right, you know, skills that, you know—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... were being flushed out in those rooms, it was just very eye-opening and still is. I mean, it's—we have, you know, weekly meetings, and I learn something every [00:25:00] time. I think another advantage of being at a brokerage like that is not just the training, you know, say new agents or seasoned agents, but it's also, you know, again, we're working amongst, amongst productive professionals.

Tracy Hayes: Yes.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And so, you know, the opportunities that I have for off-market listings or coming soon listings, things that maybe even make it to market, there's so of them are happening in our office, not necessarily offices down the street.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So that is a huge opportunity for buyers and sellers. Those are, I think, valuable to me.

[00:25:34] Tracy Hayes: Well, I think the state, I've made this statement many a times, is there are people like Josh—

[00:25:41] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

[00:25:42] Tracy Hayes: Cohen, Corey Hastings with Christie's, Round Table Realty, Howard out there.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: And there are others, I'm just naming those three. Kim Knapp is another one. She runs her own, but not, is not only president of NEFAR now, but also has her office that she runs with Coldwell Banker.

Just to name a, a handful there—

[00:25:58] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

[00:25:59] Tracy Hayes: That [00:26:00] are always trying to stay in front of their agents, keep giving them fuel.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Because, uh, I mean, that's what they should be doing as leaders. That it should be. But if you go with one of those brokerages who's not staying out in front of you, you've gotta do it yourself.

Now, some people do that. There's no doubt about it.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Most people can't. They need the collaboration or the camaraderie or the culture—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... of being, like you said, when you're going in the office and you're sitting down in the meeting and there's a bunch of other people that are producing just you are, or like, “Hey, you got...”

[00:26:00] Tracy Hayes: I'm sure, like you were just mentioning, “I've got a listing on,” and you're sharing it with other people in the office. They go, “I got a buyer.”

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Because these people are doing the business.

[00:26:41] Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

[00:26:41] Tracy Hayes: And they have people that are looking for certain types of homes and so forth.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: And, and that right there just fuels a, fire of collaboration.

[00:26:49] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, 100%. Yeah. I mean, it keeps you motivated. It keeps you grounded. We talk about our experiences, what we're seeing in the market, what we're seeing with rates, what we're seeing with homeowners [00:27:00] insurance. We can talk about things that are actually happening today—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know, that are r- you know, resonate with our clients.

So, you know, and then maybe I didn't necessarily see that situation, but I spoke with an agent in my office about it, and, you know, that could somebody else. So yeah, I mean, I think being around the right people with the right knowhow is—

[00:27:19] Tracy Hayes: Huge. I'm gonna put you ... This is, might be a, a question you might want, you may have it right off the top of your head, but you may take a second think about it.

[00:27:24] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:27:25] Tracy Hayes: But I think of the parts of business is every transaction is different. There's a different negotiation. Obviously, you got different people, different emotions, where, their backgrounds, whatever. And every transaction, it's from the buyers, the sellers, and the agents. Can you recall, a situation where you had, where you did, someone in the office say, “You know, I've got this I just don't know quite how to solve it.” And you're like, and they were able to share with you a similar situation that they had and how they solved it, and helped you solve yours?

[00:27:56] Aubrey Wessolowski: Ooh, yeah, I will have to think about that one for a second. [00:28:00] Hmm.

[00:28:00] Tracy Hayes: We can come back to it—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Okay.

Tracy Hayes: ... if you need a mo- it'll probably come, come to you, but—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: I think that's where a lot of, the value in taking some when choosing your brokerage—

[00:28:08] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

[00:28:08] Tracy Hayes: ... to, to investigate, to talk to of the agents, not just the broker.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: I'm sure talking to Josh, he's great, and—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... he thinks you're gonna be, you know, be a great agent, and he's, he knows the he brings to the table.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: But the importance of being able to converse with the other agents. You know, Josh can't, unfortunately, talk to everyone in the Berkshire offices all the time. You may have to wait for to finally get to you. I'm he tries to get back to everyone by the end of the day, but—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: ... there's sometimes where just going with that other experienced agent who's, you know, doing business, saying, “You know, I got this unique negotiation,” or, “Hey, I'm over Murray Hill where you got—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... some of these older homes. How you solve—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:28:46] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:28:46] Tracy Hayes: ... you know, some of these problems?”

[00:28:47] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I can think of, you know, a bunch offhand that happening right now.

I mean, my and I, we jump on the phone 10 times a day about, “Hey, this is going on. Have you ever seen this?”

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Just even if, like, I have an inkling [00:29:00] of something being a little bit different from the norm, right?

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Or whether it's a personal thing or a contract thing, we can on the phone and flesh that out very quickly, and if not one of us, either we know an agent or a professional somewhere somehow—will get to the bottom of it, or at least offer some perspective. But yeah, I mean, recently I had an agent from the office, reach out to me about pricing a house in Murray Hill, actually.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So we mentioned that. And from everything I've seen, sold, heard about, I offered my two cents on where I think they should be price-wise, and, you that's also where were thinking.

I don't think that their seller was necessarily thinking that's where—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... they wanted to go. It's—

[00:29:41] Tracy Hayes: But needed your backup. They needed you to—

[00:29:43] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

[00:29:44] Tracy Hayes: ... know, in this case, you somewhat agreed to them, whether—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: ... they go, “You're in the, you're in the zone.”

[00:29:48] Aubrey Wessolowski: I was like, “I think that, yeah, this needs to be the price,” and, they ended up pricing a little bit higher.

Lo and behold, it's out on the market for—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... I think a, a little over a month now, maybe longer, and they're now at the price [00:30:00] that I originally mentioned I think they should be at. And, and it's still sitting there. I hope they sell it soon.

[00:30:06] Tracy Hayes: Well, since you're on that topic—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... 'cause I know probably one of the questions, I did review the that we created—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: But it is, it's, it's always a popular one, 'cause here's the challenge right now in, that every agent's dealing with.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Is this situation where you have, you know, the agent s- recommends this price point—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... and the seller wants another 20, $50,000 more thing on the price point than what—the is telling you it's, it's valued at.

[00:30:32] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, yeah.

[00:30:32] Tracy Hayes: What does your conversation sound like with your sellers in those situations right now?

[00:30:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, I mean, I think try to remind them that they're also a buyer, you know, most times. You know, if they're selling a house, probably need else to live. And what is stopping them in their tracks right with so many listings on the market? What is making them, you know, stop their scroll?

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Whether that's Instagram or Zillow or wherever is they're shopping for homes. But, you know, what it outside of [00:31:00] their agent even telling them, “Hey, I think this is a great house. Should go check this out.” What is making them stop go, “Huh, okay, I wanna maybe go look at house,” or, “I a little bit more information”?

And it's the price, and it's usually a price that you go, “Huh, I'm surprised they priced it that way. I w-” And it, just starts making them think, right? We wanna be on the other end of that as a seller and make the buyers stop, and not have them think, “Oof, I'll wait, you know, maybe, and see what happens there.”

Maybe I'll, you know, drive by. Like, creating some urgency, I think, with the price—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... because that's what we're all doing as buyers too. Like, I try to frame that conversation as if they were actually a buyer and not a seller, and create, you know, what does that look like? Does value look like for you if you a buyer?

What's stopping you and making you think twice about going to look something? Because before we ever can even talk about offers, we have to talk showings.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: If you're not getting any showings, I mean, the, the price—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... is not it.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Like, that's, it's, there's a pricing problem.

[00:31:59] Tracy Hayes: [00:32:00] Well, y- I mean, and it's, it's gotta be put out there.

We, I think I probably on every episode we cover this particular topic—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... and the whole process of, okay, I think the value, you think the value's 600, the seller wants 625, whatever, 650. Okay, now you just mentioned, now they're back down to the price that, you know, you and the other agent—

[00:32:22] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:32:23] Tracy Hayes: S- in Murray Hill. But now all of a sudden this house has been on the market for a number of weeks. You've already had a price drop. The buyer's looking at it and going, “Oh—you price drop. How much will you go?”

[00:32:33] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[00:32:34] Tracy Hayes: Yes. You—and now you start this game.

[00:32:35] Aubrey Wessolowski: You've already showed your hand, right?

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, if you are now doing price drops, and now you've got an open house that's scheduled a week in advance, you're already telling everybody you don't have any offers. You barely have any showings.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So you're already marketing to everybody the wrong things. So if you just price it right from the get-go, you don't have to fight that feedback and not have anybody in the door.

I mean, if you don't have anybody—

[00:32:58] Tracy Hayes: In the door—How do, how do you handle the r- r- [00:33:00] rebuttal? 'Cause I imagine when they say, you know, well, you know, you want 650, the seller wants 650. You think that 600 is a better price point, and they come back, “Well, if we price at 600,” and they, you know, wanna negotiate.

You know, because I imag- in their mind they're going, “Well, if I ask for 650, maybe I'll get 625 and I'll be good.” But if you offer 600, are they likely to offer 575? How do you handle that?

[00:33:25] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. I think, how I handle it is really if we can to be on the lower end of it, or let's really look into our competition, right?

I mean, there's a new thing coming on the market every day. I, I was just looking at pricing a different house, and I actually, you know, my mom and I went to review it, and the very next day something else came on the market, another home, that kinda changed my thinking on that—

[00:33:49] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

[00:33:50] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... all together, like, already.

So, staying really live our data, because that conversation can change very quickly. So we're gonna introduce a new listing into the [00:34:00] market, that changes that conversation, and it's gonna change that whole negotiation with a buyer. Now they're suddenly going to see, you know, the neighbor's house.

So I think, you know, positioning it really in real time, and then, you know, a situation like that with pricing, I mean, hopefully if we're pricing it right, we're negotiating with two or three different buyers—

Tracy Hayes: Yes ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and not just one on the hook, and now, you know, we're negotiating out of desperation instead of just real, raw interest in the house.

That will get us way farther than just, you know, one set of eyes on it.

And then they have multiple options.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: You know? So buyers today are savvy, and I don't care where they're from—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... or if they're local, they all have access to the data, and they can see it, and they're savvier than ever—

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Really. So.

[00:34:45] Tracy Hayes: Now, you, put in your informa- you obviously, Murray Hill, you live there.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: Avondale, these all older—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right ...

Tracy Hayes: ... sections of, of Greater Jacksonville.

[00:34:54] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

[00:34:54] Tracy Hayes: It's not track homes.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

Tracy Hayes: There's not the same model. It's not every other house type of thing, where if you're down [00:35:00] in St. John's County—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you've that model four different times on the same street—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... sometimes, right?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:35:05] Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

[00:35:06] Tracy Hayes: So everything's a little unique. Does it, how does it differentiate a little bit when you're ... 'Cause, 'cause I, I agree with you, it's very important to see what else is coming on.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: You know, if there's another three-bedroom, you know, two-bath home, you know, which there probably are a lot those, it's just the layouts are different.

Are they on a corner lot or not?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: You know, those are unique things that make an address unique. How does it differentiate when you're strategizing the pricing? Because there's not necessarily, although there might be another three-bedroom, two-bath listed, but it's not gonna be that home because of the way it's laid out—

[00:35:38] Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

[00:35:39] Tracy Hayes: ... type of thing.

[00:35:40] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. So, I mean, in the historic neighborhoods, yeah, there's every flavor of house and era. And some of those houses, if they've been around for 100 years, they've probably been through a few renovations.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So I think really having boots on the ground, us being hyper-local in our neighborhoods and not just seeing the photos [00:36:00] online, like we are physically in neighborhoods.

Know, you know, street by street what are advantages of living on those streets. You know, also having some knowledge around, you know, the preservation rules, what rules are, what rules aren't there. You know, there can definitely be some pros and cons to, you know, what if a buyer or seller, you know, is in those neighborhoods, like what can you can and cannot do.

So I think just having a lot of in-person knowledge and knowing, you know, the systems in the home, what are the priorities, you know, for the buyer—

[00:36:38] Tracy Hayes: Well, it leads it—

[00:36:39] Aubrey Wessolowski: It, it could go on and on. It's—

[00:36:40] Tracy Hayes: My next question, you know, what are the buyers in, in these older areas, you know, is there some similar characteristics to them?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Are there—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... interests and, or age or anything you're finding right now in—

[00:36:51] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, I think so. I mean, so I've sold a lot in Murray Hill, and I think the biggest draw to the neighborhood is, you know, the lifestyle. I [00:37:00] mean, there's all of the best, you know, restaurants and shows, and the walkability, and just the access to, you know, downtown.

There are so many things going on in these neighborhoods. It's just really at the core of Jacksonville and, to be living on the cusp of that is really exciting. I think a lot of the buyers, too, want that special home. They feel like they can get that there. They don't want necessarily a cookie cutter home.

They want something that feels like them. They want something that of fits their vibe.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Um, so I think that that is what you're gonna find a lot in those neighborhoods, is who wanna be kind of, you know, have that still, you know, old neighborhood feel. You know, they can know their neighbors.

They can walk and, you know, go to a shop or a restaurant that they love, ride their bike. There's parks. Know, you still have a huge sense of community over there, but you're also on the cutting edge of, like, the new that's happening, and I find that to be [00:38:00] very, you know, thriving over there.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So.

[00:38:02] Tracy Hayes: Well, I imagine you come upon regularly in these areas, that that maybe, you know, somebody's lived in for 30 or 40 years—

[00:38:10] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

[00:38:10] Tracy Hayes: ... and needs to be ... he- Are there opportunities, you know, for people to come, go in, uh, in—

You know, they, obviously they, they like the layout and location of the home.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: But then obviously it needs the renovations. They can make it theirs.

[00:38:21] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. They can maybe keep some of the old, bring in some of the new. I mean, if—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you have that creativity and you, you know, appreciate some of the older details, I mean, yeah, a of these homes have hardwood floors, some have beautiful inlays.

Just, you name it. I mean—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... whether it's a kitchen or a bathroom, and there's different elements that bring in of the old, the windows, the crown molding, I mean, there's a different era, you know, some of these homes, that bring in those elements. But if they maybe wanna update to—with some more modern finishes, they can.

So yeah, there's—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... absolutely opportunities if people [00:39:00] are, you know, maybe there's a original home. We had that actually in Avondale, and I helped some clients buy this house, and I think this seller had lived in the home. I mean, he still had sticky notes—to, like, to, like, remind him, like, where certain light switches were and different things in the home.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: He had covered up the wood floors with carpet at point in time. But he had kept lot of the old, but my clients bought the home, renovated it, kept a lot of the old too, but brought in a lot of new, ended up selling the home about years later, and just really capitalized on all of the uniqueness of that home—and just made it that much more beautiful and kind of saw it its potential. So that's just really fun. Like, I love seeing that through 'cause it's, you know, yeah, not every is the same, but especially over there, no two homes are the same.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So you, we really get, like, a front-row seat a different situation every time, working in those neighborhoods.

[00:39:57] Tracy Hayes: Speaking of those types of homes, not [00:40:00] everyone has the ability to walk in and go, “Oh, this has possibility.”

[00:40:05] Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

[00:40:06] Tracy Hayes: How do you and your mom help them through, like, “Hey, this really needs an ... It's a great house, but, like, it needs a new kitchen”?

[00:40:13] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:40:14] Tracy Hayes: How do you walk them through, you know, whether it's financing, making that financing available—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: ... or obviously, “Hey, you know, you, I know you love this home. I realize you don't totally love the kitchen, but here's what ... You know, I've a contractor who can come in and give you an idea of what it would take it to make it kitchen.”

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: How do you handle those?

[00:40:33] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. So I think just speaking to them i- that same way.

Like, you know, knowing about their priorities, right? Asking them the right questions and what's important to them. We would never want to force ... anybody into something that, a whole situation they don't want. Maybe they love the home, but they just are not in a phase of life where they wanna rent out a kitchen.

Tracy Hayes: Right, right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: You know? That's fair enough. But if they do and they're up for it, I think connecting them with the right vendors, showing them [00:41:00]

[00:41:00] Aubrey Wessolowski: Examples of what could be, you know, maybe some other homes that we've helped with in the area, some other homes that sold in the area, and just kind of have them wrap their mind around what that process looks like.

And, you know, it may not be as intimidating as it seems. We obviously, you know, need to work through inspections and see—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... what really needs be done. Maybe it is, there's more to be done there than we expected, or maybe not. Maybe we're surprised, okay, this actually has had updated plumbing, you know?

Sometimes we pleasantly surprised. So I think just being really honest and doing our due diligence through the whole process and connecting them—

[00:41:38] Tracy Hayes: Do you, do you and your mom have somebody? 'Cause, I mean, if you're dealing with these, this situation comes up all the time, right?

[00:41:43] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, yeah, yeah.

[00:41:44] Tracy Hayes: You have some people on your sp- speed dial—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: ... to come in and con- and con- consult and numbers quickly. 'Cause I—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

Tracy Hayes: ... one thing I think that makes a difference between some of the, what I call lux- the luxury agent, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... it's not the price point, it's the service. Well—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

[00:42:00] Tracy Hayes: ... yes, but when it, the service level should be high e- whether they're buying a 3 or $400,000 home, or they are buying a million-plus-dollar home.

When comes to, “Hey, I really like this home, but, you know, we need to, you know, we need to update the cabinets. I don't like the cabinets.” You know, some people—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure ...

Tracy Hayes: ... whatever, whatever they ... Or, “Hey, I, you I've got carpet in here, but what's the hardwood floor look like underneath it? It needs to be redone,” right?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: So you g- having people, how important is it to have people on a speed dial to get answers for them, especially when it comes to dollars? Like, how much is gonna cost to do something like this?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:42:33] Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, whether it's a luxury home or it is, you know, just a, you know, relatively new home, you know, things come up all the time.

And, you know, the time aspect of these deals, it's a big deal. So—

[00:42:46] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:42:47] Aubrey Wessolowski: I just dealing with this yesterday actually, and there was a home that, you know, several of the windows need repairs, of various kinds. And I do have somebody on speed dial that is, you know, well-versed in many things [00:43:00] and licensed and insured and can, can actually speak intelligently to these things, but quickly, right?

Tracy Hayes: Yep.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Like, we want speed, but we also want precision, and I don't want to just trust, you know, somebody I just put in an internet search for—

[00:43:12] Tracy Hayes: And changing a, h- ... did an internet search for a window out in a old house in Hill versus a newer home in Ponte Vedra—

[00:43:18] Aubrey Wessolowski: Totally different.

[00:43:18] Tracy Hayes: In Nocatee. Yeah, completely.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Completely.

[00:43:20] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, yeah. So, I think we've, you over the years really vetted the vendors we work with. They know how we operate and vice versa. So they know that, you know, being expedient is very important. And—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know, also honesty. If they do need the opportunity to come out and see something in person, just let us know.

Let's set that up quickly, so we can, you know, come to the right resolution. Maybe we an extension. This is very up in the—

[00:43:49] Tracy Hayes: Air right now. Or maybe it's just making the offer. It could be or not they're gonna make the offer. Whether or not—

[00:43:52] Aubrey Wessolowski: How much—

[00:43:52] Tracy Hayes: ... it's gonna cost to fix—

[00:43:53] Aubrey Wessolowski: And—right. And if it's a competitive situation and we don't—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... really have time to waste, can these vendors come out on a dime, and [00:44:00] just show up quickly? Yeah, that's a big plus. And we go back to those folks—

[00:44:05] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[00:44:06] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... a lot because they maybe can jump on things like we do.

[00:44:09] Tracy Hayes: Well, just, just to circle back to office, I mean, how many, when you have other agents in the office who readily do—because is you might not run across the window thing too often—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: ... you know, or some other topic, but of a sudden you do. But when you have other agents in office who are moving and grooving, they someone in the office has with a similar situation recently.

[00:44:28] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:44:29] Tracy Hayes: Who do you, you, who who do you know is hot right that we can get out here and get a number?

[00:44:32] Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, our email's always buzzing with, “Who do we have for this?”

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: “Does somebody have a good this or that?” It's always out there, and luckily everybody's very responsive and supportive, you know, at least office. And that's—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... a huge value to us.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And we can also trust that who they're recommending is a professional and somebody, you know, they would use personally in own home.

That's a lot of, you the vendors I work with too.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Able to tell clients, like, they do work at [00:45:00] my house, and, you know, I trust them, and, you know, have good results.

[00:45:04] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:45:04] Aubrey Wessolowski: So.

[00:45:04] Tracy Hayes: When you're, I think the important point is, is anyone listening to the show, it might be, you know, if you're—if, if you're looking to in these areas, this is a unique of town.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: And you have unique situations.

[00:45:17] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[00:45:17] Tracy Hayes: And if you're working with an agent who's sold mostly new construction, they have probably don't have a clue on how to handle some of these situations, it's windows or plumbing.

[00:45:27] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

[00:45:28] Tracy Hayes: You know? The, or the electrical box is too old or built at the wrong time.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: These are things that older homes have—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... issues with—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Foundation issues ...

Tracy Hayes: ... in financing and insurance.

[00:45:36] Aubrey Wessolowski: Foundation issues. Yeah. I mean, yeah, they've seen hurricanes, they've seen flooding, maybe they've seen, you know, d- I mean, the roads even, I feel like are, you know, a challenge in some of these areas.

I mean, what's the parking situation like?

[00:45:50] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:45:51] Aubrey Wessolowski: So, I mean, these are different things that come up in these areas—

[00:45:55] Tracy Hayes: That—what are some unique, you said parking, in, on the streets. Made me think, what are some u- [00:46:00] unique things that only agent working in, was Avondale, Murray—what are some of the other—

[00:46:05] Aubrey Wessolowski: Riverside ...

[00:46:06] Tracy Hayes: Riverside.

[00:46:07] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:46:07] Tracy Hayes: What some unique rules? 'Cause there, I mean, they don't really have HOAs there, right? There's no, but there—

[00:46:13] Aubrey Wessolowski: They have—no, but in the historic overlay, there are rules through Riverside Avondale Preservation and things you cannot do to the exterior of your home. Or, you I think there's really a framework and, you know, they wanna keep the historic nature of the homes in the neighborhood.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So, you there's different process depending on what you're trying to do, whether it's, you know, putting in certain type of fence or, you know, you want to maybe change out the windows. There's, you know, certain windows you can't do that.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So yeah, I think having an agent that knows the rules, and not necessarily, you all of the rules, but they know where to go to find that information.

So bringing in the right resources, it's a huge thing 'cause, yeah, there's not a, an HOA.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: There's not one book of rules and regulations. There's kind of [00:47:00] maybe multiple channels you have to go through, through the city and through the preservation groups in order to know whether or not you can do those things, so.

[00:47:07] Tracy Hayes: 'Cause you could really tick off a buyer who buys a house and thinks they can do something to it, and then find out, “Oh, no, I can't get the permit for it 'cause they don't allow that.”

[00:47:15] Aubrey Wessolowski: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that definitely comes up. And so, you know, and, it could be a difference of a street, right?

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: That matters. You know, one street over that maybe isn't a thing. So, yeah, having, having an agent and having a team that knows that—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and where to go for things—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... is huge, especially in a timely manner.

[00:47:35] Tracy Hayes: It's gonna affect, definitely affect negotiation. Could affect or not you make an offer on the house.

[00:47:39] Aubrey Wessolowski: 100%. Yeah. Yeah. Somebody might not be up for that.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And that's, it, they may not want an HOA. They may not want rules at all. They may not wanna deal with any of that stuff, rightfully so. Somebody else, it doesn't bother them at all. So yeah. Yeah. It's really, like, having that knowledge going into one of these neighborhoods, that's a big deal.

[00:47:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah. It saves a lot of headaches.

[00:47:58] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:47:59] Tracy Hayes: Um, [00:48:00] know with these older homes you, have come across situations. What are some of the ...

While you were in process, you made an offer on the home, and now you're also, and you go out, and you do your due diligence, you got the inspector out there and so forth.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Give, tell us something that, uh, has come up recently with one of these older homes that it was a big deal, and maybe they, you guys dropped the offer or there had to be, the seller had to compensate or had fix something major because it was due to the age of the, the home or the property.

[00:48:28] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

I mean, just recently, and this could apply to even newer homes, but like I said, some these older homes have maybe seen a re- a renovation, a renovation or two over time. And there was a home that had a panel that I knew from the showing that this electric panel needed to be changed—for homeowner's insurance purposes.

This brand, I think, you know, was recalled years ago.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So I—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:48:53] Tracy Hayes: We run across it every so often on the lending—

[00:48:55] Aubrey Wessolowski: Side. Oh, every so often.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. And so it's not just, you specific to older homes, but, and this older home had [00:49:00] other things going on with it, too. But that was something from a that I was like, “Okay, well, I already know this is gonna be a thing.”

We don't wanna miss out on this opportunity because it checked the buyer's boxes, from top to bottom. But knew going into that deal that this was going to come up, and sure enough, it did. We luckily had the seller change out the electric panel, so that was a pretty big repair. But there were other things, I mean, even with the chimney, some of these chimneys in older homes, I mean, they're in a lot of them.

They were designed probably by the same, you know, builder—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... that was was in that neighborhood at that time. The chimney guy at the time.

Tracy Hayes: That was the, the chimney guy.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Yeah. No, my chimney guy could tell you who it is. But, you know, s- it's something that when I had my chimney guy over, he'd seen time and time again—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and had to explain to the buyers how that works, you know, with not having the proper damper system in the chimney, and this one was actually letting moisture in through the chimney—

Tracy Hayes: Mm. Yeah, that's—that's not good ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and into the walls and all sorts of things. So it was causing a whole lot of downstream issues.

But [00:50:00] yeah, so, again, bringing in the right team of experts that that's their thing. I mean, this guy is just a chimney guy—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know? So, and deals with historic homes all the time. So, in order to kind of bring a old chimney up to speed and, you know, homes that typically those, those chimneys didn't have caps because, you know, really the, there was no air in the home.

They didn't—

[00:50:22] Tracy Hayes: Right ...

[00:50:23] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... worry about AC in 1940. That wasn't even a thing.

Tracy Hayes: Mm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So, you now today, that air conditioning is just being sucked right out of the chimney.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know, now going—

[00:50:33] Tracy Hayes: Back—from, from when I f- when you flip the script—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... and go to the listing side, 'cause that case you were—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: ... on the buyer side, right?

[00:50:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

[00:50:38] Tracy Hayes: So you flip, y- you're on seller side. When you're going over and scouting out, you know, a home that that, you know, hopefully you're gonna get hired to list—

[00:50:45] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

[00:50:46] Tracy Hayes: ... and you're finding some of these things—in the of that one where the, the electrical box, you knew right away that was going to be a problem.

[00:50:52] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[00:50:53] Tracy Hayes: Why are agents not being more proactive in getting those, those things changed? 'Cause know it's gonna [00:51:00] be—they ... it could be the issue, to me, i- sales when you, y- someone an offer on a home, they're excited. But then all of a sudden in the next couple days or that inspection report comes back, there's a little, they're, you're gonna have a little bit buyer's remorse.

How much? Are they out or they're, like, they're gonna f- continue it? You don't know.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: But the that's on that inspection report and especially bigger things. Now, obviously the electrical box switched out, well, you may have to rewire the home. We don't know how far—it goes, right?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, exactly.

Tracy Hayes: You know.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: So we don't know how far it goes. Could be the ticket of someone, you know, jumping off the hook.

[00:51:36] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Uh-huh.

[00:51:36] Tracy Hayes: And why are agents not more proactive in trying to solve those before they become that opportunity for the fish on the hook to jump off?

[00:51:45] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, great question. I don't know. I don't know. I, I don't know if—

[00:51:52] Tracy Hayes: I have my thoughts.

[00:51:53] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I guess some of them may think, “We'll cross bridge when we get there.” You maybe they [00:52:00] notice it, they don't wanna scare their seller. Maybe they're scared of that honest conversation.

But we at least try to have those conversations up front as much as we can.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: As much as we know, right? We can't know everything, and sometimes things change by the day. But yeah, it's very surprising, and it's something hopefully we can speak to when we go see homes, like, “I'm—I'm surprised they didn't do that,” or just a little bit of something.

Like—

[00:52:24] Tracy Hayes: Well, to me, you've negotiated this price, which maybe they did come in, you know, they wanted 600 and they offered 575, and then, you know, maybe you came in an agreement. Now all of a sudden you find the electrical box is, is screwed up. Versus like having that done before, knowing that when you come upon the agreed price, you're not gonna have this other $5,000 expense to have the place rewired or replumbed.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, yeah.

Tracy Hayes: I mean, plumbing is another—

[00:52:47] Aubrey Wessolowski: It's—

[00:52:47] Tracy Hayes: ... another big one ...

[00:52:47] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... concern in some of the—

[00:52:48] Tracy Hayes: Older—

[00:52:48] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... homes. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. I mean, I think on the buyer they're looking at this, you know, basically this invoice that in their head that's like, “Wow, okay, now I've gotta [00:53:00] do this.” You know, they're looking at a laundry list of repairs.

And they're ticking that off in their head, whether they negotiate that into the deal. And now, you know, the seller is perturbed, and it creates this whole kind of contentious—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... maybe environment that nobody wants. I mean, wants to, the buyer wants to buy and the seller wants to sell, but there's—

[00:53:20] Tracy Hayes: This—there's already enough stuff that you don't know about.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right. Yeah.

[00:53:23] Aubrey Wessolowski: So, you know—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. That's—

Aubrey Wessolowski: So, you know, going into those—

[00:53:24] Tracy Hayes: That's gonna—

[00:53:24] Aubrey Wessolowski: Come up.

Going into those situations, right—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... that there are potentially some repairs. You know, pre-listing inspections, some, you know, sellers are open to that, maybe some aren't.

[00:53:35] Tracy Hayes: You like that? I like pre-li- I think they're, I think it's a great idea.

[00:53:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: I think it's a great idea. I, I, I do. I—

[00:53:39] Tracy Hayes: Especially for an older home.

[00:53:40] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, especially for an older home. You, I actually am getting ready to start preparing to sell a client of mine's home. And, you know, actually working with her on buy side recently, she had a completely different experience when she f- purchased her first home with a different agent. She's like, “I had no idea.”

And she went through that process before, [00:54:00] it's an older home—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and she didn't have a full home—

Tracy Hayes: Mm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... inspection. I just could not even fathom that, right?

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Like I cannot even understand how that happened. She's like, “I'm pretty it was just for insurance, like, I'm pretty the agent was just like, ‘Do a four-point real quick.’ It was like a 30-minute thing. Boom, boom, done.”

She has no idea what's going on with this house when she it years ago. And fast-forward to now, she bought a home. We did a very thorough home inspection, added on all of the things. So, you know, she got to learn a lot about the home she was going into.

We negotiated, you know, other and other things. But now she's looking at selling own home, and I'm like, “You know, we can do a pre-listing inspection your home, and we can get ahead any of these potential issues—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... or maybe they're non-issues going into it, so you just know there's not gonna be any surprises along the way.”

And of course, every inspector's different. They're gonna find different things. But at least going into that, she's going into it with anxiety, 'cause [00:55:00] she's just going off of her past experience that's like, “I knew nothing. I still nothing.”

“Now I'm working with you, I know so much.”

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Her head's spinning.

So yeah. So, you know, just again—

[00:55:12] Tracy Hayes: Well, I mean, that- that's why you and your mom are great.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: I mean, the, and, and the elite agents, that's what, and, you know, a very small percentage make a majority of the money in this business, is because they are doing those things with confidence. They're being the, the concierge, the Sherpa.

Aubrey Wessolowski: The Sherpa. Oh, okay. I wasn't thinking that—

Tracy Hayes: Right? You're guiding them, right?

Aubrey Wessolowski: But—

Tracy Hayes: You're guiding them, right?

Aubrey Wessolowski: I wasn't thinking that—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, Sherpa ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... but I'll take it.

Tracy Hayes: But you're guiding them.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: That's what they're hiring you to do, to guide them through this—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

Tracy Hayes: ... and then let them know, “Hey, there's a cliff over there.”

[00:55:36] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, and I'm surprised the time, right?

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Like, no two inspections are alike. For better or worse, sometimes, like I said, I'm pleasantly surprised. Maybe I thought there was an issue, maybe, “Hey, we need to check behind that. There might be something there.”

[00:55:48] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[00:55:49] Aubrey Wessolowski: “Oh, maybe there's not.” But I would rather know, and I would rather my clients know, and be able to sleep at night, and know we just, you know—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... crossed every T, dotted every I, especially [00:56:00] in these older homes. I mean, you gotta have an inspection—

Tracy Hayes: Well, we—

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... on a brand new home, too, so—

[00:56:04] Tracy Hayes: Um. Well, I, I, I've, you know, I often use the analogy every buyer or seller that you're working with at moment in time is your billboard, is new billboard that you're putting up, that's going to be, hopefully, a billboard for you after the closing that's going to, that's going to tell other people about, you know, your great service and so forth.

And if you don't point out some things, or you have a, a cheap done on a home, and they don't point something out, and of a sudden, six months later, that's the issue, the number one person on the list that they're gonna blame is you—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... as the agent. You know, you may go, “Oh, they're gonna blame the inspector for not doing his job.”

No. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe they blame you, because you referred the inspector, so now you're also brought into the same pool, so they're not gonna use you again. So now that billboard's taken down.

[00:56:52] Aubrey Wessolowski: And I have some of those experiences, too, where—

Tracy Hayes: Mm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... I've been, you know, on the end of some bad news.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And I've seen that happen [00:57:00]. And again, we're vetting our vendors all the time, and, you know, my mom and I was, “Don't use that person. They messed this up.”

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, none of us are perfect, but we've seen some things, whether it's, you know, in our own business or agents we know, and word of mouth everything.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, so yeah, we're all a walking billboard, and, you who we recommend reflects on us. So I think, you know, we really have to tried and true when it comes to who we're recommending.

[00:57:26] Tracy Hayes: Well, z- so it brings up this next question. You know, when, you have someone that obviously loves the historic district, Avondale, Marco, you know, all the things that we've just been talking about for the last probably 15 minutes, one of the big factors when it comes to that home is insurance.

[00:57:42] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[00:57:42] Tracy Hayes: And what ... So what are some of the conversations that you ... I mean, maybe you can think of so- something recently where, you know, whether the, it was the inspection or obviously where the home's located, where insurance becomes a factor in, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... “Hey, we need, this needs to be repaired or we can't get insured.”

[00:57:58] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. We touched on a little bit [00:58:00] earlier with plumbing. I mean, a lot of these homes have cast iron plumbing. So that's something we run into all the time. Whether or not the entirety of the plumbing needs to be replaced or if it's certain sections, I think really knowing the full scope of, you know, what we're looking at.

The electric is a big thing. A lot of these homes have cloth wire. Is that an or not? Is the cloth wire still intact, and is it, you know, still looking good for the foreseeable future, or are we talking ripping out walls in some of—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... these old homes? I mean, we've had that recently where it was cloth wiring that was in really good condition.

And in that case, according multiple electricians, it was fine to leave. But what needed to be updated was the wiring and the panel, and the panel as well, and certain things kind of, you know, repaired there. But, yeah, I think working with the right experts that can really, like, investigate what's going on with the home—

[00:58:54] Tracy Hayes: Are experienced with stuff—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Experienced, right.

Tracy Hayes: 'Cause not everyone's experienced. As people get older and these homes get older—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you, there's [00:59:00] only so many people who know how that actually works.

[00:59:02] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes. Yeah. So also having a, a good team that is well-versed and experienced in the older homes, it goes a long way because, I mean, we're talking about history.

[00:59:13] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:59:14] Aubrey Wessolowski: And like, why it changed, and why it was this way, and then, yeah, we're not looking at just, you know, replacing these items—

Tracy Hayes: ... if it, it turns into suddenly a whole other project, and maybe—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right ...

Tracy Hayes: ... we're able to speak to, “Oh, okay, well, this was done when the kitchen reno happened, so that makes sense,” and we can kind of piece together permits over time.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Can, we can—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... research that more. So yeah. But the insurability thing is a big deal. And, you know, what we're running into there, and we have kind of some go-tos on the insurance side, too. They can tell us, you know, in the neighborhood, you know, what's going on, maybe what changes are happening.

I feel like it's ... every house we treat, it's a new old house.

[00:59:51] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

And it's like, “

[00:59:52] Aubrey Wessolowski: Okay.”

Tracy Hayes: It ha—

[00:59:53] Tracy Hayes: Ha- has a different history.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Different people have lived in it—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... and it's done different things at different times. Or—

[00:59:57] Aubrey Wessolowski: Maybe they only renovated half of it, and it's like, “Okay, well, [01:00:00] right, why did that happen?”

[01:00:00] Tracy Hayes: And—or they added on this room and, like, didn't get it permitted.

[01:00:04] Aubrey Wessolowski: Didn't a permit. Exactly. So yeah, trying to retrofit all of that is, yeah.

[01:00:10] Tracy Hayes: Now, these are not ... I mean, the, this is your jam because obviously you grew up in these areas, so you enjoy it. But obviously you do sell newer homes.

I'm sure you have—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you know, a handful of new construction homes, 'cause just depending on where your, your clients live. From, as far as, listing in this older area of town, what are, is there any ... are you doing anything different? Because there obviously is a little bit, possibly a little bit different clientele.

Do you like to do something a little different, do you think works for you as far as marketing?

[01:00:36] Aubrey Wessolowski: Marketing, I think, and maybe not just focusing on the home, but again, the lifestyle in some of these communities, if we can showcase the shops, if we can d- showcase the parks, and just really bring in, you know, multiple aspects of what it feels like to live there, not just how many bedrooms or bathrooms, but, you know, what does it feel like to be able to out your front door and go to Riverside Arts Market?

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Like, [01:01:00] what is a nice fall afternoon in Avondale feel like? You know, we have the privilege of our office being right in and being very plugged into the community and knowing when, you know, Amplified Avondale's happening on Friday nights, and being to to that with clients, and then also in our marketing, is a huge advantage, 'cause, you know, we're also involved in different community efforts, my mom and I, things that are always going on in the neighborhood and at schools and, you know, different organizations we're involved in.

So—

[01:01:30] Tracy Hayes: It's a little, lifestyle is the important—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... word. I think the Nocatee person is promoting a lifestyle, but it's a different lifestyle—

[01:01:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure ...

[01:01:38] Tracy Hayes: ... than what someone that's looking in the older districts there. So knowing what those lifestyle desires are, and having—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... obviously grown up there, you, you kinda got a feel for what's—

[01:01:48] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, you know. I mean, my family and I, we were just walking around San last night. It was so beautiful. It's like Florida fall for the first time. So we were just taking it in, and we have to drive to the shops of San Marco [01:02:00] Square, but, you know, it's nice to just be able to park and walk everywhere. I don't know if you get that walkability in a lot of areas—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... of Jacksonville, but we parked for the night, we went to dinner, and then we walked out. We actually took the scenic route through the homes to the park, and we were able to stop and look at lake, and there's other people, you know, running clubs running around—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and people fishing, and we went and walked to the playground, took a different route back, and got a totally different view, saw some dogs.

Like, you—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: It's just so picturesque, and all the homes are so different. There's a Mediterranean home. There's a style home. And then there's always new things popping up, too, so we get—

Tracy Hayes: Mm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... like a really cool mix of the old and then, like, the new things coming into the neighborhood the time, 'cause I think it's m- you know, an exciting place to put something new.

So there's new restaurants always coming in.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: It's like we always have something new to try, but we always just get this nice homey community, you know, vibe. It's so [01:03:00] pretty. So, we enjoy it.

[01:03:02] Tracy Hayes: Well, there's a push downtown—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you, I, I know of it, but I don't know the details personally.

You pro- I'm sure you do. Of, you know, some new construction going down there. Obviously, you know, one challenge Jacksonville has had is what we consider downtown Jacksonville at night is k- quite quiet—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right ...

Tracy Hayes: ... 'cause everyone lives the suburbs—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

Tracy Hayes: ... if you wanna call it that.

Aubrey Wessolowski: That. Yes.

[01:03:25] Tracy Hayes: Are that, is that new, what does that new construction push some of these new communities?

I know th- th- I think there's some town home communities, I'm sure you can—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... give us some details on. Are they having an effect on some of the pricing that you're having in, in the San Marco, Riverside areas—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... that border them?

[01:03:42] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, yeah. Some of them are bordering right on the communities, some of the older, so yeah, I think they do have an effect.

Again, it depends on that buyer's comfortability with buying an older home. Maybe they're like, “I really wanna be in the neighborhood, but I don't wanna deal with old house problems.”

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... [01:04:00] they may look at a town home, and some of those being built right there on the Bank. Maybe they want to be on the forefront of what's happening downtown.

So that it's, is a great option for them. But some the, you know, construction that h- is happening downtown are able speak it's so exciting—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and finally feels like, you know, things are happening beyond rendering. So that's been very exciting to see. And some of those places too are, you know, in Jacksonville terms, a stone's throw away from—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... San Marco, Riverside. So there's still a lot of work to be done, I think. I mean, we still gotta get some more energy down there. But, you know, we kinda have the best of both worlds 'cause you've got, like, the community feel in the older neighborhoods, but then downtown is growing, and there's a lot of fresh energy there.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Um, and so i- it's pretty palpable, I think.

[01:04:52] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:04:53] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[01:04:53] Tracy Hayes: Well, I think it's common sense and reality that especially older neighborhoods, decades and decades and decades, time [01:05:00] goes. You know, obviously they're hot, you know, they're new, right? Everyone want—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you know, in Austin. Time goes on, and the people living there get older and, you know, maybe the houses aren't kept up as well, and then opportunities present because those people will pass on or move, know, wherever, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Know—yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Or whatever season of life—

Aubrey Wessolowski: They're in ...

Tracy Hayes: ... as, as like they, o- they age out basically.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: And then, you know, renovation or, you know, economic opportunity or just obviously the price point of the home is—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... is just right, so you get a new group moves in. And I imagine some of those areas have probably done that two or times.

[01:05:34] Aubrey Wessolowski: Over time. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. And then now, you know, with, they're bringing in some of the different colleges downtown, I think that'll—

Tracy Hayes: Mm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know, bring some more young opportunity there with obviously the students and then maybe some of the jobs coming downtown. That's definitely a lot of opportunity there.

There's Jacksonville University and University of Florida gonna have campuses downtown. But then on the opposite end of that, you've [01:06:00] got, you know, Vickers Landing that's coming to Riverside Avenue just overlooking downtown.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So there's just a whole new population that's coming in downtown, so, you know, that are in those different seasons of life.

Tracy Hayes: Yes.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So it'll be interesting how that plays out over the next—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... 10 years, let's say. You know, the impact on businesses that come down there, what future development looks like. But there's lot of different stuff happening all kind of at the same time. Finally, it's like this big push.

So, but yeah, kind of being, you know, center stage to that in some of these neighborhoods is exciting.

'Cause again, we've already got a lot of neighborhoods around there. Downtown is just gonna amplify that even more, I think. So, exciting.

[01:06:41] Tracy Hayes: Well, speak to, you know, you're raising your family—

[01:06:44] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

[01:06:45] Tracy Hayes: ... in San Jose. What do families need to know about, you know, so there's obviously the age of the neighborhood, the schools are gonna be a little older.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: But what is someone moving into that area that maybe is a similar makeup of your family age and so forth, and [01:07:00] kids—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: ... gonna gonna go off to school and so forth, do they need to know that they necessarily see in that listing description?

[01:07:04] Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure. Yeah. I mean, I'll speak to our own experience.

My husband and I bought our first house in Murray Hill, just the of us, no kids yet. We actually bought the house together before we were even married, and—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So that kind of, yeah, married us. But—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you, it was a smaller—we only had one bathroom. We were not looking at 10 years down the road.

This was definitely, you know, our home, but we also weren't thinking about, you know, what that would look like with kids, and how that affected our housing. But then just a few short years later, we did end up having our first, and we were like, “Wow, this is gonna get tight really quick.” You know, all the stuff that comes with kids.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So we quickly needed more space, but I think Murray Hill, it's very typical for Murray Hill to have one bathroom, be about 1,200 square feet. Like, that's pretty there. That- that's, you know, and I would say that to a buyer or seller too, like, if you've got a second bathroom, that's a goldmine [01:08:00].

[01:08:01] Tracy Hayes: If you're looking in another neighborhood.

Yeah, if you're gonna do anything, add a bathroom, right?

[01:08:03] Aubrey Wessolowski: Add a bathroom. Yeah. That goes a long way there.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So, but yeah, so for families there, it might be, like, your first stepping stone. There are some bigger homes, but, you know, and bigger backyards, but you really gotta know where to find them.

It's, it's a short, a small pool.

Tracy Hayes: Mm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But, yeah, and so then when we ended up moving to San, it was just we needed more space. And I could feel the energy of San Marco, still in San Jose. It ... just south of it. We're just south of, you know, Hendricks turns into San Jose. School districts are definitely a thing.

I know Hendricks Elementary is a big school, a lot of folks try to get. It's an A school. But if you're right beyond the line, suddenly you're not in Hendricks School District anymore, and it's very competitive—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... from a school choice standpoint. But, you know, for us, we needed more space, and I could tell that the values in San Marco were going up, and up, and up, and they pretty much still are.

Tracy Hayes: Mm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But those values have now [01:09:00] trickled down to San Jose, and we're seeing, you know, Lakewood and San Jose Forest that if you were looking in San Marco, look just south of that, 'cause you're five minutes from San Marco—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and you can get a lot more space or, you know, into a different neighborhood, there's kind of a lot of gems over there that—

[01:09:19] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:09:19] Aubrey Wessolowski: Maybe haven't been tapped into yet the way San Marco has.

[01:09:21] Tracy Hayes: Well, I, I would imagine in that whole area, b- I just because every home is basically different—

[01:09:26] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

[01:09:27] Tracy Hayes: Y- working with an experienced agent like yourself y- and your mom d- that knows the area very well—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... you know where these hidden gems are 'cause pass them regularly.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: Or—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, we alongside ...

Tracy Hayes: ... may have seen them with another c-

Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh.

Tracy Hayes: ... buyer or something like that or, or, or—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... or listing.

[01:09:40] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[01:09:41] Tracy Hayes: First-time homebuyers.

[01:09:42] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

[01:09:42] Tracy Hayes: In Riverside and Murray Hill, what do they consistently get wrong about the area?

[01:09:49] Aubrey Wessolowski: Ooh, good question. What do they get wrong about the area?

[01:09:53] Tracy Hayes: Or maybe what their mindset is. I don't ... You know, what, what is it when they you and you're like, “Oh, that's not quite how it is.”

[01:09:58] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Yeah. [01:10:00] I mean, I've gotten some first-time buyers, and even second-time home buyers, that are, maybe on pricing in the neighborhood and, maybe, you know, specific locations in those neighborhoods, how quickly it can change, and what's Riverside to one person is Avondale to another.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: You know? And really where that line is—

Tracy Hayes: Right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and how that affects values. And can change quickly. Expectations around condition and some of those, you know, major systems like we were talking about earlier. Like, I think going into it knowing that not every house has been updated.

This is maybe priced accordingly, maybe not, and we've really look at that. But—

[01:10:41] Tracy Hayes: Well, I imagine you know, the time home buyer is obviously like a little more maybe just s- some these houses are just renovated, but who renovated them, right?

[01:10:48] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes. Yeah. There's a ton of flippers in the neighborhood, if will.

And, you know, they're not all created equally. So, you know, knowing what to look for sure. Some of it is blatantly obvious.

[01:10:59] Tracy Hayes: [01:11:00] Mm-hmm.

[01:11:00] Aubrey Wessolowski: Of it is done really well. So we've seen it all. Um, we'll continue to see new—

Tracy Hayes: More ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... I'm sure.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. So, I think, yeah, with an agent and professionals in general that just know what they're looking at and know, you know, what to investigate is, uh—

[01:11:16] Tracy Hayes: Well, that leads me into my next question.

When you're going out on a listing on one of these homes, you got a listing appointment, you go, well, what are some of the things you're looking for when you're going out and, and looking at the home before you, you make a presentation?

[01:11:28] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. I mean, there's plenty of brick homes and, you know, we see cracked, you know, step-down cracks and, what kind condition is that in?

Maybe we have to bring somebody in to get a second opinion. Again, that goes into foundation.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: We've got multiple contacts for that. Are we ... You know, and same thing for inside of the home. Some of that manifests in walls. We're looking at things like, ooh, these are things we would look for if we were showing this house to a buyer.

[01:11:55] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:11:56] Aubrey Wessolowski: Maybe we need to look at that a little bit deeper. But yeah. [01:12:00] Anything from, I mean, checking sinks to just get an of the plumbing and like, oh, we can tell that's galvanized.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: We can kind of tell some of the surface level things that, okay, maybe there's little bit more work here that needs to happen.

So yeah. It's just kind of getting that first little, you know, inkling into like, what are we doing for this journey?

[01:12:21] Tracy Hayes: This is getting my mind me to—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... talk about listing appointments going out.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: I mean, I'm sure you've had it, but if you share with us one of those ones where you, you walked and you're like, “Oh my goodness.”

And you really had to have that kind of heart-to-heart conversation with the seller—

[01:12:36] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

[01:12:37] Tracy Hayes: ... of what, some more, there's some stuff that seriously needed to get done before you were willing to actually put your name on it.

[01:12:43] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. You know, runs the gamut. We had one recently where i-

It's, the home itself is nice.

It's a nice home.

Tracy Hayes: Mm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: The amount of stuff—

Tracy Hayes: And there's, uh—

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... there's personal reasons why too, right?

[01:12:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:12:57] Aubrey Wessolowski: I won't get into—

Tracy Hayes: Oh, yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: But, you know, it's also a husband and wife situation. [01:13:00] Or physically. It's, yeah. There's gonna be physical work there—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... that needs to be done, right?

Like, and we are, you know, absolutely willing to, you know, get our, you hands dirty and get in there and help folks that need, you maybe some just extra grease and get some things done. But a certain point, you know, it goes beyond our scope and we really need some professionals.

Maybe we need to get a little creative. But yeah, I mean, just other day, it's, you know, the, when it comes to stuff, this is either an estate sale situation. This might be bringing in, like, a museum. I, I'm—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... talking—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... like, stuff that we've never seen before. You know, my mom and I were just kind of, like, looking around like—

[01:13:42] Tracy Hayes: Wow.

[01:13:42] Aubrey Wessolowski: “Okay, we've got our...” like, I don't even know. But we, as start, you know, the wheels turning, and we're like, “Okay, well, we know this person, this per- all right. We could, we do something here.”

A- and that's not even about selling the house. It's there's a whole journey sometimes before we even get to the house.

Tracy Hayes: Stuff.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Stuff. Yeah. You know, we'll cross that bridge when we get [01:14:00] there because before we can even see the house, really gotta, like, move—

[01:14:03] Tracy Hayes: Well, that's why wanna move into there, 'cause there is a story there.

[01:14:06] Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

[01:14:06] Tracy Hayes: Right? There's actually trees, which, you know, some of these new subdivisions have no trees.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: New subdivisions have no trees. Yeah. But there's a story and some of these people have been living in home, or their family has lived in the and they haven't really moved it for decades.

[01:14:19] Aubrey Wessolowski: Decades. Yeah, yeah. There's, yeah, there's always a whole background story how—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know, somebody ends up picking up the phone and calling one us.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I mean, there's a whole life there. So—

[01:14:30] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

[01:14:30] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... being really sensitive to that. There's another house we currently have on the market, and yeah, it's been in their family for years, and this is, you know, the whole kind of in on, you know, the decision-making and what happens next. If someone's—

[01:14:42] Tracy Hayes: Passed away or there's, or had to—

[01:14:44] Aubrey Wessolowski: On, and they get—yeah, just moving on.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: They're—they're just aging—

Tracy Hayes: It—

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and needs to move out. It's a lot of house and—

Tracy Hayes: And the family's now—

[01:14:49] Tracy Hayes: In control.

[01:14:50] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Yeah.

And there's a lot of house and property there to upkeep. So, yeah. But there's also a lot of pride in that house—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... because, you know, this father built some of the [01:15:00] stuff with his hands, and he did of the millwork in the home, and it's beautiful.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And so, I mean, knowing that, you the next buyer's gonna walk in there, maybe keep of it, maybe not. They're looking a whole project. But yeah, mean, the way we communicate—

Tracy Hayes: Delicately ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... with care.

[01:15:16] Tracy Hayes: Yes.

[01:15:16] Aubrey Wessolowski: And, you know, what does that look like going forward—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... through the whole process?

Yeah, if we need to be delicate with those—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and help them kind of see.

[01:15:25] Tracy Hayes: Well, and that's working that neighborhood.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: But that say that someone's m- moved in the house three years in Nocatee, hasn't filled it with a bunch of stuff, too.

[01:15:32] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, yeah. Some of these things are common themes. Yeah. It's not just unique to old homes.

Tracy Hayes: Oh.

[01:15:36] Tracy Hayes: But—

[01:15:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah, I mean, there's, they're generational homes sometimes, so you see—

[01:15:40] Tracy Hayes: And hear a lot. But sometimes, sometimes you, um, polish that older home and it just sh- really shines—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, yeah.

Tracy Hayes: ... because of someone's the craftsmanship, it just needs to be dusted off a little bit.

[01:15:50] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. I mean, you we don't go into it with a template of, okay, we need to do fresh paint and this. Sometimes that goes long way. Sometimes we know that a [01:16:00] buyer's gonna look at that and say, “I wanna it my way, and this is, you know, actually a project I take on,” without us or our sellers having to take on a mountain of work.

[01:16:09] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:16:10] Aubrey Wessolowski: We know that someone's gonna come in there and their return on investment is gonna be, you know, far greater than what we could suggest—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... like somebody ... You we just need to get it to that point and it to the point to where the biggest buyer pool sees the biggest of opportunity into it.

We don't need to go in there and, you know, do 100 things just to say we did something.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: It's like really knowing what's important and what buyers are looking for today.

Tracy Hayes: To, to meet their goal—

Aubrey Wessolowski: To goal—to meet—

[01:16:32] Tracy Hayes: Their goal ... their—

[01:16:33] Aubrey Wessolowski: Timeline to—

[01:16:34] Tracy Hayes: Sell. Yeah. And yeah. Yeah.

[01:16:35] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Yeah. And what makes financial sense, too, for that seller to prepare it.

You know, yeah, the basic things are u-

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... usually go a way, making sure it's and safe. But, yeah, it's gonna be different depending on—

Tracy Hayes: Especially the older homes.

[01:16:48] Tracy Hayes: All right. Two questions left here.

[01:16:50] Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

[01:16:50] Tracy Hayes: In 2026 market, what should a buyer seller actually look for when choosing an agent, and does specialization [01:17:00] matter more now than it did three years ago?

[01:17:02] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, wow. Yeah. I think spec- I can't even say it.

Yeah. Specialization ...

... matters, because of just everything you heard, right? I mean, really knowing your micro market and knowing, you know, the differences, again, street by street on an intimate level. What's going on in those streets, what is, you the neighborhood like, whether it's a school, whether, you know, it's just what's happening in the neighborhood, what those homes, you know, what kind of improvements are you looking at doing, uh, do you have connections in the area with, you know, again, the preservation associations?

Do you have the right vendors who know what they're at? So I think really, you know, asking those questions of the agent you're hiring, and interview two or three agents.

Tracy Hayes: Mm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: You know, asking the right questions, not just, “How many have you sold?” I mean, that's, “Where have sold homes?” Type of vendors do you work with?”

But—

[01:17:59] Tracy Hayes: Me [01:18:00] add to this.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: I'm gonna, I'm gonna do part B to this question. So we said there's, there's—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

Tracy Hayes: Whether you're selling in, in ... 'Cause I think a lot of people, the common sense in in the older, just 'cause some of the unique things, unique things about the homes.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

Tracy Hayes: Every home's different.

You've there. You know the idiosyncrasies of the neighborhood and the—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... the rules and so forth that might follow. But whether selling there or are selling in the, the new subdivisions of, of St. Johns County or Nassau County and the new subdivisions that are going there, do you feel you and your mom have really excelled because you've, you focused on a fairly small area to become experts in those areas?

[01:18:39] Aubrey Wessolowski: I think it certainly helps. You know, I something that goes into, and I think a lot of agents can speak to this, you know, it's, I always, you I think it's a good thing that maybe I'm a Jacksonville native and we've been here pretty much our whole lives, I know many are too. But it's not just about how long you've been and how long you've seen that restaurant come and go and whatnot, it's really about the [01:19:00] relationships you've built, like knowing who's the neighbor, that person's been here for 20 years.

We know that, you know, that street is filled with kids. Oh, that's a great area for Halloween. Like—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... you know. There's just so many things that go into you've lived somewhere for so long, you just kind of know like what's happening there, or you know someone does. You can pick up the phone.

They're a phone call away. So I think, yeah, I mean, all of those idiosyncrasies, like you said, kind of go into it.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And I think if we can speak intelligently to, oh, we know those that own place, and, you know, they're having this thing going on—

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... or, or what have you, this event's happening.

Oh, we know, you know, the chair, or, you know, a sponsor. There's so many things go into those little—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... micro markets that, yeah—

[01:19:50] Tracy Hayes: I think, and the reason why I was asking that question is—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... 'cause I think many agents, they try to shoot this big sh- “Oh, well, north, yeah, I'm gonna cover from Fern- you know, Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach [01:20:00] all the way down to, you know, Palm Coast.”

[01:20:02] Aubrey Wessolowski: Sure.

[01:20:02] Tracy Hayes: And it's very difficult to really be that expert, and I think, you know, I—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Very hard.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: I didn't create question, it came from your questionnaire, but I think it's a great thing, you know, to truly start to up your game and take your game to that top 1% of real estate agents, to focus in—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm.

Tracy Hayes: ... on, you know, you're, if you're in St. Johns County and, you know, you're focusing on a dozen subdivisions that obviously everyone likes to be close to home, 'cause most of you spend most of your work time there—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ... Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... the, or you know, hopefully your office is within zone. But you're focusing, you become a specialist of those, those dozen neighborhoods.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: And, and knowing what's selling, what's coming on the market—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... whether you're, you've got the listing another agent picks up the listing—you know about it 'cause you've got clients that wanna move into that neighborhood, and they're looking for that specific home. Happens all the—

[01:20:50] Aubrey Wessolowski: Time.

I mean, I'm plugged in with our neighborhood Facebook group. I think there's actually two of them.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And all the time there's like, “Hey, my parents wanna at living in the neighborhood. Does anybody, [01:21:00] you know, know of any homes coming for sale or any listings coming?” And it may not be my listing, but it might be an agent friend of mine's listing, and I can plug them in—

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... or vice versa. I can them know, I let the whole group know that something's coming. And so, you sometimes I connect with buyers that way. And that's how a lot of it is.

Tracy Hayes: Off. A—

[01:21:18] Tracy Hayes: Lot of things happening. Well—

[01:21:18] Aubrey Wessolowski: Be—

[01:21:18] Tracy Hayes: ... able to reach out—a lot of things happening.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... be able to reach out and say, “This is what the, the Gilman Group does. We specialize in this so if—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... your parents wanna move in this area—

Aubrey Wessolowski: They need to up with us. We usually—

[01:21:28] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... know of a good handful of things happening—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... before they ever the market because we're just—

[01:21:33] Tracy Hayes: Plugged in to the local—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: You probably got called in on the listing appointment.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Maybe you didn't get that particular s- listing, but you know the home was going up for sale—

[01:21:39] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

[01:21:39] Tracy Hayes: ... and hey, yeah, that's what your parents are looking for. That's the, you know—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... what you're telling me.

[01:21:43] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes. That's, it- happens all the time, so yeah. It's, and it changes by the day, know?

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So yeah, I think just being an active member of those communities really helps because it's, I mean, it's who you to school with, it's who you go to work with. You know, who you get your hair done [01:22:00] by? I—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... all of these are conversations. Everyone needs somewhere to live—

[01:22:03] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

[01:22:03] Aubrey Wessolowski: ... and has and friends.

And so, yeah, if we're able to capitalize on those opportunities—

[01:22:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[01:22:09] Aubrey Wessolowski: Well—

Tracy Hayes: ... pre-market or even on the market ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: So—

[01:22:11] Tracy Hayes: Say, whether it's new or old, you s- the—

Aubrey Wessolowski: We're in it.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: I think the specialization, and which means you're, you're focused on that, those communities that you wanna, that you want ...

It mean that's the, the only communities you serve.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: But those are the communities you'd like to do your most on. Hopefully, most people wanna do it right their own subdivision so that—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... they ride their golf cart over to—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... the listing, right?

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: But to specialize, know all the little extra things, to add that value to—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Your—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah, buyers—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Mm-hmm ...

Tracy Hayes: ... that value to your sellers, 'cause you know what else is out there, sold recently.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

Tracy Hayes: What was the of that home that sold for that much? And—

[01:22:41] Aubrey Wessolowski: Being—

[01:22:41] Tracy Hayes: ... your home match up?

[01:22:42] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Being an agent, you know, and a Jacksonville native, I've lived in multiple areas of town too.

I mean, I lived at beach as a kid, I lived at the beach as a college student. I've in Mandarin, I've lived, I mean, all over—

Tracy Hayes: The city.

Aubrey Wessolowski: The city, depending on which chapter of life [01:23:00] you catch me in. So, you know, I can speak intelligently to, I think, just about every neighborhood here. But yeah, I being, you know, like I said, an active member of that my current community, and mom, you know, we cover kind of both sides of the river.

But I always joke, like, I don't make anybody move where they don't wanna go.

Tracy Hayes: Right.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And I don't tell them where to move.

But, yeah. If somebody is for an opportunity in the historic districts, I mean, you should definitely talk to us.

[01:23:26] Tracy Hayes: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you, you pride yourself in it and now, and you have the, the receipts, if we want to say—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

Tracy Hayes: ... of your success in those areas and knowing what's going on. And, and I think, when comes to areas town that have stories about them, and that's why you like them, because they have stories—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

[01:23:42] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[01:23:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah ... you need to go with who knows the stories.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Right.

[01:23:45] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. You need somebody who can be a storyteller, especially—

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... on the listing side, right?

Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

Aubrey Wessolowski: That's, that can be very fun.

[01:23:50] Tracy Hayes: Which, which leads into the blogs. Is you should be—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes ...

Tracy Hayes: ... blogging about these areas—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yes. Yes ...

Tracy Hayes: ... and telling these stories, 'cause—

[01:23:56] Aubrey Wessolowski: That's what people—we've got some stuff coming on our new website.

Tracy Hayes: Good.

[01:23:57] Tracy Hayes: Good.

Aubrey Wessolowski: So.

Tracy Hayes: Excellent. W- [01:24:00] last question.

We're finish with this.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Okay.

Tracy Hayes: Why do you love real estate?

[01:24:03] Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh man. Loaded question.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Why do I love real estate? Oh.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: I love real estate because it provides, I mean, opportunity everywhere. I get an opportunity to build relationships with, I mean, people from all over, whether they're friends of mine, we get to build on our relationship, family, and then it just rolls on and on from there.

I get to speak and work with some of the most interesting people and hear about stories every day, that I, I learn something new every day, not about real estate, about people. And, you know, again, bringing in some business acumen. I get to kind of flex that muscle a little bit. I get to flex my creative muscle a bit.

It brings in like multiple things that I love.

Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

Aubrey Wessolowski: And I get to do it, you know, on a crazy schedule, but also one that is conducive to life. That was big to me. It just brings in so many amazing attributes of, you know ... When you go [01:25:00] to look for work, you know, and you wanna hustle in this industry, it's, you know, I feel like, it's an easy passion for me, because it brings in so much of what I love into one day-to-day job that's always so different and—

[01:25:12] Tracy Hayes: And it, and it rewa-

Aubrey Wessolowski: Crazy and fun and—

Tracy Hayes: And it, and it, and the, and the great thing is it rewards you—

[01:25:16] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

[01:25:16] Tracy Hayes: ... for, for you.

[01:25:17] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[01:25:17] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[01:25:17] Aubrey Wessolowski: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's what you put into it too. So I love that. I love that I can genuinely feel what effort I'm putting forth. I get to actually see it. It's a thing and it's tangible for my clients and, you know, it's a whole story that we can tell for years to come.

So—

Tracy Hayes: That's right ...

Aubrey Wessolowski: ... it's a real impact, so.

[01:25:35] Tracy Hayes: That's right.

[01:25:35] Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. I—

[01:25:36] Tracy Hayes: Appreciate you coming on today.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Thank—

[01:25:37] Aubrey Wessolowski: You so—

[01:25:38] Tracy Hayes: Much. This was a great show.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Good.

Tracy Hayes: There was a great show.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah. Good.

Tracy Hayes: There was a lot of, a lot, a lot of really good stuff there.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, good.

Tracy Hayes: And actually, I don't, we, I get into the in-depth of the Avondale and Riverside and all that stuff with your mom that I as deeply as we did.

So this—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Oh, good ...

Tracy Hayes: ... this show will have a lot of that in it. So hopefully—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Good ...

Tracy Hayes: ... when someone's googling, this will come up because you're talking about this, who's interested in these areas.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah ...

Tracy Hayes: ... so.

I'm gonna—

Aubrey Wessolowski: Great ...

[01:26:00] Tracy Hayes: Appreciate you coming on.

Aubrey Wessolowski: Yeah.

[01:26:00] Aubrey Wessolowski: Thank—

[01:26:00] Tracy Hayes: You again.