Jimmy Diamond: A Diamond in the Rough

REE #247 Transcript

[00:00:00] Jimmy Diamond: Listening is very important because they're going to tell you what they want, and you’ve got to work with that. Because if they want something that's totally not reasonable or their expectations are not right, I personally tell people. You know, other people are afraid to tell their customers because they’re afraid they might lose the customer. But communication, listening, availability, knowledge, and education are key.

Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. I have a real special show for you today.

[00:01:01] Tracy Hayes: My guest today has a proven track record of real estate success, which I hope he will share with us. He prides himself on delivering a convenient and stress-free home buying and selling process. He is dedicated to consistent education and knowledge of the entire real estate transaction.

“Do not make a move without me,” he says.

[00:01:20] Tracy Hayes: Let’s welcome, from United Real Estate Gallery, Jimmy Diamond.

[00:01:23] Jimmy Diamond: Hi, Tracy. How are you doing today?

[00:01:25] Tracy Hayes: Excellent. Glad to finally get you on the show. And we’re going to have fun today because I know you’ll tell it like it is. We’re both New Yorkers, so that’s how we’re going to deliver it.

Let’s get skinny about real estate. But as I get started, I have a little sponsor shoutout here.

You have one of these in your gift bag there. Remi Graphics makes these for me. There’s the show logo on one side, and Remi’s got her graphics. Laser-engraved gifts—obviously, these are just mugs, but she has many others. And if you’re looking for one-offs, you want to put, “Hey, John and Sally, welcome to Jacksonville,” she can make those for you. You don’t have to order a dozen at a time or anything like that. If you want one-offs, she will make those for you. Check out RemiGraphics.com and look at the many other laser-engraved gifts that they can put together for you.

[00:02:09] Jimmy Diamond: Awesome. Thank you.

[00:02:11] Tracy Hayes: I always scan through everyone’s social media, and LinkedIn gives me an idea to create some creative questions. I think your background today, as we were talking pre-show, has really helped you. You were successful in your endeavors prior and always rose to the top. I want to highlight how that’s flowed with you right into real estate.

Because like you just mentioned, we were talking about your first year in real estate—you had 40 transactions.

[00:02:39] Jimmy Diamond: It was almost 40. Yeah.

[00:02:41] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. But let’s give everyone a little background on Jimmy. Where are you from?

[00:02:45] Jimmy Diamond: So, I’m originally from Long Island. I worked in the banking industry. When I was 23, I moved to Florida, trying to figure it out. I got a job in finance. Actually, in Long Island, I used to work in the banking industry in credit cards, fraud, customer service, and collections.

When I moved to Florida, I sent out my resume and started working in the automobile finance industry, in collections and repossessions.

[00:03:14] Tracy Hayes: Where was that? Where did you come first? I saw Boca Raton on there. Was South Florida where you headed first?

[00:03:18] Jimmy Diamond: South Florida. My first job was in Deerfield Beach, Florida, back in 1993, right?

[00:03:25] Tracy Hayes: Those are not easy businesses. They like young people because they’ll turn and burn you a lot, don’t they?

[00:03:33] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah, they’re not easy.

[00:03:34] Tracy Hayes: They’re not easy.

[00:03:35] Jimmy Diamond: No, it’s not. And, you know, people, it’s easy to say, “I don’t have money. I’m not making my payment. Bye.” Me, based on my schooling and my background, I would talk to the people like people. I was a collector, and I would explain the repercussions if they didn’t pay. And if they worked with us, we would work with them—and it worked out really well.

Right.

Then, there were people that would hide their cars, and I would get them to turn them in, and other people couldn’t do that. So, you know, it was valued, right?

[00:04:04] Tracy Hayes: Were they giving you any specific training to do that, or just kind of some guidelines and say, “Here’s the phone. Go.”

[00:04:09] Jimmy Diamond: It was more or less the “phone go” kind of deal, you know, but I’m a quick learner. Yeah, so, like I said, I got it.

[00:04:16] Tracy Hayes: So you understood what the company wanted in the endgame—this is the result we want. You had the creativity to get there. That, to me, immediately relates to what we do in real estate every day.

[00:04:29] Jimmy Diamond: Absolutely.

[00:04:30] Tracy Hayes: We want to buy and sell the home. How do we get there with the cards that we have?

What was it? Was it, I guess, your own personality to figure that out? How do I get there? You’re cutting me loose to get there, but working with the clients.

And I think you actually said in one of the bios that I read—I can’t remember if it was on LinkedIn or not—spending the time with clients. Now, taking it to real estate, really finding out their needs, wants, etc., of your real estate book clients.

[00:05:04] Jimmy Diamond: Right, absolutely.

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

[00:05:06] Jimmy Diamond: So, going back to the collections, you know, I didn’t treat them just like a “phone gangster.” I talked to them about, you know, how to work with them. And when you talk to people like people—

[00:05:16] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:05:17] Jimmy Diamond: And you’re educating, and you sound professional, you know, people tend to work with you more.

[00:05:21] Tracy Hayes: Right? They’ll stay on the phone. They’re not going to hang up. And like you said, some of them were hiding their cars and so forth.

So, you’re in New York. What was your dream career at 18, 19 years old? Hey, this is what—or did you even have one? I imagine it wasn’t real estate, and it couldn’t have been collections.

[00:05:36] Jimmy Diamond: To be honest, I wanted to be a pharmacist, but I lived in Eastern Long Island, and the only college that offered it in Long Island was like in Queens.

[00:05:44] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:05:46] Jimmy Diamond: Because of my family situation at that time, it didn’t work out.

[00:05:49] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:05:50] Jimmy Diamond: But my brain and my mouth made me a lot of money.

[00:07:13] Jimmy Diamond: Tracy, I sold me to her.

[00:07:16] Tracy Hayes: Yes. Anyway, you could sell ice to Eskimos, right?

[00:07:18] Jimmy Diamond: That’s right.

[00:07:18] Tracy Hayes: Because I’ve had people make the same comment to me. And listen, the first 12 years I was in mortgages, I was in the call center. So people were calling in. When you have a non-salesperson like your wife, and they're hearing you, they’re like, “Oh, yeah.” They kind of put themselves as if they’re the other person on the phone, and they’re like, “Yeah, I would do what he told me to do.”

[00:07:38] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[00:07:39] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Because they’re listening to that and picking it up. So back to the question slightly—before you transitioned into real estate, you were making great money, and you started to buy some properties, flipping and doing some things in South Florida. What kind of got your fancy to start looking at real estate?

[00:08:00] Jimmy Diamond: So, when I first moved to Florida, I really didn’t have a place to live. I was 23 or 24, and I bought a condo. I saw how quickly the value went up. Then people that I knew, who were renting, saw that, “Oh my God, Jimmy has a nice condo,” blah, blah, blah. Without even a real estate license, I showed them how to buy a house, right?

Then, when me and my wife got married, we bought a house, and it went up really quickly.

[00:08:32] Tracy Hayes: Early 2000s, I would imagine?

[00:08:34] Jimmy Diamond: No, 1999—99 to 2000.

[00:08:35] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:08:35] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. It went up really quick. To be honest, in South Florida, we had a four-bedroom, two-bath, two-car garage on a lake for $128,000. In a couple of years, it went up to like $325,000.

My wife was doing very well with her position. I was doing very well. And we decided to buy this monster house that we didn’t even need. It was only me, my wife, and my daughter, but it was like five or six bedrooms. It was ridiculous. Everybody was laughing at us.

The problem was it had Chinese drywall.

[00:09:16] Tracy Hayes: Oh, okay. Was it more focused in South Florida? Expand on that and go into that a little bit. Was the Chinese drywall more of an issue in the South Florida area, or was it literally everywhere?

[00:09:26] Jimmy Diamond: It started in Louisiana, moved to Florida, and then parts of Virginia.

[00:09:30] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:09:31] Jimmy Diamond: I was one of the first people, I guess, “diagnosed” with Chinese drywall. It was interesting because things were breaking—our refrigerator broke, our new TVs broke. One day, I was hanging a fan, and I noticed the copper wires were all black. I thought something was up, you know? I didn’t know.

Then it got really weird. Me and my wife were considering moving to North Carolina. I bought a house there, and one of my neighbors called me up. He goes, “Jimmy, you were right.” I’m like, “What?” He’s like, “We do have Chinese drywall.” I’m like, “How do you know?” He’s like, “Well, it came into my kitchen. We pulled the cabinets out, and it said ‘Made in China’ all over the back of it.”

[00:10:09] Tracy Hayes: So it was more than just health issues?

[00:10:11] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah.

[00:10:13] Tracy Hayes: I always thought of it as a health issue. But, like you’re saying, it was actually causing issues with the house in general.

[00:10:20] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah. Our refrigerator broke. I went through like four TVs in a year. My air conditioning units broke. My electric bill was like $400. The AC company came out. The house was one month old, and they said, “You’re not maintaining your AC unit.”

I’m like, “What are you talking about? I just moved in here.” He’s like, “Look,” and he showed everything. All the copper was black, and it broke through the compressor or whatever.

[00:10:46] Tracy Hayes: I can’t even put my arms around that—the drywall was literally affecting the electronic components in the house?

[00:10:55] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah. It was emitting a gas. But the problem was people—kids were getting sick, they had nebulizers. I wound up losing a French Bulldog who died of lung cancer, and dogs don’t usually get lung cancer. It was a mess.

[00:11:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:11:10] Jimmy Diamond: It was a mess. But I was like, “I gotta get out of here, you know.” I actually had a couple of sinus surgeries because of it. And I was like, “I gotta get out of here.” The bank didn’t want to hear anything about it. They said they didn’t know anything about Chinese drywall. It was a mess.

[00:11:25] Tracy Hayes: All right, so early on, did they end up tearing down houses because of this stuff?

[00:11:32] Jimmy Diamond: Some builders stood behind their product. One of them was GL Homes, which I did not have. They tore down the whole house. Other places just put band-aids on it.

I wound up selling the house in a short sale. I didn’t want to deal with that. I felt that the development was going to be blacklisted the whole time. And you know what’s funny? It’s still worth probably what I bought it for in 2005.

[00:11:54] Tracy Hayes: Because of it?

[00:11:56] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah.

[00:11:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:11:57] Jimmy Diamond: But the good thing that came out of it was I learned how to do a short sale.

[00:12:00] Jimmy Diamond: I started buying short sales in South Florida. I didn’t know I had a knack for redoing them and remodeling them myself. So, I would work my regular job as a supervisor or manager of the call center and the information company. I also ran a commercial credit bureau.

At night, I would be doing the work myself, redoing these houses and reselling them.

[00:12:25] Tracy Hayes: How has that—because it hasn’t come up recently—how has that helped when clients come to you asking about buying investment properties, Airbnbs, or flips?

[00:13:53] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:13:54] Jimmy Diamond: You know, but there is a lot of money in buying and flipping and stuff like that.

[00:14:00] Tracy Hayes: Did you, in your buying and flipping, ever buy one that was kind of a money pit? Like, “Oh my God, I had some other issues with it that you didn’t see up front?”

[00:14:09] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah, I can think of one in particular. The house was awesome, but my daughter was probably—I don’t know—three years old, and the house was built in 1960. I didn’t want to put my three-year-old daughter in a bathtub. I took the bathtub out. It was cast iron. Obviously, it weighed about 10,000 pounds, and they removed it, you know, I got help. And then all the wood was termite-eaten.

[00:14:40] Jimmy Diamond: Termites are a big deal. I’m not discounting it, but it really wasn’t a big deal to fix it. You know, it wasn’t active termites.

[00:14:44] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:14:44] Jimmy Diamond: But that was a surprise.

[00:14:46] Tracy Hayes: Right? Extra costs. Because like you said, some of these people, they want to flip a house, but they don’t have money. You’ve got to be prepared for pulling the tub out and finding out everything’s rotted underneath.

[00:14:55] Jimmy Diamond: Like I tell people, I don’t like surprises.

[00:14:58] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:14:58] Jimmy Diamond: Another issue I had with that specific house too—I thought putting a new roof, new windows, and new doors would save me a ton of money on insurance. And when the insurance company came out, the insurance actually went up.

[00:15:15] Tracy Hayes: Because of the cost to replace, or what do you think?

[00:15:17] Jimmy Diamond: No, because they were talking about the way the roof is secured, the nails, and the age of the house—1960.

[00:15:24] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:15:25] Jimmy Diamond: So I would have been better off not replacing the windows, doors, and roof. My insurance could have been lower.

[00:15:31] Tracy Hayes: Wow.

[00:15:33] Tracy Hayes: I’m glad you brought up insurance. Just to throw it out there, it’s challenging people in their affordability. As an agent today, what are some of the things you’re doing differently regarding insurance? Especially when guiding your buyers, so they’re not three days before closing and finding out their insurance is three times more than what they thought it was going to be. As loan officers, we always just estimate what’s in there, but it’s changed over the last few years. Have you had some challenges with insurance?

[00:16:03] Jimmy Diamond: That’s an excellent point right there. What I do, usually during the inspection period, is ask my buyers to go get insurance.

[00:16:12] Jimmy Diamond: So, there are no surprises. Obviously, like I said, we don’t like surprises. If the insurance, you know, we thought it was going to be like $1,500 a year, and it’s actually $5,000 a year—like it was in South Florida—they might need to do something different.

[00:16:26] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, it could obviously disqualify them from qualifying for the loan. Now, all of a sudden, their budget’s blown out. It’s very important—and Jimmy, just to talk to the listeners out there—it’s very important, like you said.

The insurance company wants to have a four-point inspection and wind mitigation report. You should be having that done on every home because the insurance company wants to have that now on pretty much everything. Get that done during the inspection, but also get the insurance quote early.

At least then you can back out. If there’s an issue—hey, yeah, the inspection revealed this, that, and the other thing—you know the insurance is going to be through the roof. You can walk away.

[00:16:55] Tracy Hayes: A few years ago, in 2020, we would get the insurance quote the week before closing. You didn’t think much about it. Now, because we don’t know what kind of curveballs insurance could throw, it could really tick off a client. They may close, but they’re going to hate you because you didn’t tell them to get an insurance quote early.

[00:17:20] Jimmy Diamond: Something that just popped into my mind—I got a call the other day. This guy wants to sell his house. He bought it last year, and I noticed that the prior owner only paid $70,000 for the house. He paid $300,000, and his taxes are like—

[00:17:35] Tracy Hayes: He—

[00:17:35] Jimmy Diamond: He says, “I can’t afford the house.” You know, so now he’s having me list it.

[00:17:39] Tracy Hayes: Well, that’s because, having worked for a large builder here in town and doing mortgages for them, it’s the shock of the actual taxes. Obviously, we try to prep them. You know, we always had a calculation because we would qualify them based on the projected tax rate. But you know, some of the little tricks...

[00:18:00] Tracy Hayes: To move into it as their primary and they want to homestead it—sometimes it’s better just to leave it as a second home.

[00:18:07] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[00:18:08] Tracy Hayes: Because the insurance is going to recalculate, even though you’re homesteaded, and, you know, blow you out. So yeah, those are things you want to find out from the tax base because it could be just like the insurance.

[00:18:30] Jimmy Diamond: That’s one of the reasons why you should have an experienced realtor to let you know this. No surprises, right?

[00:18:37] Tracy Hayes: Right. Because those are deal killers. Definitely, some people will still qualify, and they’ll close, but they’ll really have a bad taste in their mouth about the deal.

[00:18:52] Tracy Hayes: All right, you’re dabbling in real estate and doing other things, but something brings you here to Northeast Florida.

[00:18:58] Jimmy Diamond: So, I worked for a bunch of companies in South Florida and did very well—really good. But all this insurance kept climbing in South Florida. I lived in Boca, and the insurance was insane. I had no intentions of moving to Jacksonville or St. Johns County.

I said to my wife, “You know, houses are pretty cheap in St. Johns. I want to buy a house. We don’t have to move here.” She’s like, “I don’t want to move there.” I’m like, “Okay.”

So, I saw a house in 2016 or 2017 that was only like $250,000. I thought about it but didn’t buy it. Then I saw that house jumped up like $50,000, and I was like, “Oh God, I better buy a house. This is defeating my purpose of eventually getting here.”

[00:19:35] Jimmy Diamond: So, me and my wife came here a couple of times, checked it out, and we liked it. We bought a house. But we still weren’t planning to move here.

[00:19:52] Tracy Hayes: So, you’re renting that out?

[00:19:54] Jimmy Diamond: No, no. It was so quick. We bought it in January.

[00:19:57] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:19:58] Jimmy Diamond: And we love cruising as a family. My daughter said, “Are we going on a cruise for spring break?” And I’m like, “No, we have a house in St. Johns.” My wife said, “There’s no furniture.” I said, “We’ll figure it out.”

So, my wife asked for time off, and something happened with her boss—this, that, or whatever. Me, being a go-getter, I typed in what my wife did, and a job just opened up. I said to my wife, “Apply.” She goes, “I’m not moving.” I’m like, “Just apply.”

She gave me a hard time. I sent her resume in, and she got a call a couple of hours later. They wanted her to come in for an interview. She said, “Now what?” I’m like, “Tell them we’ll be there in a couple of weeks.”

A couple of weeks went by, and she went to the interview. She came back and said, “Jimmy, I love the company. I really like the job.” I said, “So, take it.”

She said, “What about you?” I said, “Just go without me. I’ll sell our house in Boca. Our daughter can finish school for the year.” And that’s what happened.

[00:21:10] Jimmy Diamond: So, June 1st, 2017—or maybe 2018—I moved here.

[00:21:13] Tracy Hayes: You joined her.

[00:21:14] Jimmy Diamond: I joined her, yeah.

[00:21:14] Tracy Hayes: So, you leave your job in South Florida?

[00:21:19] Jimmy Diamond: No, actually, I had a job that I was able to work from home. So, it worked really well.

[00:21:20] Tracy Hayes: All right.

[00:21:20] Jimmy Diamond: It actually worked.

[00:21:21] Tracy Hayes: So, what happens, though? The trick is you are going to quickly transition into real estate.

[00:21:25] Jimmy Diamond: Right.

[00:21:25] Tracy Hayes: So, what happens that causes that transition?

[00:21:28] Jimmy Diamond: I decided I was fed up with the corporate world. I said, “I’m going to be a realtor.” There are a lot of bad realtors out there. I knew St. Johns County was growing. All these builders were going crazy. So, I hung my license with Exit Real Estate Gallery, and I went out and got started.

[00:21:50] Tracy Hayes: So, you were still working the job from home and then dabbling in real estate?

[00:21:57] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. And I sold a house pretty quickly, like my first or second day. I said to my wife, “You know, I like this. I don’t have to answer to anybody except my customers.”

The people at Exit were really nice. Ray and Sunny are awesome—a little plug for them. I said, “I’m just going to be a realtor.”

[00:22:16] Tracy Hayes: So, all right, you’re jumping into your first year, which ends up being great for you. You’re in an area, as we were talking about pre-show, where you didn’t know anybody.

[00:22:25] Jimmy Diamond: I didn’t know anybody.

[00:22:25] Tracy Hayes: So, where are you getting those initial sales through that first year? What are you doing?

[00:22:32] Jimmy Diamond: I did buy leads that Exit offered, and I did phone time. Anybody that knows me knows I love to talk. I can sit anywhere. I didn’t wear one today, but I have shirts that say, “Jimmy Diamond.”

[00:22:40] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, I’ve seen it.

[00:22:40] Jimmy Diamond: Basically, I just talk to people, and that’s it. It just worked. Everywhere I go, I pick up customers.

[00:22:54] Tracy Hayes: And we’re kind of in that bubble here, and we’ve been in it for so long because we have so much growth. Nassau County has got so much going on, and it’s right behind St. Johns in terms of growth.

[00:23:10] Tracy Hayes: There’s really valuable land up there that’s more affordable than what St. Johns has become. But St. Johns has so much further to go when you think of the county—all the way out to Hastings and everything in between.

With this expressway pouring into Green Cove, it’s just going to open up a whole new area. You’re going back seven or eight years from when you started, and I don’t see that growth stopping anytime soon.

[00:23:51] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah, there was an article yesterday—Green Cove has two huge developments going up.

[00:23:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I think someone has said the same developers from Nocatee have land out [00:24:00] there and want to do something similar out there. I just see, unless there’s a huge economic collapse or something like 2008, we’re kind of in a bubble here compared to most of the country as far as demand.

We’re in Florida. People want to move to Florida, whether it’s for politics, taxes, or so forth. And we’re the ones sitting here with—I’m going to call it semi-affordable housing—as far as compared to some other places in the state.

[00:24:28] Jimmy Diamond: I’m smiling because it’s funny. People always ask me, “Oh, Jimmy, how’s the real estate market doing?” I’m like, “Well, we’re in Florida. It’s great.”

How many people do you know are moving to North Dakota? Not many, right? Everybody still wants to retire in Florida. They like the sun, and it’s, like you said, more affordable.

[00:24:43] Tracy Hayes: And Jacksonville’s been really good with bringing in white-collar jobs. It’s becoming a financial hub for a lot of banking institutions, bringing in higher-paying jobs, which also need service people to support them.

[00:25:02] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[00:25:03] Tracy Hayes: So we’re kind of in that bubble, and I think it’s going to continue for a while.

[00:25:10] Tracy Hayes: All right, in that first year, you used some of the skills that you just naturally have. You love talking to people. You’re like me—we’re both from New York. We’re very direct in our talk. You’re [00:25:20] resonating with people. But what were some of the challenges you had in that first initial year?

[00:25:25] Jimmy Diamond: Well, COVID was there a little bit. It was good and it wasn’t good.

[00:25:30] Tracy Hayes: You know—

[00:25:30] Jimmy Diamond: Everybody wanted to move to Florida because we didn’t have the mask mandates, and Florida was still open.

[00:25:36] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[00:25:37] Jimmy Diamond: But inventory was an issue. Inventory was a little low.

[00:25:41] Tracy Hayes: Did you discover anything about yourself during this? I mean, you had worked in collections, and what you were doing before gave you a skill and mindset for how to work with people. That’s what you do every day—you’re working with somebody one-on-one, sometimes not just for a couple of hours trying to repo their car. Now, you’re spending 30 days with them, or however long it takes to sell a home.

Did you have to adjust some of your skill sets?

[00:26:08] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah, I’m used to working in an office. Now, as a realtor, you work 24/7. I answer the phone—a lot of realtors don’t. Even as a realtor, when you reach out, nobody answers the phone. So, I make myself available.

I’m knowledgeable. I get my buyers great deals, and I also get my sellers more money when they sell their homes.

[00:26:29] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:26:30] Jimmy Diamond: I treat my customers like how I would want to be treated, and I act like their money is my money.

[00:26:36] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:26:36] Jimmy Diamond: You know, I’m not in it for the money. I’m there to help people.

[00:26:40] Jimmy Diamond: I don’t want just one sale. I want them to refer everybody to me. If they sell their house, I want them to think of me for their next transaction. And if they know someone who wants to buy or sell, I want them to refer me.

[00:26:53] Tracy Hayes: Like you said, you buy and sell as if it’s your transaction.

One of the conflicts that I hear from agents—not only my wife but others who have sat here in front of me—is that sometimes the agent on the other side can let their emotions and ego get involved, especially during negotiations.

They almost treat it as if it’s their money. How do you differentiate? You’re obviously good at it because you’re putting up the numbers, and nobody’s complaining about it. I’ve never heard anyone say, “Oh, I hate doing a deal with Jimmy.” So, what do you do differently?

Even though you treat it like it’s your money, there comes a point where you recognize it’s not. It’s your client’s money, and you can’t let your ego kill the deal.

[00:27:39] Jimmy Diamond: I know when to back off. That’s the simple answer.

But here’s a quick story. I was working with this couple, and I showed them a house. They loved it, and they said they wanted to buy it. They were around 28 years old, and the wife was pregnant.

I went home, looked at the seller’s disclosure, and saw that the roof was 20 years old, and the [00:28:00] AC was also 20 years old. I told them, “Listen, I can’t sell you this house.”

I’m not money-hungry. I could sell them the house, but I said, “You don’t want to buy this house.”

[00:28:10] Tracy Hayes: You don’t want to put them in a money pit, either.

[00:28:13] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. And they were really mad at me. I thought they were going to fire me. They said, “We really want the house.” I said, “Listen to me. Just give me a couple of weeks, and I’ll find you something nicer.”

I got them to agree. Coincidentally, I found them a house in Orange Park that had been under contract but fell through for whatever reason. All the repairs had been done, the house was $50,000 cheaper, and it was awesome.

They were like, “Oh, we’re so glad we listened to you.”

[00:28:39] Tracy Hayes: And it only cost them two weeks.

[00:28:41] Jimmy Diamond: Right.

[00:28:42] Tracy Hayes: I’ve found, in nearly 20 years, that sometimes deals fall through, and even though buyers can be disappointed, it works out better.

[00:29:12] Jimmy Diamond: A hundred percent.

[00:29:14] Tracy Hayes: It’s like, “Wow, this house is actually better than the one we thought was the best.”

[00:29:20] Tracy Hayes: We were talking pre-show about grit and Angela Duckworth’s book. I think every real estate agent goes through it.

Curveballs are thrown at you, like the roof and AC issues. A lot of agents, especially early on, cling to the deal, thinking, “This is my only deal.” They stress out about losing it but want to do the right thing.

[00:30:51] Tracy Hayes: Give us an example of something maybe you’ve had in the last few months—something that really hit you, and you had to step back and think, “Nah, man, this is no big deal.”

[00:31:03] Jimmy Diamond: Oh, I’m in the process of working a deal right now. My buyers really love the house. The house is great, but the house didn’t appraise.

[00:31:08] Tracy Hayes: Oh.

[00:31:09] Jimmy Diamond: There’s a curveball.

[00:31:10] Tracy Hayes: Not that it’s happening very often right now—low appraisals.

[00:31:13] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah. This one is unusual. This house is a lot of house. It’s in Green Cove Springs. It’s on 10 acres.

[00:31:20] Jimmy Diamond: But basically, I’m getting my buyers a deal. She got it for $30,000 less than we thought we were going to get it for. Then, there was some termite damage, and we got the seller to repair that.

[00:31:35] Jimmy Diamond: So, that’s where we are right now. The deal is supposed to close at the end of the month. My buyers are really excited.

[00:31:43] Tracy Hayes: It takes a level of patience—especially for us as men. Patience is sometimes the virtue, but that’s a challenge we have, right? It does make you step back.

If you were teaching a negotiation class—and this applies not just to real estate agents but sales in general—we deal in the real estate [00:32:00] industry with so many other people. It’s not just me selling to you. We’ve got title companies, lenders, inspectors, and so many hands and opinions coming into the process.

[00:32:13] Jimmy Diamond: And the moms and dads that bought houses 20 years ago, telling their kids what to do.

[00:32:20] Tracy Hayes: Exactly. But going back to the patience part—when you’re dealing with so many people, I’m sure when you got the phone call, whether in this situation or another, a lender says, “Hey, we got a low appraisal.” You have to step back. You might have to take a walk around the block, process your thoughts, and figure out how to present this and keep it on track.

[00:32:47] Jimmy Diamond: Fortunately, my brain processes things quickly. I digest it fast, and I always have a game plan with my buyers and sellers before we even get to that point.

[00:32:56] Jimmy Diamond: I educate them along the way. I explain that certain things could happen, and when something like this happens, I already have a plan in place.

[00:33:05] Tracy Hayes: In this particular situation—since we haven’t had a lot of low appraisals lately—was a low appraisal a possibility with this one?

[00:33:12] Jimmy Diamond: I don’t remember. It’s sad to say, but I don’t remember. But I still talked about it. Like I said, I don’t like surprises. If it’s going to happen, let it happen—but no surprises.

[00:33:23] Tracy Hayes: Even though we haven’t seen a lot of low appraisals, it’s still something to prep for. Whether you think it’s priced right or not, it makes a difference when it happens, and they’re that much more appreciative because you already prepped them.

[00:33:43] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[00:33:44] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:33:45] Jimmy Diamond: My buyer—because the deal’s still going on, I can’t go into detail—but she told me how she wanted to approach it. I said, “Just calm down.”

[00:33:53] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:33:54] Jimmy Diamond: I saved her $30,000. Let’s just put it that way.

[00:33:56] Tracy Hayes: Time can kill deals, but taking a few minutes to gather your thoughts—to think, “How am I going to present this? How am I going to negotiate this? How am I going to tell my buyer what I recommend we do?”—can make all the difference.

[00:34:16] Jimmy Diamond: Absolutely. I told her, “Here are your options: A) You can buy the house anyway, even though it didn’t appraise. B) You can split the difference. Or C) Hopefully, the seller drops the price.”

[00:34:28] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:34:29] Jimmy Diamond: I can’t tell you exactly how it’s going to play out, but those are the only three options.

[00:34:33] Tracy Hayes: The learning lesson for anyone listening is to foreshadow all the [00:34:40] possibilities within reason that might derail a deal. That way, when you make that phone call to the client, it’s, “Hey, remember we talked about a possible low appraisal? Well, it came in light, and this is what we need to do. This is what I suggest.”

[00:35:00] Jimmy Diamond: I always tell everybody, “It’s not a problem until it’s a problem.”

[00:35:03] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:35:04] Jimmy Diamond: And they understand that.

[00:35:05] Tracy Hayes: Exactly.

[00:35:06] Tracy Hayes: Love, laughter, and consistency. What have you evolved in your business over the past eight years that you consistently do today? Maybe you’ve been doing it all along, but I imagine you’ve refined things as you’ve gained experience.

[00:35:37] Jimmy Diamond: I wake up every morning, check my emails, call people back, make cold calls, and follow up. I go through my list every day.

[00:35:49] Tracy Hayes: Do you time-block for that, like saying, “I’ll return calls between 8 and 10, and then make new calls”? Or do you just focus on getting it all done by noon so you can show houses in the afternoon?

[00:36:05] Jimmy Diamond: No, because there are always surprises, and you have to be flexible. There’s always another phone call that throws you off guard. That’s something I wish I had learned earlier in life—flexibility is key.

[00:36:20] Jimmy Diamond: You’ve got to be adaptable because what worked yesterday probably won’t work today.

[00:36:33] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:38:38] Jimmy Diamond: I just do it. Like I said, I’m on it.

[00:38:40] Tracy Hayes: It sounds like you take a lot of advantage of your drive time.

[00:38:41] Jimmy Diamond: I do.

[00:38:43] Tracy Hayes: Tell us about that. You’re showing a client a house, but now you have a 20-minute drive to the next house. What are you doing in that 20-minute drive?

[00:38:52] Jimmy Diamond: Talking. That’s all I do—I’m on the phone all day.

[00:38:54] Tracy Hayes: So, you’re returning some of the calls you might have gotten while you were showing the house? Are you also using that time to make cold calls or follow-up calls?

[00:39:06] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah, whatever needs to be done. Like I said, I do whatever needs to get done.

[00:39:10] Tracy Hayes: There’s no way you’re keeping all of this in your mind, though.

[00:39:14] Jimmy Diamond: I do.

[00:39:14] Tracy Hayes: Do you really? That’s amazing!

[00:39:16] Tracy Hayes: Because, I mean, you’re dealing with 30 different people. I’d have to have a list. I track everything—who’s been on the show, when I last talked to them—so I know, “Oh yeah, I spoke to them three weeks ago.” Things go by so fast, and social media doesn’t help with keeping track.

[00:39:38] Jimmy Diamond: I’m different. That’s all I can say. I do use a CRM, though. Believe it or not, I also rely on my text log.

Sometimes someone will text me, “I want to see a property at 3 o’clock,” and I don’t see their name. I’ll check my text log and realize, “Oh, that’s Bob.”

[00:40:02] Tracy Hayes: We know a lot of real estate agents fail. Many never even renew their license. I think this year is going to see a huge purge, not just of real estate agents but of people in the real estate industry overall.

[00:40:16] Tracy Hayes: When you look at the numbers here in Florida, you’ll see agents who have done 40 deals, and 25 of those are cash transactions. The remaining 15 are new construction deals that use in-house lenders.

We’re going to see a lot of mortgage people roll out, but a lot of real estate agents too. What have you noticed in your eight years of being in the business? Why do you think some agents don’t succeed and are out within three, six months, or a year?

[00:41:02] Jimmy Diamond: Their expectations for the career are way off. Some people are lazy. Some feel entitled. Others are in it just for the money or can’t afford to do it.

If you don’t have a steady funnel going financially, it’s really difficult.

[00:41:23] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:41:24] Jimmy Diamond: You have to keep an open mind and keep grinding. You’ve got to fill that funnel. Some people are happy with one or two customers—not me. I have to keep the funnel filled and keep going.

[00:41:45] Jimmy Diamond: I treat every day like I’m unemployed and start working. I pound the phones.

[00:41:50] Tracy Hayes: Because literally, you are. If you don’t have a closing scheduled, you’re not getting paid.

[00:41:53] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[00:41:54] Tracy Hayes: You might be out showing houses today, but you’re not getting paid for that yet.

[00:42:06] Tracy Hayes: If someone comes to you and asks, “Should I get into real estate?” what do you tell them?

[00:42:09] Jimmy Diamond: It depends on their situation. For instance, I’ve been trying to get my daughter into real estate forever. I think she doesn’t want to follow in her father’s footsteps, which most kids don’t.

But I’d say it’s lucrative. I’d recommend doing it alongside something else at first. Don’t dive in completely unless you’re prepared.

[00:42:26] Tracy Hayes: You were doing well in another business before transitioning. You had savings and other resources from your previous career.

[00:42:40] Tracy Hayes: A lot of agents start because they’ve reached the end of a road in their previous career or a failed business. Some don’t have any savings or a spouse’s income to support them while they build their real estate business.

If someone talks to you about entering real estate, what do you recommend? What kind of savings do they need, and what should their expectations be?

[00:43:17] Jimmy Diamond: It’s difficult to do real estate part-time. You have to be available for your customer because if you don’t answer the phone, guess who they’re calling? Me.

[00:43:40] Jimmy Diamond: I’ll answer the phone on a Sunday morning, and people are like, “Are you a real person? I called five other realtors, and you’re the only one who answered.” That’s why my reviews are really good.

[00:44:09] Tracy Hayes: Exactly. My wife had three calls on a Sunday recently from people wanting to list their houses. I was listening to each conversation, and one person said, “I want to list it right now.” You need to be responsive like that.

[00:44:33] Jimmy Diamond: Absolutely. If you’re not willing to do the job, someone else will.

[00:44:36] Jimmy Diamond: I went on a listing appointment yesterday, and I knew I got the listing before I even walked in. The client said, “I love your vibe. I like your motivation.”

[00:45:02] Tracy Hayes: You mentioned you currently have 20 listings, but in 2020, you didn’t have any because listings were selling as fast as you put the sign in the yard.

[00:45:09] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. Back then, I didn’t have any listings.

[00:45:20] Tracy Hayes: What’s your strategy with the 17 listings you have now?

[00:45:36] Jimmy Diamond: Time is so important. You never get time back. When I’m on the phone with a client, I usually know if I have the listing before I even walk in.

[00:45:40] Jimmy Diamond: I just ask the right questions to understand their motivation and how serious they are.

[00:46:59] Jimmy Diamond: When did they buy the house? That’s a new thing, right? I just got a call yesterday—it was a Zillow lead.

[00:47:00] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:47:02] Jimmy Diamond: The guy only bought the house in December, and he already wants to sell it. He never moved into it. He’s like, “Yeah, I don’t want to move to Florida anymore.”

I’m like, “Well, do you have money to come to the table? Because the market has gone down a little bit.”

[00:47:15] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, they’re going to look at what you paid for it 45 days ago.

[00:47:18] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. And he said, “I got to do what I got to do.”

I said, “Okay,” and I sent him the listing agreement. I didn’t even meet him. I went to the house because it was on a lockbox. I sent him the listing agreement, and he signed it this morning.

[00:47:32] Tracy Hayes: Well, one of the challenges we have too is that we’ve seen people trying to sell within the first year or two of buying new construction. If there’s still construction going on and builders are offering incentives, they’re going to have to take a hit to sell the home in a reasonable period of time.

[00:47:50] Jimmy Diamond: Absolutely. The only thing that might save them is if somebody needs a house today and doesn’t have time for a house to be built. But yeah, you’re right, 100%.

[00:47:57] Tracy Hayes: Asking those questions is important.

Some of the top agents I’ve spoken to really believe in focusing on listings because every listing is like a billboard. It shows how you do your job—professional photos, staging, or not. When you go into a listing appointment, knowing you still have to earn it, what are you presenting as the “Jimmy Diamond way”?

[00:48:31] Jimmy Diamond: Right. The first thing I do is walk around the house and look for major issues. If I see rotted wood, I tell them, “You should take care of this before. It’ll cost you less now than later.”

[00:48:44] Tracy Hayes: A hundred percent.

[00:48:44] Jimmy Diamond: I also ask, “Are you taking all your stuff?” They’ll often say, “I’m throwing a lot of it out.” I’m like, “Throw it out now.” I’m very direct.

[00:48:55] Tracy Hayes: That’s great advice. I bet if we interviewed a thousand people, 999 wouldn’t ask that question: “Are you going to take all your stuff?”

[00:49:07] Jimmy Diamond: No surprises. You want the best presentation possible.

What I’ve been noticing, though, is people saying, “I’ll be ready next week.” So, I’ll put it in “coming soon,” but then they’re not actually ready. They’ll drag it out for a couple of weeks, and then they’re like, “Why haven’t you taken the pictures?” I’m like, “You didn’t tell me you were ready. You were still cleaning and doing things.”

[00:49:35] Tracy Hayes: I’m sure you’ve run into situations where agents, especially inexperienced ones, jump the gun. They’ll say, “Yeah, we’ll list it Thursday,” but they haven’t even gone to the house. Then they find out there’s a hoarder living there.

[00:49:53] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[00:49:54] Tracy Hayes: And it blows up.

[00:49:59] Jimmy Diamond: Yep. I always give suggestions on how to make the house look nicer—clean the kitchen, clean the bathrooms. One guy had a recessed mirror in his bathroom, and I told him, “If I were you, I’d replace it. Go to HomeGoods, buy a beautiful mirror, and put it up.” Small things to make it more modern.

[00:50:19] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:50:20] Tracy Hayes: What are you finding buyers are looking for right now?

[00:50:25] Jimmy Diamond: They’re looking for inexpensive, turnkey homes. They don’t want anything that needs work, like a 15-year-old water heater.

[00:50:39] Jimmy Diamond: What’s funny is a lot of people are demanding fences.

[00:50:43] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, that’s a common one.

[00:50:44] Jimmy Diamond: I ask them, “If I find you the perfect house and it just needs a fence, would that stop you from buying it?” A lot of people say yes, which I think is odd. But people think about their pets or kids.

[00:50:55] Tracy Hayes: It’s the weird thing about this business. People will walk into a master bedroom and say, “Will my king-size bed fit?”

[00:51:03] Jimmy Diamond: Or with the living rooms, they’ll say, “My couch won’t fit here, so I can’t buy this house.” I’ll say, “This is the perfect house, with the right location and schools. And you’re worried about your couch?”

[00:51:13] Tracy Hayes: Do you have a fence company or someone who can give an immediate quote? That’s how you counter those concerns. The cost of a fence shouldn’t stop someone from buying the perfect house.

[00:51:43] Jimmy Diamond: One thing I do is challenge my customers—not to argue, but to open their eyes a little.

[00:51:51] Jimmy Diamond: I had one couple in Shearwater who were on the verge of divorce. He wanted one thing, she wanted another. They said, “Forget it, we’re not buying a house.” I went home, found a house that just went on the market, and said, “I know you don’t want to look at houses, but I think I found the perfect one.”

They bought it the next day—cash.

[00:52:13] Tracy Hayes: Nice.

[00:52:15] Tracy Hayes: A lot of agents I’ve had on the show say women tend to have an easier time with the “touchy-feely” side of the business. You and I are more direct—plus, we’re from New York, which doubles down on that.

As agents, we often have to do some counseling—whether it’s marriage counseling, financial counseling, or something else. Clients will call you at 8:30 at night, even after you’ve reassured them five hours earlier.

How do you handle those situations? Do you have a softer “teddy bear Jimmy” side?

[00:53:18] Jimmy Diamond: Probably couldn’t hurt...

[00:53:31] Jimmy Diamond: I usually say, “We discussed this before. It’s not really a problem.” Sometimes I have to rehash it.

[00:53:31] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:53:33] Jimmy Diamond: It’s funny because most of my customers who tend to overthink things are women more than men.

[00:53:37] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, that’s often the point person, especially if it’s not a single woman.

[00:53:43] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. But you have to remember, this is new to them. They’re coming to me. They could have picked any realtor in Northeast Florida, but they picked me.

[00:54:01] Tracy Hayes: I imagine you have to remind yourself of that all the time.

[00:54:03] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah.

[00:54:04] Tracy Hayes: They ask a question, and you think, “Okay, this is something I do all the time,” but they don’t know.

[00:54:10] Jimmy Diamond: One thing is, I don’t have any brothers or sisters, so I always had to deal with my mother, my wife, and my daughter. I’m used to handling things like this.

[00:54:22] Tracy Hayes: My wife and I were just telling somebody the other day about when we came here. I was working remotely, and we stayed with her parents while she went out and looked at houses. I said, “You narrow it down to the top four or five houses, and I’ll come look at them. If you’re happy with those, I’ll give my two cents. Don’t run me around to 20 houses.”

[00:54:40] Tracy Hayes: So, flipping it from why agents fail to what makes a great agent: At United Real Estate Gallery, there are great agents. You’ve been doing this long enough to know the quality agents, even beyond your brokerage. What traits do you think make a great real estate agent?

[00:55:23] Jimmy Diamond: One is listening. That’s why we have two ears. Listening is very important because clients will tell you what they want, and you have to work with that.

[00:55:33] Jimmy Diamond: If their expectations are unreasonable, I personally tell people. Some agents are afraid to push back because they’re scared they’ll lose the customer. But communication, listening, availability, knowledge, and education are critical.

[00:55:52] Tracy Hayes: Thinking back over eight years, I imagine you’ve had clients you didn’t fully click with. Not every client is going to be your best friend after the sale. But if you listen and work through it, you can still get the job done. What are some things you’ve picked up on when working with clients?

[00:56:08] Tracy Hayes: Sometimes agents push too hard, and clients start to feel frustrated. Have you ever picked up on those signals, and how do you handle that?

[00:56:56] Jimmy Diamond: I often ask, “Are you happy? Is there something we can do differently?” I’m not afraid to communicate.

[00:57:03] Jimmy Diamond: Just because someone wants to buy or sell a house doesn’t mean I’m the right fit. If I’m not, I might be able to find someone else who can help.

[00:57:20] Jimmy Diamond: This is probably the biggest purchase they’ll ever make. They have to feel comfortable, and we need to be on the same page. If I’m going left and they’re going right, we’re wasting time.

[00:57:28] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:57:29] Jimmy Diamond: You’re not getting that time back.

[00:57:31] Tracy Hayes: I imagine there are times when you might not personally like the neighborhood they’re buying in.

[00:57:39] Jimmy Diamond: Yeah, but it’s not my house. I have to put that aside.

[00:57:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:57:42] Jimmy Diamond: As long as it’s a good house, it doesn’t matter if I don’t like the neighborhood. If they like it, that’s their choice.

[00:57:50] Jimmy Diamond: But if I see something wrong—like the walls are falling down—I’ll point it out.

[00:57:57] Tracy Hayes: That’s another thing.

[00:57:58] Jimmy Diamond: I do that a lot. I point out problems. When we’re looking at a house, I’ll say, “Hey, there’s a crack on the wall,” or, “Hey, it looks like there was water damage there.”

[00:58:18] Tracy Hayes: A lot of situations in Northeast Florida are like that. Nocatee is a big one. Some people love it there, and others hate it after moving there.

[00:58:40] Tracy Hayes: But it’s not your decision. If they want to see houses in Nocatee, you have to show them with a smile.

[00:58:52] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. If there are polka-dotted cabinets and I think they’re ugly, I keep that to myself.

[00:58:57] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:58:57] Jimmy Diamond: They might love it, and if I say something, I might kill the deal.

[00:59:02] Tracy Hayes: Exactly. You can always reface cabinets later.

[00:59:07] Tracy Hayes: We still have new agents entering the market. If someone is in their first two years, they’re still new. In 2020, new agents got a lot of at-bats quickly because the market was hot.

[00:59:17] Tracy Hayes: Now, things have slowed down. If they’re not being mentored or working with someone experienced, their learning curve is much slower.

[00:59:30] Tracy Hayes: What would you recommend to someone in their first or second year who hasn’t quite figured it out yet?

[01:00:05] Jimmy Diamond: That’s an easy answer: open houses. You need to do at least one open house a week.

[01:00:12] Jimmy Diamond: You’ll gain experience and probably pick up some clients. There’s a new agent at United who did an open house for me and got his first listing.

[01:00:24] Jimmy Diamond: I’ve got a great listing going live today, and I want to do an open house on Sunday. That same guy asked if he could do it.

[01:00:40] Jimmy Diamond: I told him, “I’m going to do the open house with you.” He said, “I would love that because I can learn from the best.” That was a really big compliment.

[01:00:40] Tracy Hayes: Yep.

[01:00:41] Jimmy Diamond: New agents call me all the time. I always share advice with them. I tell them, “Take my listings and post them as your own on Facebook or social media.”

[01:01:00] Jimmy Diamond: They belong to the broker anyway, and you might get a call. Someone might say, “This house isn’t what I’m looking for, but I’m looking for something else,” and then you’ve got a customer.

[01:01:05] Tracy Hayes: You’re successful. I had Rick Rebar Camp on the show recently. He’s been a staple at Rebar Camp for years, but he’s moving to Colorado.

[01:01:20] Tracy Hayes: He’s planning to restart his business there, and open houses are how he plans to do it. He said to go to listing agents—like yourself—and ask, “Can I post these on my social media?”

[01:01:43] Jimmy Diamond: Some agents don’t want you to, but I’m fine with it.

[01:01:45] Tracy Hayes: You’re still the listing agent.

[01:01:47] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly, I’m still going to sell my house.

[01:01:48] Tracy Hayes: You’re hopefully going to move it faster. It gets more eyes on the property.

[01:01:52] Tracy Hayes: Krista Mashore, for example, does a lot of Facebook marketing. She shows people how many hits a listing gets and says, “I can do that for your house.”

[01:02:10] Tracy Hayes: When you tell potential clients, “I’m with United Real Estate Gallery, and I have several agents working closely with me who will share your house on their social media,” it shows the strength of collaboration.

[01:02:40] Tracy Hayes: Rick also suggested that agents shoot raw video with their phones while walking through as many open houses as they can get to on a weekend. Post those videos on YouTube or social media reels.

[01:03:00] Tracy Hayes: Just showing houses and creating content makes it look like you’re busy. Clients will think, “This person must be doing well. I want to work with them.”

[01:03:45] Tracy Hayes: Do you do anything special for your open houses? Do you knock on neighbors’ doors, send postcards, or anything like that?

[01:03:45] Jimmy Diamond: I’m a little weak at knocking on neighbors’ doors, but it’s a great idea. It gets your name out there, and the neighbors might know someone interested in the house.

[01:04:00] Jimmy Diamond: I’m big on Facebook and Facebook Marketplace. Sometimes I do mailers. United Real Estate Gallery also does Facebook and Instagram blasts.

[01:04:14] Tracy Hayes: One mistake agents make is expecting immediate results. You might send one round of 300 postcards and get no calls.

[01:04:44] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly. You have to send to the same people multiple times.

[01:04:49] Tracy Hayes: It takes repetition. People go through their mail and throw most of it away. But if your card keeps showing up, they’ll start to recognize your name.

[01:05:20] Tracy Hayes: You never know when your card might stick. Someone could be having a barbecue, and their guests might mention they’re looking to buy or sell. That’s when your name might come up.

[01:06:07] Jimmy Diamond: Absolutely.

[01:06:07] Tracy Hayes: You’ve got to keep swinging the axe.

[01:06:13] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[01:06:14] Tracy Hayes: You can’t just swing at one tree, then another, and wonder why none are falling.

[01:06:19] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[01:06:20] Jimmy Diamond: Speaking of Shearwater, I have a listing there. Me and a bunch of agents from different brokerages made a flyer and are hosting open houses this Saturday from 12 to 2.

[01:06:34] Tracy Hayes: So, a collaborative open house?

[01:06:35] Jimmy Diamond: Yes, exactly.

[01:06:40] Tracy Hayes: How important is it to collaborate with other agents and talk shop?

[01:06:52] Jimmy Diamond: Very important. I speak to probably four agents every day. Even though I’m experienced, I don’t know everything.

[01:07:11] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:07:12] Jimmy Diamond: You might pick up something new or be reminded of something basic you’ve forgotten.

[01:07:21] Tracy Hayes: Or you might hear about a condo in a lawsuit, which could save you from trouble later on.

[01:07:37] Jimmy Diamond: Exactly.

[01:07:38] Jimmy Diamond: One thing I’m proud of is that I have listings in almost every county: Nassau, Clay, Duval, Flagler, and St. Johns.

[01:08:00] Jimmy Diamond: A realtor called me yesterday and asked, “Jimmy, what do you have in St. Johns for $100,000?” They know I have a lot of listings and experience.

[01:08:16] Jimmy Diamond: For other realtors listening, take advantage of “coming soon” listings.

[01:08:24] Tracy Hayes: Like putting it out on Facebook?

[01:08:28] Jimmy Diamond: Yes. I put a sign up on a St. Johns River listing, and I’ve already gotten two calls.

[01:08:40] Tracy Hayes: Especially in high-demand neighborhoods.

[01:09:12] Jimmy Diamond: No, my name is Jimmy Diamond, United Real Estate, and I really appreciate you having me on today.

[01:09:19] Tracy Hayes: No, I appreciate it. I’d like to reach out to you at different times. I want to start doing more updates. It could be virtual, or you could stop by for 15 or 30 minutes. Maybe every six months or so, we could do a quick update.

[01:09:35] Tracy Hayes: Kind of like your own little market update. I know a lot of agents do that, but we can do it right here. We can talk about what’s going on with Jimmy—how those 17 listings you had in January worked out. How is the market changing?

[01:09:49] Tracy Hayes: Hopefully, as we see with the new administration starting on Monday, things will move forward. Attitudes will change, and all that kind of stuff.

[01:09:53] Jimmy Diamond: I just wish we could get those rates down a little bit.

[01:09:58] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, something about that.

[01:10:00] Tracy Hayes: It’s funny, I was teaching a class on Tuesday—an intro to real estate finance—and part of it involved talking about interest rates. You know, the Fed lowered their funds rate, but mortgage rates have gone up.

[01:10:12] Tracy Hayes: There’s not exactly a disconnect, but it’s interesting to see the impact. With the administration change, people are saying, “Okay, let’s see what happens.”

[01:10:20] Tracy Hayes: The administration change has sparked the stock market. A good stock market generally means money is moving out of bonds.

[01:10:27] Tracy Hayes: When the stock market is volatile, people move their money into bonds to ride it out. That’s when there’s more money available for mortgages.

[01:10:40] Tracy Hayes: I think there will be pressure because Trump wanted lower rates. He loved low rates and, back when rates were still 3%, he even suggested zero percent rates like in Germany.

[01:10:52] Tracy Hayes: But I don’t think our market could handle that. At 3% rates, builders couldn’t build houses fast enough.

[01:11:00] Tracy Hayes: Even then, we’d still have a pricing challenge because of the demand. We’ve got to find that happy medium. I think it’s in the 5% range.

[01:11:08] Jimmy Diamond: That would be good.

[01:11:09] Tracy Hayes: I think if the 30-year fixed hits 5.875%, people will start refinancing and making moves they’ve been holding back on.

[01:11:15] Jimmy Diamond: That’s good for all of us.

[01:11:16] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Jimmy, I appreciate you coming on.

[01:11:19] Jimmy Diamond: Thank you. Have a great day.

[01:11:20] Tracy Hayes: You too.