Jorge Guerra: It’s No Longer About Curb Appeal, It’s About WEB Appeal

Jorge Guerra Jr.:  [00:00:00] In our business you are the product You are the product.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So the more you appear, you know, you know, though the more you become that product in front of your clients eyes predict That the best agents in the future, okay? The future, the 2034s, the 2044s are going to be those that are going to be like reporters. You know, like TV reporters, you know, I got to just do this thing.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Welcome outside. Let's take a, you know, those that are really good at bringing the consumer in really good at connecting, being very authentic,  um,  [00:01:00]

Tracy Hayes: Welcome back to the real estate excellence podcast. Today's guests, George Guerrero. Today's guest is one of the many superstars facilitators slated for the re bar camp one coast. He's a global, uh, liaison when the, uh, NAR, the national association of realtors, uh, the current treasurer of the Florida real tours and CEO of the real estate sales force, R E S F is commonly known in, uh, the South.

Tracy Hayes: Florida area. In 2020, he was chairman of the Miami Association of Realtors. He's also served as president of the residential board of the Miami Association of Realtors, chair of emerging business and technology form for NAR, chair of the top 50 brokers committee at the Florida Realtor. He has An international keynote speaker.

Tracy Hayes: He believes it's no longer about curb appeal. It's about web appeal Let's welcome george guerrero to the show. Thank you

Jorge Guerra Jr.: very much. Thank you for the kind intro. Thank you for

Tracy Hayes: having me I [00:02:00] appreciate you coming on today and taking the time there dug a little bit into your um, Your social media watch actually some of your videos on your website or some of your uh,  your keynotes and so forth. So I want to start off right with that Uh, that quote, because I think that kind of, um, is, is one of your themes, I think, if it's because you put it out there, it's no longer about curb appeal.

Tracy Hayes: It's about web appeal. So give us a little background about that. And then we'll dig in the little background about you.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, you know what, one of my, my favorite quotes, um, and to be honest with you, uh, I need you to imagine the real estate market has just crashed. Um, I am in my mid twenties and I was a real estate broker at the, the cusp of the internet booming.

Jorge Guerra Jr.:  uh, during that timeframe, I had an aha moment, you know, aha, you know what, you know, the internet is really going to change the game. Um, and it's really going to be. Who's able to really market property, uh, in a way that, that makes the consumer feel like they can make a decision from their iPhone, their computer, or their iPad.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Uh, so, so for, for me, uh, in one of the most [00:03:00] competitive markets, uh, I made it a point to make that my focus. I want it to be known if you had one of my listings, you know, it was going to be a full fledged marketing. Offense, you know, we were going to create incredible content and you know, as Miami grew our international presence grew And and again, you know that type of marketing for that international market is a godsend for them So for me, it just sort of played off very well for us And again, I was in my mid 20s in an industry that the average broker was 64 years old and our industry went 90 online so that that was where I sort of uh started playing off that

Tracy Hayes: There.

Tracy Hayes: Well, I think, yeah, anyone realizing where you're at, but I mean, really everywhere now, you know, here in Northeast Florida and greater Jacksonville, the demand here is high. We even have people moving up from the south. Um, so maybe more domestically, we may not have the, uh, international, uh, percentage that obviously Miami South Florida does.

Tracy Hayes: But [00:04:00] do you believe, at least I don't, I don't believe the enough agents are doing enough video. Would you agree with that? Yeah. 100%.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I think that we get hired more often than not, you know, for our ability to bring buyers and, you know,

Jorge Guerra Jr.: real estate is an emotional decision. Any opportunity that you can to create that emotion.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You have to take it. And, uh, the beauty about video is that they see it, they like it, they share it, you know, they share with all their friends and their family. Now it becomes part of their emotion. They go at night underneath their pillow, they turn on their video and they see it again. They fantasize on what it's going to be to be living in the house.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and again, anytime you can create that experience. outside the real property, I think it's our duty.

Tracy Hayes: How true is it, uh, especially for the, you know, I heard one time, and this was years ago, but new construction, uh, a lot of times, the, uh, buyers before they even go in the model the first time have already looked at that, uh, floor plan and so [00:05:00] forth, uh, you know, a half a dozen times before they even go in.

Tracy Hayes: Are you

Jorge Guerra Jr.: kidding me? They so you're speaking to somebody who started his real estate career in new construction um, and uh Absolutely, you know that that floor plan, you know, you know, they take it to home depot They take it to the furniture store. They visualize they fantasize they look at their current furniture And see what the, what they're going to sell in their garage sale.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and all that adds layers to, to the emotion, you know, that ties them with that property, right?

Tracy Hayes: I'm going to step back a little bit. I wanted to get that opening statement there. Cause I love that quote. I, I, and we'll talk about it more in depth here in a little bit. Tell us a little bit, um, you know, where you're from and then how did you end up at Florida international?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, um, born and raised in South Florida. I'm a homegrown kid. Um, father, what was a construction labor? My mother was what was a housewife to two twins and myself. Uh, if you ever have twins, you know that it's a, it's a full fledged assault. Um, went to all catholic schools, grade school, high school. And I started a [00:06:00] catholic high school, uh, in, in the first or second semester of my college.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, I decided to get my real estate license. And, uh, from there, you know, my, my first experience as a sales assistant, as a part time employee, um, I had an aha moment, you know, I'm in love with, you know, the art of the sale, I'm in love with, with, with putting deals together, um, and from that point forward, I jumped into sales.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I want to say my first year I ended up being the number one salesperson Within my company and and forget about it. Unfortunately, the real estate bug grabbed me Um, I I rode the pre construction train Until the market crashed and when the market crashed Um is when I really diversified my practice I looked at You know the market and first of all, I told myself I never really want to niche myself ever again that that hard into us Um, I wanted to go general and make sure that as the market moved, that we were able to capture that.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And that's when, when I was alluding to earlier, you know, the market crashed, the internet boomed. I was in my mid [00:07:00] twenties. The average broker was in their sixties that I said, you know what? Aha, this internet, uh, this marketing game, this ability to grow your reputation, uh, much faster. It's going to happen on this new platform.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Uh, and that, that, that's when I started number one, making a commitment in, in my market saying that every single property that we list, we're going to make a movie of, and if you have all the time in the world, they can peruse my YouTube channel and you can see our very first listing, you know, I look like I'm having an epileptic seizure, you know, showing the property, but if you see the evolution.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, we've got it to almost a science. Um, and, uh, from a marketing perspective, if you look at our, our Instagram, you know, you'll see, and this is an influence of my wife, you know, our, our consistent marketing, same color, same scheme, same font, again, trying to buy real estate in your mind. And, and I thought, was it,

Tracy Hayes: you know, I'm always intrigued, what was it you were in school and did you know somebody in real estate?

Tracy Hayes: Did you just, you know, you were [00:08:00] looking for a part time job and that was available. What was it that actually, uh, you know, brought you there?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, so, you know what? I'm a little embarrassed, but I'll tell you, um, my, my, my father was a hard labor and we grew up as kids. I have a brother and a sister that are both twins.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And my father gave us 2 options every morning. And he said, you can either be a doctor. You can be an attorney. You can pick 1, you know, I'm working out outside here in the sun in order to give you a better life. So, so I was really good at science and, uh, I decided to go into the premed, uh, direction. So I went to Barry University, uh, got involved in all the premed programs.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And, um, I broke up with my girlfriend and to be honest with you, I wanted to party. I didn't want the 8 in the morning to midnight studying. I wanted just one semester off. All of my friends were calling me saying, George, we're over here. We're, we're over here doing this, doing that. And as sad as it was, it was to party.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And my father told me, you know, don't think you're going to live off my dime. You know, you're, you're going to go to work. So I did hard labor that summer. For a week until I found the sales office in the middle of the construction [00:09:00] site and I talked my way in to getting a part time job there and then forget about it.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Once I saw the inner workings of the sales office. I go, I got this and I can sell. And by the end of that semester, again, I was the number one salesperson in that office. Uh, the, the, the, the owner offered me a job and a salary that I couldn't refuse at that time. And you know, never again, did I ever look back until the market crashed and then I had to, I had to sort of read file myself, read, we figure out what direction I wasn't to get, but I was.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I was young and I was hungry. I had my, my wife pregnant and I bought a house that I couldn't afford all the motivating factors, you know, to hit it hard.

Tracy Hayes: So you, you, you're, you're at the new construction and what you look about 2007 or so, eight or even sooner, basically, and a new construction basically came to a halt.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, so, so I started in 1999, if you can imagine that, and obviously the pre construction market crashed. And around [00:10:00] 2006, but we didn't realize it till 2007. It took us a year to sort of come to terms with that reality.

Tracy Hayes: So when do you branch off is it's around this time where you are ESF, right? The real estate Salesforce, you got it.

Tracy Hayes: You break off and create that at the time, or how does that come to about? So, you know,

Jorge Guerra Jr.: what are our ESF? Um,

Jorge Guerra Jr.: real estate sales force was, was again designed to represent developers. Um, when, when the market crashed, um, I, I sort of shifted and said, you know what? I'm going more general. And, uh, you know, I told you earlier that my wife was pregnant.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I had a mortgage that I probably couldn't have afforded at the time, but I needed to generate some money. So I actually went out there and started knocking on doors. Um, and one lesson that I learned was that number one reputation was key because when I would knock on doors, people would say, George, you know, I love your enthusiasm, but, you know, Sally, Jesse Raphael, she's been selling here for a decade and everybody knows her.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, it wasn't until it wasn't until I had lunch with a buddy of mine. That came from the New York Film [00:11:00] Academy that he showed me a video online and I know that sounds like very easy to do right now, but back then it was impossible. I was in shock. How did you get that video online? So I told myself that night I go if I can record real estate video.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And put it online, I would come up with a value proposition that nobody in my market really had. And more importantly, that nobody had consistently. So I went and I bought a Macintosh, I bought a camera that didn't match what I was trying to do. Um, and I went online and I did some editing lessons. And, uh, I shot my first video again, it looked like I was having a seizure with a camera.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, but I was able to put it together. Uh, and when I started knocking again, you know, I told people, Hey, you know what? People are going online, you know, you know, if you let me list your property, you know, I'm going to avoid a thousand people coming in and I'm going to get this type of exposure. And people bought into it.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: They said, Hey, you know what, kid? You're right. You do make sense. And from there I got my aha moment. You know what? [00:12:00] George, the only way you're going to make it is you're going to have to work harder. You're going to have to work smarter and you're going to have to try to position yourself, you know, ahead of the market, uh, only because of the competitiveness that, that we're in.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, so from that point forward, I told myself every listing that I get, I'm going to videotape and make a movie of, and then as I started growing , my firm, uh, people bought into that philosophy. Hey, if you come over here, you know, this is how we present and this is how we move forward. Um, and, you know, here we are close to 500 agents later.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, we have five offices covering all of South Florida. Um, and you know, all these gray hairs, which I started with none.

Tracy Hayes: Where were you posting those initial videos? Where, how are you getting those?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So great, great, great question. And, uh, I had to create a website, put it in an FTP site. Okay. Link it to a video player.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And I would also create RSS links to Apple's video podcasts. Um, because YouTube didn't exist at that [00:13:00] time. Right. So, so, so that's the way I was hosting it on an FTP site. We had a player on our website. And on the MLS, we will put a link to our website. Hey, if you want to watch a video, you know, click on this link.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: How

Tracy Hayes: then, okay. So now today they all talk about funnels and everything else. You'll click on the website, you know, videos are the great way to. Start leading people into the funnel and start getting those leads that you Started talking about or were you all of a sudden getting a lot of attraction from the listing side where people like hey I want to I want to put my uh, um, you know list my house with george because he's he's videoing Where did you start seeing the business come from or did you see coming from both sides at the same

Jorge Guerra Jr.: time?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So you know what i'm gonna be honest with you. Um number one I saw the business coming first and foremost from the confidence that agents had having it as a tool to go out there and prospect with number two, um, video isn't, isn't still very dominant. Wasn't very dominant when I first started,[00:14:00]  uh, owners would see our marketing and they would say, Hey, you know what I want, you know, I saw that property that's sold next door when I went to go visit the listing, I saw a video.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And you know what? I want a video for my listing moving forward. So think of word of mouth. Number two, and this is my favorite, buyers that bought our listings. You know, that that fell in love with the video, you know, would come back to us and say, hey, George, you know what? We want to sell our house. We've done some updates.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Can you come back and reshoot it? But we want you to represent us. Um, so think think from all those aspects, you know, when it comes to funnels, as much as I would love to tell you that, man, we funnel all the time. We don't funnel at all. You know, we try to be as direct, we try to put as little, uh, boundaries in between us and our clients, all of our videos, and with a phone number and an email, and we want to connect, to be honest with you.

Tracy Hayes: You had, you, there's another quote I pulled off one of your, one of your sites here and talking about RESF [00:15:00] and almost, you know, nearly 500 agents there, five offices, as you mentioned, your favorite part of real estate is building up agents. Tell us a little bit about that.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: In my market, you know, out of 10 that come into my market only 2 survive.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And, you know, I, I blame a little bit of the system, you know, without naming any names, you know, you know, there's some brokerages that are designed. You know to Suck an agent dry and at the very beginning of your career Um, there's there's some hard work that that needs to happen. There's some training that that you need to sort of master There's some marketing I's and t's that you need to cross that need to happen and people do a very poor job Of organizing people and setting them up for success.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, so for me having as many agents as we've had, um, being an independent company. And being as hands on as we've been, you know, we've seen it all. We know what works. We know what doesn't work. Uh, we know how to get it to work. We [00:16:00] understand that people work in different ways. So it's really about communication collaboration, but more importantly, you know, understanding those things that move the needle and really telling the agents.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Hey, forget about a lot of these shiny new objects. You know, these are things that, you know, through the test of time, and at the same time at the speed of now, you know, are moving our industry. So, so for us, that's really been our focus. Um, and, you know, the testament is the success of our top agents within our industry.

Tracy Hayes: I imagine you remember back when it was just you and your wife, and now, like I say, you're, you're, you're pushing 500 agents. How important is, yes, I, I talked to a lot of agents here in the, in the greater Jacksonville area. They're top producers or they, they got a top producing team. Um, but obviously none of them are near the 500 agents that, that you've accumulated and retained is that the word is retained.

Tracy Hayes: You can't. advance and grow unless you're retaining the person that's already in front of you. Um, what are some of the, uh, early [00:17:00] things that you did? Uh, obviously delivering value. I'm sure you've had a lot of agents come and go, whether they're no longer in the business or moved to other brokerages or whatever, but finding some of those key people and retaining them.

Tracy Hayes: What are some of the challenges, uh, uh, that you, you know, successes and challenges that you had? In that process over the roughly 15 years or plus now that you've, uh, had RESF. So, so

Jorge Guerra Jr.: when it comes to, to, to agents leaving and coming, you know, there's an old saying in our industry, you know, one third are coming in, one third stay and one third leave.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And, and I think it's part of the agent's growth process. Sometimes agents need to experience other, other, um, situations in order for them to grow. Um, what what I have learned is. And what I've witnessed is that, you know, those that stay together the longest end up going the farthest, you know, this is a reputation business.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And the, the, the, the more, uh, solid that, that reputation is built, the better it is. And, um, what, when it comes to building relationships, you know, I have agents that have been with me [00:18:00] since the first day. You know, they come into my office. And we almost don't need to talk. I know, I know what's going on or when they call me, I know the reasons why they only call me for these specific reasons.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And again, it really allows us to really move at a very fast speed. Um, one of my, uh, good friends also has a saying as well. And this is one of my favorite sayings that I steal from them. You know, it's good to be first born second wife, third broker, you know, and, and, uh, you know, first born, you get all the attention, you know, second wife, you know, you're done with all the BS.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And third brokers, because you figure out that, Hey, you know, no company, no tool is going to make you successful, you know, at that point, it's really you. So, so, so it's really about finding, you know, where you feel that you're a fit, you know, where the culture, you know, vibes with you, where you feel, you know, that, that your word is heard and that, and that your, your opinions are also.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, valued as well. Uh, and where, where, you know, you're, you're motivated to, to, to grow. Uh, and again, people find that in different places, different cultures, different splits, different, you know, tears. Um, but, but for [00:19:00] me, um, what has been successful for me is really focusing my eye on what I feel is important, you know, making sure that.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, I vet all the objects, shiny new objects that come into my office, that I have a very healthy tech stack that really moves my industry, um, that, that, that I focus on, you know, the client experience and that when it comes to the agents, you know, that number 1, that they're trained, you know, at the speed of now at what's current and what's hot, um, but more importantly, um, that they know that We are a big family and that building culture for us is important, you know, that here at RSF, you know, we're not only here for a commission.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: We're here to make a difference. So we're very involved in our community, you know, and I can go on and on on what makes us different. Uh, and and why people stay, but it's really about the culture and it's really about those that, you know, understand that, you know, we love to build agents. So, the longer they stay, the more effort we put into building them, you know, and there's very few brokerages that really have that focus and that and that [00:20:00] really do it.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, I, I love to tell this to to my agents, you know, I haven't worked in the last 15 years, you know, I jump out of bed. You know, going to work. I love what I do. I love sitting in a room, brainstorming, planning out, you know, what, what the future holds, uh, and more importantly, being part of their success.

Tracy Hayes: Well, I mean, you're, you're in a very, um, uh, unique group to, to build a, a real estate brand to, you know, to. to that. I mean, you know, you're right there. You know, the Keller Williams, the Colwell bankers. I mean, to have that many agents, you're across five offices, 500 agents. Obviously, you can't be in all places at all times.

Tracy Hayes: You're but you're, you're overseeing it. I How do you maintain with your leadership team to maintain, uh, you know, I imagine each office is a little different because we're different people, but yet keep that ideology that you're talking about across the entire brand. So, so

Jorge Guerra Jr.: great question. And, uh, I'm going to be [00:21:00] honest with you.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: We leverage technology. So as, as I alluded to you earlier. You know that we invested early in video. When it came to our communication platform that we use in our company, we've also been investing in it for a very long time. So

Jorge Guerra Jr.: here at my company, we use a program called Workplace. I don't know if you've heard of it before.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Have you? No. So,

Tracy Hayes: so, I think I've seen the brand or something on the, probably a LinkedIn advertisement or something, but didn't know

Jorge Guerra Jr.: what it was. So Workplace is Facebook's stepbrother. So I want you to imagine that. You get Facebook and you, you, you uninvite everybody and then you, you, you put it on your domain and you invite your agents in there.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So what we've tried to do is to be honest with you is to create the same value propositions that we have in our office. In in the cloud and the way that we leverage it is with a program called workplace, which is exactly like Facebook, but it's separate. [00:22:00] And, you know, my oldest agent is 80 years old. My youngest agent is 19.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And what they both have in common is Facebook. So it's a very easy platform for them to enter in and really navigate and understand where to find things, how to search. So in my, in, in our workplace, I have all my office admins that have to be visible and present there. Uh, all of our trainings are done on zoom.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: They're recorded. We put captions and they're hosted there. All of our marketing is, you know, itemized there and indexed there. You know, we, we have a built in knowledge library. We have a calendar, we have different channels, like ask your questions. We got answers. Um, you know, and I, you know, my lenders have a tab.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: My attorney has a tab. You can literally log in there and get your questions answered. Find all of our marketing gear, speak with our attorney, speak with our lender, you know, without even walking into the office. So, so we've invested, you know, we we've known. That as the agent's ability to search on their phone [00:23:00] to find value on their phone to sign contracts on their phone, that that mobility is going to make them less and less present in the office.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So we have to bring the office to them. So, so, so, so we've invested. You know the last five or six years, you know curating that atmosphere for them and uh as they Join our company we indoctrinate them into that that system and those that use it. Don't miss a beat

Tracy Hayes: What do you how do you how do you treat the um, because there's some agents now My wife is one of those she's with you know, florida homes is you know large in the state I mean she she doesn't go in because they don't really have I mean they have some little Pop up offices, basically, but not very large cubicles, maybe kind of, you know, just come into a conference room.

Tracy Hayes: Should you want to meet with a client face to face or something versus a coffee shop, I guess, but how, how do you differentiate? Or, you know, when, when you have a perspective agent, maybe you're trying to recruit or someone's come to you and they're looking at your setup, you know, how do you express them?

Tracy Hayes: How basically it doesn't really [00:24:00] matter whether you're, if you want to come in every day, there's an office space there. If you don't, you've got workplace and. Tap into that. So

Jorge Guerra Jr.: when it comes to our trainings, we do them live. If you can't make it, we do it, we host it on zoom. And if you miss the zoom, we sort of recorded.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, so 1 of the things that I try to do is put you in a position where. Um, there's, there's no excuses. It's really up to you. You know, you want it live, come over here. We'll do it live. you can't drive here, we give it to you on zoom. And if you're busy, you can watch it on video. Um, real estate, unfortunately, like the gym, you're going to, you're going to have to make an effort.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: That effort has to be consistent. It has to come from you. Um, you know, brokers want you to succeed. Brokers are going to put the tools in front of you to succeed. Um, and whatever you don't know, brokers are terrible at being proactive. You know, we're awesome at being reactive. So, so, you know, you have to let us know what you're missing, what you want.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and if they're unable to deliver that, then it might be, then you might have outgrown your broker. Um, [00:25:00] but, um, I would always be chasing education. Um, I, I'd be always looking to sharpen my tools. Um, I, I tell my agents this and you're, you're, you're gonna love this. I tell my agents that I'm the best trainer in the whole entire world.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: That nobody comes close to me. You know, and then I go to YouTube and there's people that are ten times better than me. So, so I tell them that education starts with me. It doesn't end with me. You know, I go online to get my education. You know, you know, what, what, what I try to create is I try to create an honest base that's consistently training.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: That's adding value. That's creating great marketing. Um, that's there to answer your questions and, uh, it's open to great ideas and that wants you to succeed and wants to succeed as well. So, so outside of that. You know, the internet has the best door knocker, you know, trainer, the best farmer out there.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, it's really to figure out where you want to go in this beautiful industry that's real estate that has so many options. You know, what niche do you want to get? And then really go to the end of the internet, you know, researching, sharpening your tools, bringing it back to your broker and saying, can you help me?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: How can you add some value to [00:26:00] this? and it's worked this together.

Tracy Hayes: It's sort of a rec you know, a rec a recruiting statement from you a little bit here in this question I'm gonna ask you. Um, I I think even in corporate America, um, uh, you you know, especially dealing with salespeople, we can get over on a You need to be training consistently, but I guarantee you've had these agents that come in and they are taking in all this information, but they're, they're, they're not taking the time to do what they actually need and feed themselves, you know, to get out there and prospect, how do you control or monitor the, especially those agents in their first three, four, six months, whatever it may be, uh, you probably have a number there to, you know, Know what's time to prospect versus y'all taking whatever amount of hours a week to educate

Jorge Guerra Jr.: great.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Great question. Um, Traditionally when when I on board an agent, all right So I'll walk you through some of our process [00:27:00] when I on board an agent if they are an experienced agent I tell them in a very nice way. I'm gonna rip you apart You know, I'm going to talk to you about your schedule, your lifestyle, you know, what you're doing from a marketing perspective, what you're doing from a prospecting perspective, which is usually zero, you know, they're usually professional marketers, uh, but what are you doing from a prospecting perspective?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and that's how I start my, my, my conversation. If you're a brand new agent, okay, um, after we work up some of the core stuff that I need you to train, you know, I tell you, there's two things that I need you to create some consistency in. You know, marketing, you know, letting people know what you do for a living, you know, and prospecting asking for business consistently.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and the way that I preach that is I tell people I want an hour a day, you know, it's like going to the gym. If you go to the gym for an hour a day, what happens? You get fit no matter what, you know? Um, so, so for me, I, I, I love you for an hour a day. Um, and if I can get an hour a day, I get five hours a week.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I get 20 hours [00:28:00] a month and they start getting some traction. Not only do they start getting some traction, they start sharpening their tongue. I think the biggest. Corporate of an unsuccessful agent is the fact that they, they don't prospect consistently. They prepare, they buy the dialer, they get the scripts, you know, they, they, they look at the videos, but they don't go out there and swing.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So for me, you know, I want 45 minutes to an hour every single day of prospecting. If you have the tenacity to do that, you're going to be successful. And if you don't, real estate might not be a career for you. But

Tracy Hayes: how important is it, uh, could you use. A few minutes ago, you were talking about being proactive versus reactive.

Tracy Hayes: Um, cause I imagine, you know, an agent who might be listening to this right now, whether they're just in pre licensing, maybe haven't chosen a broker, maybe someone who's with a broker and it's, you know, the value ad is diminished. And now they're just, they're looking for places, but how important is, you know, as a, as a broker, you want every, you want [00:29:00] everyone to be successful.

Tracy Hayes: You want your office to be successful. So you can't just, you know, you know, throw them in the car and say, go drive out there. If they don't have any directions or where they should be. And that's really how, uh, you know, no, you can't do it yourself with that many agents, your team and following up. And I mean, do you require.

Tracy Hayes: Uh, some of these new agents that you're onboarding to stick to a particular program for 90, 120 days, six months to, uh, kind of get the reps in, you know, like working out in the gym, maybe, you know, start them with a trainer. So they know all the different exercises before you release them out on their own.

Tracy Hayes: So, so,

Jorge Guerra Jr.: so great question. We don't do a 30 day. We do an everyday. You know, this is more like, like a lifestyle change, unfortunately. Um, and, um, I'll share with you a little bit of how I break down my week when it comes to moving, moving my agents and motivating my agents, um, and what they're learning. So every Monday I do what's called coffee with George 20 minutes.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: It's my Monday meeting. I keep it short and sweet. I want you to get out there and work, but I want you [00:30:00] to know number one, what trainings we have that week, you know, what, what we're marketing for, you know, that, that week. Uh, any news every office has a roll call and then we open up to questions and answers, you know, just to see what's going on there.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, every Tuesday and Thursday, we have our big trainings. Okay. And this is 1 thing that separates me from most of my competition. And they said, I don't train a residential agent. I train a real estate professional,

Jorge Guerra Jr.: which means residential, commercial, business, brokerage, rental, Airbnb, and property management.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And the reason why we train those different genres is because in my 24 years of owning RESF, as my clients grow, so did their needs. So I either have to grow up and learn or lose that client base. Um, so that's

Jorge Guerra Jr.: every Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday, I do an exercise and this exercise is called multifamily Wednesday.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Okay, we go online. We look at the new investment properties and we critique the outside and the inside like if we were [00:31:00] investors We look at the rent rule We look at the sale price and we run three formulas cap rate cash on cash and gross rent multiplier on every new Investment property that comes in my market every single week We usually like to create an investor list or the people that we've already sold homes to we like to encourage them to start building their wealth and what better way than some investment real estate Friday is called money call Friday.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So Friday is where every single Friday we teach you prospecting on Friday, but Monday you come into the office and we're prospecting Tuesday. We're prospecting Thursday. We're prospecting. Friday, we teach the class again, and we keep on repeating that. So that's how we sort of break up our, our Monday through Friday.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: That's how I keep them engaged. So, so it's sort of like, uh, you know, the, the gym, you know, you come in, you know, you start back and, you know, take the class and, you know, start working on your own once you're ready.

Tracy Hayes: Sounds like, and [00:32:00] this is something that I think, uh, all sales managers, uh, need to.

Tracy Hayes: pay attention to. I've worked for companies who called sales meetings with no agendas. Uh, they really weren't, you know, they really didn't plan out that 20 minute call for Monday morning to motivate everybody. It was kind of just a wing it call and everyone started to realize it. So everyone starts to tune out.

Tracy Hayes: Do you spend a lot of time, uh, you know, focusing to make sure there's a huge amount of value in those, those calls and trainings.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, so you, you haven't gained this from, from this podcast, but I'm super funny. So I leverage humor to sort of keep them engaged as much as possible. Um, I try to get them, um, involved in, in the training as well.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and I try to add value and, and, and I think as long as. You know, listen, it's tough to do a training every single Monday and it be super smooth and super engaging, but you know what, um, we make [00:33:00] an effort. We look for variety and content. We look for, for things that catch the eye. If not, we got to sprinkle some humor.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: We got to have some fun, but, but for me, and this was born from the COVID days, it's, it's just a place to ground you to start your week. You know, to look everybody face in the face and say, Hey, you know, eyes to eyes and say, Hey, you know, we're doing it again this week. We're putting on the grind. Let me tell you what's going on, where it's going on.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: How's everybody doing? Does anybody have any questions? And you need that, that grounding and with 500 agents, you know, you can't get everybody in a room. And you need to leverage technology more importantly to start growing that culture, you know, as my firm grows, you know They're gonna need to be more comfortable going online and i'm gonna have to be very comfortable Going online and that's really the future, you know of our industry as long as we remain mobile You know, as long as we're out there serving our clients and not going into the office, you know, us brokers, we need to go out, go to them.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And, you know, this is just one of the mediums that we do it with.

Tracy Hayes: So, and I imagine obviously, you know, you're, you're zooming. They, if they're [00:34:00] driving in, they can, you know, get you on their phone or if they're dropping their kids off at school or whatever it is. What have you found? And you know, you're talking about building the culture because I think this is very important.

Tracy Hayes: It's a great tip for, you know, I know so many people where they want to build these teams, but you know, to have that call, but obviously have people getting on that call every day. And I understand 500 people are not going to probably get on that call. But I imagine your success over the years, you've measured how many people are getting on that Monday call, how many people are getting on the Friday training and then seeing their success slowly, you know, Uh, moving forward.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Well, I'm going to be honest with you. We stalk them like a jealous Grover. So we call them, we text them, you know, we email them in order to remind them of those trainings. Right.

Tracy Hayes: That you're just as much into as that. You're, you're just not letting it. Oh, okay. He didn't call in. That's his problem. You're going to stick with him for a little bit to, to edge him [00:35:00] in.

Tracy Hayes: Because, which I think is, that's the whole proactiveness. I really love that. I just, I don't think enough people are proactive. Uh, and it's not just in real estate. Uh, you know, it could be in the mortgage business where I'm at. Uh, but in, in sales in general, some, sometimes people just don't know what to do and you've got to be that coach.

Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Okay. You got to get out and we got to run some laps. We got to get in shape for the game. Listen,

Jorge Guerra Jr.: you have to fail fast. You have to figure out what doesn't work and what works for the quicker you do it. The faster you strike a chord with your audience. And that's really the key.

Tracy Hayes: All right, I'm going to circle back to the video here because we we got I think we hopefully everyone has enough I don't think we have all the information, but you give us a good idea of what what you're doing and why you're you're successful at resf um youtube, I don't think Enough agents and because I could see it because when I have guests on I go through all their social media like yours And I you know comb from LinkedIn To YouTube and what what they have available I [00:36:00] see a lot of agents if they have a YouTube channel their videos are a couple years old.

Tracy Hayes: They're not regularly, you know, putting out information, uh, because I think YouTube is like a library, you know, uh, and even if it is a property showing someone who searches that from wherever in the country, searches that neighborhood, you may have had a video that was three years old from there, but they may, may like that.

Tracy Hayes: And you're still Are interacting and possibly might get a call from that person, but tell me what your, your attitude is towards YouTube in as far as, you know, cause you're the video

Jorge Guerra Jr.: guy. Listen, I think, uh, number one, first and foremost, real estate is a reputation business. Okay. And what easy way to document.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, your past transactions then on YouTube, number one, okay, easy to share. Everybody has access to it. Um, what have you done in your past? What have you sold in the past? Let, let me share with you my last couple of listings or my last dozen or my [00:37:00] last 20 listings. I think it's super powerful. Um, I, I think that the reality moving forward is that real estate agents are going to have to get behind the camera.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: They're going to have to teach. They're going to have to grow their reputation no longer behind the emails. Uh, and for me, YouTube is a platform that allows Google to let, you know, allows you to be searchable on Google. That that allows you to track your analytics to see if your content is working or if it isn't working to see where people are seeing your stuff.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And for me, data is powerful and the earlier you start, you know, creating those cookie crumbs of data, you know, the better you're going to become at identifying who your audience is, what they like, you know, and what what content gravitates to them and that's from a back end. You know, perspective, uh, I think from a front end perspective, you know, I don't know about you, but I'm on YouTube when I'm free, you know, I'm looking at, you know, stuff that YouTube thinks is interesting to [00:38:00] me.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, you know, you know, the things that are interesting to me, I go to YouTube, you know, to check it out. So my, my professor in, in, in college once told me, George, marketing is very simple. You know put your marketing, you know where people's eyes are at and I don't know about you But my eyes are on youtube.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So I think as a realtor, you know, it only makes sense to put your marketing You know where people's eyes are at, you know, and it's free unless you want to invest some money on it You know, it really makes sense To from the very beginning, you know, start making your mistakes, start learning what works and start growing that reputation on that platform.

Tracy Hayes: I heard you say in one of your talks there in your keynotes, uh, the uber of real estate. Did I hear that correctly? What do you mean by the uber of real

Jorge Guerra Jr.: estate? Well, I'm sure that that I've been asked about what threats are out there in one way or another or technology where it's going. So, so maybe you probably heard that from there, but, um, [00:39:00] there's no doubt that my kids.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Not us, but my kids are growing up in a generation, you know, where they're pressing a button and foods being delivered to their house. They're pressing a button and a driver's coming over there. They press a button and whatever they want on Amazon gets delivered over there. So think that as real estate practitioners, it'd be foolish for us not to be thinking in that direction.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: How can I create, you know, that one stop one click, you know, opportunity to connect with our clients. Um, and, uh, for me. The closest that, that, that I feel from a tech perspective that we've been able to do that again, it has been with video and, and that's type of marketing, you know, let me click a button and let me turn my phone sideways.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Let me open up my computer or my new favorite, you know, let me put on my Oculus. And let me get into a 360 video and take a tour and see, you know, what people are experiencing. Um, how

Tracy Hayes: important is one thing I, I talk to agents, um, uh, you know, I, I try to set up actually something I've been starting to doing outside of the, of a full fledged like podcast like we're doing here, where this will [00:40:00] go out to Apple and Spotify and those things is just having them sit down with me.

Tracy Hayes: And we talk about real estate, you know, Hey, what's going on, what do you got going on? You got a listing this week for, for 20, 30 minutes. Cause I can. I can roll out. Some of them are good enough. They'll roll out 10 11 really good reels right out of that 30 minute conversation and that creates a file. But taking that information, I think a lot of them go short of, you know, I take that real.

Tracy Hayes: I'm putting it on Facebook. Everything I video goes to YouTube, shorts and long term. And you got tick tock in instagram. You've got it. Just by clicking in some TikTok, you can schedule out 10 days in advance. You know, YouTube will take it as far out as you want to go. Instagram is more of a daily thing.

Tracy Hayes: So I click in the morning and, you know, throw it in there. But I think Facebook, you can actually schedule too. It's a little more complicated than the others, but understanding this video can be repurposed for so many [00:41:00] different things to create the content to stay top of mind in front of their, their perspective, buyers and sellers.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Listen again, the versatility of video, it's incredible lives forever. It can be cut up, can be shortened, can be long, can be extended, can be added to, you know, a success reel. You're, you're, you're a hundred percent right with that.

Tracy Hayes: Um, how important do you feel, uh, when you're doing the house showing you the house video, um, especially I see some of these agents on Saturday morning, you're really just taking their phone on a selfie stick, but for, for get themselves in the video to start building that relationships.

Tracy Hayes: Cause I've, I've heard, and I'm sure you've got factual data. It's cause you speak about it about sometimes, well. Our mind doesn't differentiate between the person sitting in front of us and us sitting there like you and I'm looking at you through a video differentiate, um, that we are, you know, two or 300 miles away from each other, but you start building a relationship by them seeing you, your expressions, uh, your mannerisms and so forth [00:42:00] and you start actually building a relationship.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: No, listen, I think that, you know, the psychology, like you were saying of. People seeing your eyes being people seeing your expressions that that mental connection that happens, you know subconsciously in your mind is powerful one thing that

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I remind my audience in real estate is that in our business you are the product You are the product.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So the more you appear, you know, you know, though the more you become that product in front of your clients eyes III predict That the best agents in the future, okay? The future, the 2020, the 2034s, the 2044s are going to be those that are going to be like reporters. You know, like TV reporters, you know, I got to just do this thing.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Welcome outside. Let's take a, you know, those that are really good at bringing the consumer in really good at connecting, being very authentic, um, and not

Tracy Hayes: embarrassed back to the emotion thing. Yeah. I said

Jorge Guerra Jr.: earlier, not, not, not being afraid of the camera and being [00:43:00] able to storytell very well. I think those are going to be, you know, some of the techniques that we're going to be training in the future.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Smile, keep your chin up, walk slowly, use your hands.

Tracy Hayes: Uh, so. So, you know, when they're doing that, the importance of knowing when you're training, I imagine you get agents or do they already know your reputation? They're like, Hey, he wants us all to do video. And I don't like doing video. So I'm not going to go talk to George.

Tracy Hayes: I'm going to go to some other brokerage. How do, how do you break the ice of some of these people? Cause there's so many out. there. And unfortunately we realized some will just never, never do it, but I've been trying to obviously coax them in as my added value in what I like to do, which is this, to get them in and help them create their video.

Tracy Hayes: Cause they can naturally have a conversation with you, but they're a little scared to stand there like that spokesperson that you're talking about. What are some of the things that you do to To, uh, help, you know, show him the ease of it. And that no one really cares what you, I mean, you know, being attractive, you know, helps, but you being real is more [00:44:00] important.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Absolutely. Um,  I'm going to be honest with you, the way that I help my agents grow out of that is, is, is I put them in opportunities to get in front of the camera and do it. And as, and as a broker, that's all you can do is create those opportunities when they come into the office. Um, this last month, uh, our, our, our marketing guys that told our, our managers, Hey, you know, we want us. 30 second reel of any agent that walks into the office, their full name, what they specialize in, how long they've been in the business and they're cutting it up. So, so just to just creating those opportunities helps build their, their, their, their confidence.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Uh, by the way, I'm very convincing. So peer pressure, you know, works very well as well. So, you know, strong arming them. Hey, come over here, do it. You know, come on. Just do it. I don't care. Get it done. Um, works very well as well. Um, and just be patient, you know, sometimes people grow at different rates. And I've also known that.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Hey, [00:45:00] guess what? Sometimes video isn't for you. And I respect that as well.

Tracy Hayes: How do you have your office set up as far, I mean, you have a, a full time, uh, videographer that, that helps take care of the 500 agents. So you have a couple of people in a marketing team that's helping, you know, shoot that video scenario.

Tracy Hayes: And then, and obviously maybe cut it up in some reels, edited it a little bit. How do you have your, your office as far as, you know, video support?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So we have a full time videographer and what he does is he, he divides his week. With, with Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, Miami and the Keys. So we'll do two, two and two.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, I have a brand manager who she controls all of our social media. Uh, most of our marketing. I have somebody in Columbia as well. That that helps with the distribution of our marketing internally within workplace, within Facebook, within social media. So, from a distribution perspective, , we source that out[00:46:00] most of my managers in our office.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, are trained to, you know, do little minor things here and there if need be, but we normally every coffee with George, we have all of our marketing stuff created. Um, we use Canva and express docs where we have our templates loaded up. Uh, and in our trainings, we train our agents, put your head shot here and this is the way you work it.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, so think that we. We, we try to automate as, as much as we can and leverage, you know, new and established technologies within our industry as well to get them out there.

Tracy Hayes: Yes. I think that's another challenge is most of them, um, you know, like you're saying you got to fail forward and, you know, they go, okay, I created a video, but then what am I going to do with it?

Tracy Hayes: You know, and, you know, having the, having that support that, you know, knows how to put it on. Instagram knows, you know, that's things I've learned about, you know, I got like 800 videos or something on my podcast thing and I've had people critique it. I'm still not there in perfect perfection, but little tidbits you pick up and there's a lot of stuff online, [00:47:00] you know, you need to, you know, I was posting Instagram without saying anything.

Tracy Hayes: And you need to put the, you know, put and say something about the video, right? And just little things like that. And, and I think people, uh, get the analysis paralysis, like, Oh, I don't know what to do. So they just don't do it, but I love the proactiveness. That's just, that's just awesome. I want to finish here, um, with you just talking about some of your, your leadership, um, things that, uh, you've taken on.

Tracy Hayes: Um, obviously I think I, the one I like the most is, you know, being considered one of the top. 50 brokers and being put into a committee at Florida Realtors, uh, Realtors. I'm, I'm working on my Realtors. That's wrong. It's Realtors. I've been corrected. Cindy corrected me on that. So, um, This is for and as long and Sharon Hoyt, I get a Florida real tours as well.

Tracy Hayes: But, um,  go through some of your, your leadership things and even at NAR in, in why did you think it is important? And what are some of the things that you learned by being involved in some of these, uh, boards and so forth?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, so great question. And, um, I'm going to remind you that [00:48:00] I'm an independent broker, so I don't have a KW family event.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I don't have a, you know, a rheology event either. So, , my greatest learning is traveling to these events, rubbing shoulders with, you know, people that are practicing throughout the state and talking shop. Over drinks or dinner, you know, to me, you know, that that's where I learned that either a I was doing things right and I was doing things really good or wow, you know, this guy in this sector of Florida is doing this differently, man.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I can really use that. So, so 1st and foremost, it was an opportunity to really educate myself and surround myself with non competitors. Who are willing to, you know, boulders these back and over drinks and dinner, you know, talk shop, you know, to, to me, that was my first, aha, man, you know what, I can really benefit from this.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and, and I, in the top 50 brokers, it is. You know, where I got a little peek of that and, and, and if you, if you, if you're able, if you're able to ever attend that committee meeting, you know, the best part is when we break up [00:49:00] into, into groups and we talk about our industry, that's where we get our best value.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: That's where we come out, you know, with a hot, this is good stuff. You know, it's really worth, you know, the, the drive. Uh, so, so for me, that, that was my first attraction to leadership. Uh, second part of leadership that attracted me was, you know, being a decision maker, you know, in my industry, especially here in south florida, um, the biggest issues happen here, you know, what happens up in Jacksonville happens 10, 000 times more in south florida.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, to make sure that, you know, the most important issues are met and addressed. I wanted to make sure that I had a seat in the table, um, coming from, uh, a father who was in construction, you know, my father was also very involved in the construction industry, you know, he taught me the importance of advocating being involved, uh, you know, this industry is not just about a commission, you know, you have an opportunity, you know, to really shape people's lives.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: And if you're lucky enough to have the opportunity and the trust of people,[00:50:00]  uh, I think you got to do it. And for me, I've been very lucky that I've been always very involved. Always had a nose on what we needed to do. Always had great people that believed in me. Uh, supported me and, and leaned on them as well, um, as well as a good wife and family as well that that allowed me to do this as well.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Um, and you know, been been very lucky that every opportunity that I've been, that I've had for leadership, I've always been accepted and we've been able to make a difference and move the needle. So the top fifties to me was awesome. I had the opportunity to be the National Association Global Liaison, so I got to zoom.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Right after covid throughout the whole entire world and see, uh, you know, what was going on in their country. You know, I can tell you that that Florida, you know, everybody was super interested in Florida. They were talking about our governor, believe it or not, they were talking about safety and the opportunity that South Florida represented to them.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: From a global perspective, uh, and what I love about that opportunity was I got to meet realtors throughout the whole entire [00:51:00] world. So a little, a little kid from, from Miami, you know, came from Cuba that, that, that there's no home ownership there. I got to see how home ownership was throughout the whole entire world.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I got reminded how important it was. You know, I got reminded why my parents left, you know, Cuba to come to the U S uh, and what a difference that has made for our lives. Um, and, you know, getting involved here in Florida realtors as treasure, um, you know, again, huge opportunity within my state, you know, a state that I've been lobbying for a state that I've been raising money for, uh, and that I've been very involved to be part of the leadership team and, you know, make sure that we're going in that direction, you know, has been a huge honor.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: as well.

Tracy Hayes: That, you know, I think that really sums it up. I mean, anyone listening to this, I mean, and not everybody wants to be at the board. But, you know, right now I felt and we're talking with Cindy Hayden yesterday. I mean, florida is on a cutting edge right now. We're treading in the territory. We have [00:52:00] not Uh, Delaware, especially Northeast Florida, uh, you know, cause obviously I'm here and we're kind of the last major city in Florida, uh, as far as population and, and, and, you know, growth potential, uh, here, but the whole state still has growth potential, but, you know, Northeast Florida has been that, you know, low taxes and so forth, but insurance, right, I know you're dealing with that down there is becoming a big factor and how important it is for every agent, whether you're, you know, You know, at the point of the sword, like you are on boards, but those agents who may not be interested in taking on the board committee, but to reach out to you to, you know, when you, I'm sure you're, you're, you're sharing with your team down there, what you bring back when you, you know, you'll go to Orlando and come to the meetings you're sharing with what you think is valuable for them.

Tracy Hayes: But right now is more than ever, whether it's. uh, the Mortgage Bankers Association and the Mortgage Loan Officers, the Insurance Agents in Florida, but the Real Estate Agents in Florida. We really [00:53:00] need to come together and really start focusing in on what's going on so obviously we can make it a little more appetizing.

Tracy Hayes: You know, insurance obviously is the big thing right now. It's, it's, it's blowing up. It's, it's costing people the affordability of homes and so forth. But, you know, tip a little bit on how important it is, uh, for everyone to, you know, stay in tuned with what's going on, whether you're directly involved on that board or just, you know, know someone like yourself, who's, who's in there making, helping make decisions.

Tracy Hayes: Listen,

Jorge Guerra Jr.: the, the, the reality is that, you know, we are the tip of the spear when it comes to dealing with the consumer and, and the consumer is going to come to us first. And say, Hey, my insurance rose a hundred percent, you know, I'm on a fixed income. You know, this is disastrous to me. You know, where am I going to come up with this money?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Uh, we have two options. We can pretend we have no idea what's going on, or we can say, Hey, you know, let me tell you what we're doing. Let me tell you what, where the fight is. Let me tell you how you can help us make a difference as well. Uh, so for me, just being in the know, being able to, to [00:54:00] do. The part of our job, which is counseling and psychology very well by knowing what's going on.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: I think it's step number one. Number two, you know, the insurance issue is going to affect us as well. And, and, you know, we, we are, we have an opportunity, uh, to invest in, in our pack where we go after candidates that really understand the issues that really know how to make a difference, uh, and that know the importance of home ownership and we need to start growing that, that army, uh, when it comes to insurance is a big deal.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Affordable housing is a huge deal. South Florida, you know, Florida has boomed, you know, in the last 24, 36 months, uh, where home affordability with interest rates have have made it impossible for for the average Joe to live here when it comes to water quality. Okay, this is another thing that's big in our agenda.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, here we don't have any mountains. We don't have anything. You know, water is our main source. Uh, it's a huge deal for us. And you know what? As realtors, uh, if you're gonna make it here long term, you will be having conversations with your clients. On all of [00:55:00] these factors, I think the, the better well versed you are, you know, the better asset you're going to be with your client.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: At the same time, if you get involved, you know, I, I think the, the, the, the more, the more serious you're going to take our industry, the more passionate you're going to be about, you know, everything besides a commission commission comes with it. The question is, you know, will you leave something for your kids?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: You know, will you leave a community? That's better than you left it.

Tracy Hayes: I mean, you know, you're experiencing, uh, international buyers, let alone our buyers from New York. Um, it's, it's different in Florida. We, we do things differently here. I'm from the Northeast. I grew, I was born in New York, grew up in Massachusetts.

Tracy Hayes: Um, you know, HOAs, what's that? They, they don't know how, you know, just as simple as that's, that's standard procedure here in Florida. Um, community development districts. That's another thing here in northeast Florida. I know over towards Tampa is big as well knowing about knowing about those. Yeah, they're coming.

Tracy Hayes: So you have to [00:56:00] understand that

Jorge Guerra Jr.: and how to sell that. Listen, I, I think Miami invented the CDD.

Tracy Hayes: Um, I, I personally was served on my board for 11 years in my community after knowing about it. And obviously I do actually have a little, it's an, you know, not any approved course, but a little seminar I put on explain agents.

Tracy Hayes: What is, what is the CDD and how do you actually sell it to these people come from up there? Like, Oh, the what's the, what's going on in the fees and everything? Well, It's all about lifestyle, right? This is, that's Florida that they're moving here for the lifestyle. So, but that's, we can go on another subject there, but knowing those, you know, getting involved and understanding with that, understanding HOA, understanding condo associations.

Tracy Hayes: And obviously, you know, you guys are dealing, you know, uh, well, with the whole state, everyone's dealing now with the whole, uh, condo and having them, you know, inspected and they're delayed maintenance and all that kind of stuff going, being in front of that curve on that. And of course now insurance, uh, the homeowner's insurance on top of that.

Tracy Hayes: If you know that, that client, that client moving down is going to see you in a different light. You [00:57:00] may only be a year into the game, but if you are in front of it versus that person might be here 10 years, but they're not staying in front of those subjects, doesn't sound good. And it is how you come across and your ability to sell and obviously build confidence.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Absolutely.

Tracy Hayes: Um, I want to finish with, uh, here for you and your wife's out there. Hopefully the car is charged up now. Um, what are, do you want to share with, uh, or what are you looking to share, um, with everyone here at the RE Bar Camp One Coast here on the 26th?

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So, selfishly, I'm looking to learn, you know, I know from my experience that the bar camp is really set at the speed of now.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: It's people practicing. I was really working in today's day. So I'm looking to absorb and see what they're doing and, you know, I will be sharing if asked and and if I see an opportunity. You know how a high performance team in south florida in one of the most competitive markets is performing, what tips and tricks we're using, what technology we're using, um, where we see technology innovating and going towards, um, we will be like we are in all the bar camps and open book looking to share just as much as we

Tracy Hayes: receive.[00:58:00]

Tracy Hayes: So every everyone listening, you know, he's all about video and you've heard a little bit about how he structures his office Having some questions to start a conversation and start sharing secrets not secrets, but sharing

Jorge Guerra Jr.: give you two things that we're playing around with that.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: We're enjoying a lot. Okay, three C 360 video which we're having a blast with and augmented reality You know, making print come alive. Um, and, uh, so those are two things that, that we're, we're expecting 2024, 2025, uh, to start growing within the real estate industry. So we've already started experimenting with that.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: So we'll be sharing some of our findings, you know, at Bar Camp if asked. Cool.

Tracy Hayes: Cool. Okay. Well, there's two, two questions right there. Um, you're, you're on your way to Orlando, you said. Yeah. All right. I'm going to send you an email. I shared with Cindy a vision that I have and I want, I want, if you can respond to it, you know, when you have time, you know, later tonight or whatever tomorrow, uh, just a vision I have and want to share with you and get your feedback, [00:59:00] but I appreciate you coming

Jorge Guerra Jr.: on today.

Jorge Guerra Jr.: Thank you for the invite. Greatly appreciate it. And looking forward to seeing you. Yes. Looking forward to meet

Tracy Hayes: you. 10 four.