Tammy Tingle: Top Realtor Amelia Island Florida

REE #262 Transcript

[00:00:00] Tammy Tingle: Real estate is a job. You can't stick a sign in the yard and expect a house to sell itself. There's a lot of work, there's a lot of hustle behind that. And a lot of people don't see that. Yeah. Even sellers don't see that.

[00:00:37] Tracy Hayes: Hey, welcome back to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast. Today's guest is a force in northeast Florida real estate and one of the most inspiring agents you'll meet. After years of raising her boys and supporting her husband through multiple moves, she found her forever home in Amelia Island and it didn't take long for her to turn her passion for the community into a powerful real estate career.
And just under [00:01:00] four years, she's gone from a rookie to rockstar, starting in mid 2021, quickly earning Century 21's Rookie of the Year with seven million in production. She followed that with 14 million in '22, 23 million in '23, and in '24 she absolutely exploded with 34 million in sales, earning Century 21's highest corporate honor, the Grand Centurion and President's Award.
And how does she do it? Not with a fancy website or paid leads, but with hustle, a dry erase board, and 20 yellow legal pads. She's a proud mom, community expert, and someone who believes there's no better place to live than Amelia Island. She's building a business on relationships, results, and relentless consistency. Let's welcome Tammy Tingle to the show.

[00:01:46] Tammy Tingle: Thank you.

[00:01:46] Tracy Hayes: That's pretty good. That is pretty good. I like—

[00:01:48] Tammy Tingle: I like it. I need to steal that. Yeah.

[00:01:51] Tracy Hayes: Um, I was on your LinkedIn. I would have it go and create, take that, and— because you kind of just have some basic things on LinkedIn.

[00:01:58] Tammy Tingle: I do.

[00:01:58] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:02:00] Tammy Tingle: I should use that more. I just—

[00:02:00] Tracy Hayes: I, I think it's one of the— um, I was telling Britt over at Landmark, 'cause obviously she does a lot of training over there, right? I said the agents really need a LinkedIn training. It's a resume that anyone who doesn't know them can go and look and say, "Oh, oh, she went to Georgia Southern."

[00:02:27] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:02:27] Tracy Hayes: That's where I got that. And, you know, you could tell by their jobs or where, you know, where they may have lived before. And people resonate with that. And obviously having a bio on there. And we know with AI—

[00:02:33] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:02:33] Tracy Hayes: We were talking about it pre-show, people are searching it. So have AI create your bio. Right. Give it the information, have it create your bio.

[00:02:33] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:02:33] Tracy Hayes: So, but welcome. I'm glad you made the trip down.

[00:02:43] Tammy Tingle: Thank you.

[00:02:43] Tracy Hayes: I'm really excited, 'cause you have just— I mean, you're snowballing at a very rapid pace.

[00:02:47] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:02:47] Tracy Hayes: And I'm sure it's probably changed your lifestyle.

[00:02:48] Tammy Tingle: It has.

[00:02:48] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:02:48] Tammy Tingle: It has.

[00:02:48] Tracy Hayes: Tell me a little bit what real estate has done for you and your family.

[00:02:52] Tammy Tingle: It has allowed a lot of freedom, I guess I should say. Freedom as in, you know, enjoy— you know, yes, I get up [00:03:00] every morning, try and get to the gym. Have my 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM hours at the office. I've recently started doing that after doing a— just listening with Greg Harrelson. He's a guru in Century 21.

[00:03:15] Tammy Tingle: He's a coach. So 8 to 11:00 AM in the office— that is my time. Emails, leads. Anything that I can do, that's my office time. After that, I just kind of do, you know, inspections, showings—

[00:03:29] Tracy Hayes: Whatever comes up on the schedule.

[00:03:30] Tammy Tingle: Whatever comes up on the schedule, that is. But 8 to 11 is my time in the office.

[00:03:35] Tracy Hayes: Well, you know, since we're talking, uh, you know, one of the questions I have— we'll jump to it— 'cause it sounds like you have a routine, and for you, coming into the office is that way to get your— I assume your mindset that, "Hey, I'm going to work."

[00:03:46] Tammy Tingle: Right. Right. I mean, it's a job. I mean, real estate is a job. You can't stick a sign in the yard and expect a house to sell itself. There's a lot of work, there's a lot of hustle behind that. And a lot of people don't see that. Yeah. Even sellers don't see that.

[00:04:00] Tammy Tingle: Um, so yeah.

[00:04:02] Tracy Hayes: Well, you've been through this transition with this buyer broker agreement. I've talked to many agents who think they actually are making more money today because they actually are having to spend some time to sit down and explain some of these things we're talking about.

[00:04:15] Tammy Tingle: Right. Right. And, you know, a lot of people were worried with the buyer broker agreement that they would lose clients. I mean, I love it. I absolutely love it— that they are committed to me, I'm committed to them. I think it's a great thing. Yeah, it is an absolutely wonderful thing, and I have not had a single person decline signing that.

[00:04:35] Tracy Hayes: Were you doing any sort of buyer broker agreement before?

[00:04:39] Tammy Tingle: The summer— nothing.

[00:04:42] Tracy Hayes: Or last summer?

[00:04:43] Tammy Tingle: Nothing.

[00:04:43] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:04:43] Tammy Tingle: So—

[00:04:43] Tracy Hayes: So you trained yourself, and I'm sure obviously you guys were doing things in the office, that role play.

[00:04:47] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:04:47] Tracy Hayes: I think it's, you know— we— you're being coached. We read all these books on sales and stuff and, you know, if we could implement all these things that all these great salespeople have done, [00:05:00] you know, but we don't. We pick out— we pick and choose what we want to do. And then obviously one of the key things is consistency, right?
Well, you have to be consistent with buyer broker agreement. You have to do it.

[00:05:10] Tammy Tingle: Right. You know—

[00:05:12] Tracy Hayes: To sit down and actually have that discussion of the services and the value you're gonna bring—

[00:05:16] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. So I literally— I will have them come in to my office. We sit in the conference room, go over it. They go over my buyer's package, you know, demonstrating what I'm gonna offer them— my value. And we go from there. Yeah. And like, I literally have not had a single person say they would not sign it.

[00:05:33] Tracy Hayes: Do you instinctively try to get that face to face? I mean, I imagine some customers aren't able to.

[00:05:39] Tammy Tingle: I would. Some— some aren't. I will do a FaceTime, but most, you know, are gonna come in the office.

[00:05:44] Tracy Hayes: That's your—

[00:05:44] Tammy Tingle: Game.

[00:05:44] Tracy Hayes: Work. Work, yeah.

[00:05:47] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. Because I want them to— this is business, you know?

[00:05:47] Tracy Hayes: This is—

[00:05:47] Tammy Tingle: This is my job. Yeah. I mean, it is a job. It's not a hobby. It is— it pays my bills, it pays my college kid's tuition. You know, it's all those things. So, yeah. You have to [00:06:00] work and—

[00:06:01] Tracy Hayes: Yes. Well, I think, you know, for anyone listening— and I, now I agree— that if I was on your side, this is the way I would do it, because I do believe the home court advantage of having the office and if you have a nice office—

[00:06:18] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:06:19] Tracy Hayes: You know, to bring people in— that this is business.

[00:06:19] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:06:19] Tracy Hayes: Sometimes I think, you know, the meet in the coffee shop is okay, but I kind of— it almost is a little too relaxed.

[00:06:19] Tammy Tingle: Relaxed, yeah.

[00:06:19] Tracy Hayes: Sometimes I think, you know, the meet in the coffee shop is okay, but I kind of— it almost is a little too relaxed.

[00:06:22] Tammy Tingle: Relaxed, yeah.

[00:06:24] Tracy Hayes: Sorry, this, this meet at the coffee shop, it's easy, it's convenient, versus, "No, we're gonna go to the office, right? This is business, and we're gonna get serious about you—"

[00:06:30] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:06:31] Tracy Hayes: —buying a home.

[00:06:32] Tammy Tingle: Yeah, that's exactly right. The conference room is a great— we have a great conference room at my office. Sit there, I can actually go through, show them slides of, you know, the properties that we're gonna look at. You know, give them details of the communities.

[00:06:50] Tracy Hayes: I like that. Great spot. I like the spot, I like the slides—

[00:06:52] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:06:53] Tracy Hayes: —of the homes.

[00:06:54] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:06:55] Tracy Hayes: Because they may, maybe make a judgment right there, say, “I don't wanna go see it,” save stuff a lot of time.

[00:06:57] Tammy Tingle: Right. They could. And you know, I can easily, you know, decline showing, you know, and let the agent know, "Hey, your buyers— your sellers don't have to be out. They've decided not to."

[00:07:06] Tracy Hayes: This kind of already sets that game plan. Because I mean, I'm sure you've experienced and probably gotten better as your transactions have gone along on asking the right questions and finding out what they really want—

[00:07:15] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:07:16] Tracy Hayes: —or what they really desire, because a lot of people say, "Oh, I want this many baths, this many beds." Maybe there's always something they don't mention—

[00:07:22] Tammy Tingle: Sure.

[00:07:23] Tracy Hayes: —that's actually very important.

[00:07:26] Tammy Tingle: Right, right.

[00:07:27] Tracy Hayes: And sometimes it won't come out until you start actually looking at homes.

[00:07:29] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. So like, HOA versus non-HOA—

[00:07:32] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:07:33] Tammy Tingle: —on-island versus off-island, you really have to understand what they're truly looking for. Yeah. Because if they're gonna spend— for example, if they're gonna spend most of their time on-island, do they truly wanna live off-island if they can afford to be on-island?

[00:07:48] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:07:49] Tammy Tingle: Because they'll regret it.

[00:07:50] Tracy Hayes: Alright, we jumped ahead. So I'm gonna take a— just a very short— Remy Graphics makes these great mugs for you, and I've got one for you.

[00:07:57] Tammy Tingle: Oh, thank you.

[00:07:58] Tracy Hayes: Make sure I give it to you. I didn’t set it on your seat earlier. Usually I do that, I forgot to do that. But— makes these mugs, Remy Graphics, remygraphics.com, Remy Realty— have, you know...

[00:08:06] Tammy Tingle: Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[00:08:08] Tracy Hayes: She makes these for me.

[00:08:09] Tammy Tingle: Okay.

[00:08:10] Tracy Hayes: What’s great is she’ll make one-offs. So if you want to say “Welcome to Amelia Island, the Smith family” or whatever—

[00:08:14] Tammy Tingle: Oh my gosh.

[00:08:15] Tracy Hayes: She’ll make, you know, one or two of those.

[00:08:17] Tammy Tingle: Oh my gosh.

[00:08:18] Tracy Hayes: You don’t have to order 10 of them—

[00:08:20] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:08:20] Tracy Hayes: —for you, but just, you know, get it to you and she gets them to you in a couple days, so—

[00:08:23] Tammy Tingle: Okay.

[00:08:24] Tracy Hayes: Remygraphics.com. So let's go back to being— let’s give everyone a little bit about Tammy pre-real estate.

[00:08:26] Tammy Tingle: Okay.

[00:08:26] Tracy Hayes: So tell us, you know, where’d you grow up? And then you moved a bunch of times. Where were some places that you—

[00:08:30] Tammy Tingle: I did. I grew up in Macon, Georgia. After high school, attended Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. And then, um, my husband ended up in the private club sector— country clubs, yacht clubs, city clubs. We moved around from Hilton Head—

[00:08:45] Tracy Hayes: From a hospitality-type—

[00:08:46] Tammy Tingle: Hospitality, yes.

[00:08:47] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:08:47] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. So he was COO of private clubs— yacht clubs, city clubs, country clubs. Hilton Head, Columbia, South Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina, and Amelia Island.

[00:09:00] Tammy Tingle: So, absolutely found our forever home in Amelia Island.

[00:09:04] Tracy Hayes: He’s still in that?

[00:09:05] Tammy Tingle: He retired in 2020.

[00:09:07] Tracy Hayes: So you’re the breadwinner now.

[00:09:09] Tammy Tingle: I am. Yeah. The roles have reversed.

[00:09:12] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, you can put the stake in the ground. Say we’re not moving to another country club.

[00:09:15] Tammy Tingle: Yes. That's— we are not moving. We have found forever.

[00:09:19] Tracy Hayes: Excellent. Share with us— which I think, you know, it’s obvious for you and I, these moves—

[00:09:23] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:09:24] Tracy Hayes: —that you made, but that life experience that you had, having to do that— moving around, corporate moves, all that kind of stuff— how you bring that to relating with your customers today?

[00:09:36] Tammy Tingle: Sure, sure. So, a prime example— I just had a family this past weekend out of Michigan. They’ve got four kids. Moving their kids— one of their kids is in high school. We moved when my youngest was in high school. I do not recommend it.

[00:09:51] Tracy Hayes: Mm.

[00:09:52] Tammy Tingle: It was not a great transition, but—

[00:09:53] Tracy Hayes: Moved before high school? Moving and after?

[00:09:55] Tammy Tingle: He was a freshman going into his sophomore year. Had grown up [00:10:00] with all of his buddies in North Carolina. We moved to Florida. Hard transition. But now, you ask him, and he’ll say it was the best move ever.

[00:10:11] Tracy Hayes: So, kind of warms my heart that he says that now.

[00:10:13] Tammy Tingle: He created new friends and now looks back. Right. And, you know, you can kind of guide them— especially if they have the kids in school. My experience, I can relay that and I can relay to them now that my youngest said it was the best thing ever.

[00:10:27] Tracy Hayes: Do you find, you know, having experience, having— working around the kids in the move— I would think, something that just came to my head, was just moving to Florida. The fortunate thing is here, we have a lot of people moving in, so he’s not gonna— he or she’s not gonna be the only—

[00:10:41] Tammy Tingle: Not gonna be the only new kid. Right. For sure.

[00:10:44] Tammy Tingle: Yeah, so. But yeah, I mean, it was a great move. It took about a year and, you know, when we moved here, we knew maybe five people. Five.

[00:10:54] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:10:55] Tammy Tingle: And none of them were our age. My mother-in-law and father-in-law actually retired to Amelia in 2003. [00:11:00] So the only people that we did know were their ages— 70s, 70-year-olds. So I got into the community, started volunteering, started meeting people. You know, hadn’t thought of a real estate career because I was still a 20-some year stay-at-home mom.

[00:11:14] Tammy Tingle: Extended maternity leave, is like what my husband says. But I got involved and thought about, you know, "Hey, I could do real estate." You know, I really— this is my forever home. This is it.

[00:11:27] Tracy Hayes: Because your LinkedIn is very primitive— I don’t know, lack of better words. Doesn’t have a lot on it. Doesn’t say that—

[00:11:33] Tammy Tingle: No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t. It doesn’t.

[00:11:34] Tracy Hayes: You went to Georgia Southern.

[00:11:35] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:36] Tracy Hayes: I mean, did you get— you got married and you just had this fortune that you didn’t have to work pretty much right away, right?

[00:11:41] Tammy Tingle: Right. So, um, went to Georgia Southern. My— I met my college— my husband—

[00:11:45] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:45] Tammy Tingle: —there. We were both from Macon. We just didn’t know each other. We, uh, got engaged in '96, got married in '97, had our first child in '99. So I worked for Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte—

[00:11:59] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:12:00] Tammy Tingle: —for about two years. And then when I had my first son, stayed home and decided never to go back.

[00:12:39] Tracy Hayes: We've had, we've had teachers, we've had some, you know, coming from kind of all different directions. But I find this very interesting of how, you know, the stay-at-home mom— in this case, you—

[00:12:45] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:12:45] Tracy Hayes: —coming in, you're not the first one that I've had on, but having, you know, I've had unfortunate people who were stay-at-home moms and all of a sudden they got divorced and they're like, "What am I going to do?"

[00:12:52] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:12:53] Tracy Hayes: And you get into real estate. But it wasn't— you weren't— it wasn't like, "Hey, I've gotta find a career that I can make this amount of money." It was just, "Hey, I want to get out of the house now. The kids are older." Is that kind of—

[00:13:00] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. It was. I mean, you know, it was to the point that, um, you know, I wanted to get out and meet people.

[00:13:05] Tammy Tingle: Obviously it's a people business. So it gave me something to do— my worth, you know? 'Cause you start looking at yourself, you're like, "Well, okay, now my kids are getting of age where they're gonna be going off to college soon. What did I do?"

[00:13:16] Tammy Tingle: You know, that’s kind of my mentality.

[00:13:18] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:13:19] Tammy Tingle: And so I decided, "Hey, let's try and get—"

[00:13:21] Tracy Hayes: We're gonna come back to that point. I just— I wanted to ask a question about Amelia. Your in-laws were here first?

[00:13:25] Tammy Tingle: They were.

[00:13:26] Tracy Hayes: Had you— have you visited Amelia before?

[00:13:29] Tammy Tingle: I had. Um, back like middle school, high school.

[00:13:32] Tammy Tingle: It was nothing like it is now.

[00:13:34] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:13:35] Tammy Tingle: At all.

[00:13:35] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:13:36] Tammy Tingle: But yes, had visited before.

[00:13:38] Tracy Hayes: So you had a taste of it. So when the opportunity came—

[00:13:40] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:13:41] Tracy Hayes: —to come to Amelia—

[00:13:42] Tammy Tingle: Yes.

[00:13:43] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:13:44] Tammy Tingle: Oh yes. Alright, we— when they bought there in 2003, we kind of like just fell in love with it.

[00:13:49] Tammy Tingle: And, um, I always said, always, I said, "One of these days we will call Amelia Island home."

[00:13:54] Tammy Tingle: And it happened and it was— it's a dream.

[00:13:57] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:13:58] Tammy Tingle: Every day I wake up, it is a dream.

[00:14:00] Tracy Hayes: It’s one of— well, I wouldn't say there's a lot of treasures around Florida, but it's probably one of the ones— late-blooming treasures of the USA, right?

[00:14:09] Tammy Tingle: Sure.

[00:14:10] Tracy Hayes: Like, you know, you were fortunate. I remember when I— my parents moved— we moved to Cape Cod in the fall of ’77. They had been vacationing there since the late sixties.

[00:14:20] Tammy Tingle: Okay.

[00:14:20] Tracy Hayes: And it was very— I can imagine it was probably like Amelia Island in 2000—

[00:14:24] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:14:25] Tracy Hayes: —you know, from a standpoint of how many, you know, the visitors and so forth. But it's just consistently grown. And then people were like, “Hey, I wanna live here,” or—

[00:14:33] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:14:34] Tracy Hayes: “I wanna have a second home here.”

[00:14:35] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:14:36] Tracy Hayes: You know, it's gone beyond that.

[00:14:38] Tammy Tingle: Oh yeah. Yeah. People love— and they always say, “We may leave Amelia Island, but it doesn’t leave us.”

[00:14:43] Tammy Tingle: And a lot of people come back and buy a second home, retirement home— just because they started coming here as a kid.

[00:14:50] Tracy Hayes: Okay. So, alright. So if I get the timeline— your husband's basically— he’s retiring, right?

[00:14:54] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:14:55] Tracy Hayes: You get the opportunity to come to Amelia Island.

[00:14:57] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:14:57] Tracy Hayes: So you're going, "Hey, I wanna get out." You— real estate— how does real estate come on your radar?

[00:15:02] Tammy Tingle: It— it kind of, just something to do. And actually, we met a couple of people that were agents. I was like, "You know, I could do this. I could do this."

[00:15:11] Tammy Tingle: And so my husband and I both, in 2021, decided we’ll try this together. We'll just see.

[00:15:16] Tammy Tingle: And, um, we got our license in April of 2021 and hit the ground running.

[00:15:20] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm. Were you always— being the stay-at-home mom— the kind of the— I’m gonna call it the ringleader?

[00:15:26] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:26] Tracy Hayes: Like, you know, for the kids going through sports or their activities. You were PTO—

[00:15:29] Tammy Tingle: Oh, I was that. I was the team manager, the team mom—

[00:15:32] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:15:33] Tammy Tingle: —of all the soccer stuff. Both boys played soccer, so I did all the team stuff for them.

[00:15:37] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:15:38] Tammy Tingle: For the whole teams.

[00:15:39] Tracy Hayes: Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. Because I think to be brave enough— or we'll talk about grit—

[00:15:44] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:15:45] Tracy Hayes: —the grit enough to jump into the business, at least with a “I can do this”—

[00:15:48] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:15:48] Tracy Hayes: —is understanding, like you said, it’s all about meeting people. And you didn’t know anybody.

[00:15:52] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:15:53] Tracy Hayes: A handful of people here. And now you're like, “Well, I can meet people,” because you’ve been doing it for your entire life.

[00:15:57] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:15:58] Tracy Hayes: You know, meeting the new moms or, you know, parents of the players or whatever—

[00:16:00] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:16:01] Tracy Hayes: Or being the organizer, being the point person.

[00:16:03] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. Yes. And I, I am— I have no— I mean, I'm a people person. I don't meet strangers. Strangers are my friends. So, that’s the way I look at it.

[00:16:13] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. I mean, I would say 99.9% of my clients, even the ones that move away— I mean, I keep a relationship with.

[00:16:19] Tracy Hayes: You find it easy— you could strike up a conversation with just about anybody.

[00:16:22] Tammy Tingle: Oh my gosh, yes.

[00:16:23] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:16:23] Tammy Tingle: Yes, absolutely.

[00:19:36] Tracy Hayes: And then being on Amelia Island, you know, with the vacation and a lot of investment, it's not like you're in a, you know, middle of St. John's County or maybe in Miami dealing with single family homes and so forth. You are— you've got all the above on Amelia.

[00:19:49] Tammy Tingle: Right. We really— I mean, we didn't really expand on it like that, from condos to homes.

[00:19:55] Tammy Tingle: It was just the ins and [00:20:00] outs of transactions. Just your basic knowledge, but on steroids, I guess I should say. Yeah. I mean, it wasn't, you know, homes versus condos versus, you know, whatever. It was just real estate in general that she went over. It was just very, very good training.

[00:20:19] Tracy Hayes: Right. Well, you kick off and you have your Rookie of the Year. And like you said— April, really— in eight months you do enough to acquire that award of Rookie of the Year.

[00:20:29] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:20:30] Tracy Hayes: So you must have got it off on a huge start. What are some of the things, or— that maybe obviously she shared with you to do—

[00:20:36] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:20:38] Tracy Hayes: —and then obviously, I don't know, maybe you brought in some of your own ideas to really get you off to that quick start?

[00:20:43] Tammy Tingle: Right. So, she told us about farming our neighborhood.

[00:20:47] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:20:47] Tammy Tingle: We live in a condo complex. For me to know the ins and outs of my— of where I live, my neighborhood—

[00:20:53] Tammy Tingle: Right. And so that's what I did. I focused on my neighborhood. Within 30 [00:21:00] days I had my first listing, coming on as a realtor with Century 21.

[00:21:06] Tammy Tingle: And from there it just exploded. It honestly did.

[00:21:09] Tracy Hayes: Share with the listeners a little bit about— condos. I enjoy condos. I don't fear condos. I think a lot of lending has got a little weird with condos recently. You've probably run into some lenders that probably would've done it two years ago, but they're not doing it now, right?

[00:21:22] Tracy Hayes: Because of the, you know, different things that have come down the pipeline. But as an agent— you know, and my experience is my wife's an agent and we have multiple units in a condo complex in St. John's County.

[00:21:33] Tammy Tingle: Sure.

[00:21:34] Tracy Hayes: And when you go in there and you, I'm gonna say "own it"— like, you know everything inside and out. You know the different units that are available in there, you know the floor—

[00:21:45] Tammy Tingle: Plans.

[00:21:45] Tracy Hayes: Plans. You know everything.

[00:21:47] Tracy Hayes: You're helping people find renters if that's what they're—

[00:21:49] Tammy Tingle: Doing.

[00:21:50] Tracy Hayes: —doing, to get referrals and so forth. Explain what the details of working that condo complex that you're talking about versus a single-family home farming.

[00:22:00] Tracy Hayes: A farming, single-family home community—alright, you're farming around. But the condo's a little different.

[00:22:05] Tammy Tingle: It is a little different. So, we have to know— I like to know everything. Floor plans, my bylaws, what the condo fee covers. I mean, there's just so many ins and outs.

[00:22:14] Tammy Tingle: The milestones, the SIRS. Just— there's so many intricacies of a condo. Whether it's an R-3, an R-2, if you can't rent at all in there— I mean, yeah. Those are big factors that you need to know. Pet-friendly? What's included in that condo fee?

[00:22:29] Tammy Tingle: Have there been any assessments? What's the assessment history? What's the reserves look like? All of that.

[00:22:39] Tracy Hayes: Now, out over Amelia Island— and I speak with this question from the knowledge of just thinking of St. Augustine Beach— they've gone to restrictions on stuff like the Airbnb.

[00:22:48] Tracy Hayes: You can— they're— in St. Augustine Beach, I believe the number's 100 permits. There's only 100 units that can Airbnb.

[00:22:55] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:22:56] Tracy Hayes: When you're dealing with that over Amelia—

[00:22:57] Tammy Tingle: Uh-huh.

[00:22:58] Tracy Hayes: How important— because I [00:23:00] imagine you have a number of clients that are coming in looking for that kind of property.

[00:23:03] Tammy Tingle: Right. We do. I like to know if there's a rental certificate, if— how many they have. A lot of places in Amelia don’t have a cap on rental certificates. Duval does.

[00:23:14] Tammy Tingle: I’ve got one right now here in Jacksonville that unfortunately, they're out of rental certificates. There's a waiting list for that condo complex.

[00:23:22] Tracy Hayes: So, people are listing that as the number of units that they'll allow to be rented at any one time in the complex?

[00:23:28] Tammy Tingle: Correct.

[00:23:29] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:23:30] Tammy Tingle: Yes. So it's important to know that. Whether there is a max on rental certificates. If they’ve already capped, if there's a waiting list— how long is that waiting list?

[00:23:38] Tammy Tingle: All of that can affect resale.

[00:23:41] Tracy Hayes: Speak a little bit to the Airbnb situation, 'cause I imagine you have those customers up there—

[00:23:45] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:23:45] Tracy Hayes: —you know, what are your customers looking for when they are looking at that investment? Whether it's right on the beach—

[00:23:50] Tammy Tingle: Sure.

[00:23:50] Tracy Hayes: —or in a condo or something?

[00:23:52] Tammy Tingle: They wanna know what's the minimum days they can rent. Whether it's a one-day rental, a three-day rental.

[00:24:00] Tammy Tingle: They wanna know the rental history. I like to pull rental histories from an oceanfront versus an ocean view just so they can see what kind of dollar difference it is.

[00:24:09] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. But the main thing for them is the return on the investment— what they're gonna net.

[00:24:16] Tracy Hayes: Are you finding a lot of cash buyers right now?

[00:24:19] Tammy Tingle: We are.

[00:24:20] Tracy Hayes: Yeah?

[00:24:20] Tammy Tingle: We are.

[00:24:21] Tracy Hayes: I think that's everywhere I look. It's well over 50%.

[00:24:24] Tammy Tingle: Oh yes.

[00:24:25] Tracy Hayes: And even on some of these investment properties, they are actually paying cash.

[00:24:28] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. I'd say about 70% of my sales in 2025 are cash.

[00:24:33] Tracy Hayes: Wow, that's amazing. I prepped pre-show for this next question, because I believe every real estate agent has to have a level of grit.

[00:24:41] Tracy Hayes: You've had some great success. You said you were having problems trying to think of a setback that you may have had or a problem customer.

[00:24:48] Tracy Hayes: Lucky you've had all great customers. As I said, like-kind attracts like-kind. But there are many agents out there that— well, I think you've probably seen it in your office— there's some agents like yourself that have [00:25:00] excelled—

[00:25:00] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:01] Tracy Hayes: —since the rates went up in May of ’22. They have had a banner the last 12, 14 months.

[00:25:07] Tracy Hayes: Where other agents have really had a rough time. Their phone's not ringing for whatever reason. And it takes that level of grit to fight through it and find, you know, what's your next thing.

[00:25:17] Tracy Hayes: But— the LLC of grit— love, laughter, and consistency. Why do you love real estate?

[00:25:23] Tammy Tingle: The people. I'm a people person. Love meeting people. Love hearing their stories. Everybody has a story.

[00:25:30] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Majority of your clients coming in and making their primary residence in Amelia? Or you mean that— or more—

[00:25:35] Tammy Tingle: I would say half and half.

[00:25:37] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:25:38] Tracy Hayes: Second home?

[00:25:39] Tammy Tingle: Second home. Yeah. Second home.

[00:25:41] Tracy Hayes: Share, if you could share with us, maybe— and you don't have to mention names— but let’s just say something about you—

[00:25:46] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:25:47] Tracy Hayes: —and the people. 'Cause I imagine when you say that, it's because the relationship has gone beyond the transaction.

[00:25:52] Tammy Tingle: It does. The relationship does not end at the closing table. If it does, you should not be in real estate.

[00:26:00] Tammy Tingle: It extends far past that. Like I said, I'm friends with a lot of my clients.

[00:26:03] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. I go to dinner, we hang out. You know, it's really—

[00:26:05] Tracy Hayes: Flattering when they ask you out to dinner. They want to take you out to dinner after the transaction.

[00:26:09] Tammy Tingle: Right. I have that as well. And it's like, you know, you don't need to do that.

[00:26:11] Tracy Hayes: Just let's—

[00:26:12] Tammy Tingle: —go and hang out.

[00:26:13] Tracy Hayes: We have a list right now. We're so busy with the kids and stuff, and we've got people— past clients— my wife's like, "Hey, we want to take you guys out to dinner." And I'm like, "When can we find time?"

[00:26:22] Tammy Tingle: That's right. That— that's a problem.

[00:26:27] Tracy Hayes: The laughter part of it— and, like you said, you were— you couldn't think of any story. But really in life, we deal with setbacks that we've had— curve balls. Maybe, I don't know, your husband lost a job and you didn't know what you were gonna do next, and then, you know, the next door opened.

[00:26:41] Tracy Hayes: And I think today, we laugh about those situations. So when you have a bad inspection report, you're like, "Yeah. Whatever."

[00:26:48] Tracy Hayes: Tell us— just share a little bit of how you're able to— and I use "laughter" 'cause I think as humans, we— whether we actually laugh physically—

[00:26:56] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:26:56] Tracy Hayes: —or we just laugh inside— like, “I’ve got this. I’ve gotten through worse situations.”

[00:27:00] Tammy Tingle: Yeah, yeah. No. You know, a bad inspection report— you know that you're gonna have those. You just have to work through it. And if it comes down to me fixing an issue, I’ll fix it.

[00:27:10] Tammy Tingle: If, you know, if it needs that. That’s what I’m here for.

[00:27:20] Tracy Hayes: I found— and I believe you're there— but if you can back me on this or maybe disagree, maybe you disagree. But I find the top agents, the inspection report is an opportunity.

[00:27:29] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:27:30] Tracy Hayes: An opportunity to really showcase their skills— the negotiation—

[00:27:33] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:27:34] Tracy Hayes: —show your value.

[00:27:35] Tammy Tingle: Absolutely.

[00:27:36] Tracy Hayes: Can you think of a situation where— I mean, you had an inspection report— I had a great couple on, the Parham Team down in Palatka, and they go through that thing. And luckily he knows a little bit about construction. He’ll go in and fix it himself.

[00:27:52] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:27:53] Tracy Hayes: Make the transaction work. 'Cause they're dealing with a different client who may not be able to afford that fix or whatever.

[00:27:59] Tracy Hayes: But it might be a couple hundred dollars fix, or just something—

[00:28:03] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:28:04] Tracy Hayes: —more or less literally screwing in a light bulb sometimes or fixing a—

[00:28:05] Tammy Tingle: Right. That's what we do. Yeah. You know, and it honestly is. And I'm gonna do my damnedest to make sure that it moves forward.

[00:28:14] Tracy Hayes: If you were speaking to new NEFAR— had you come down— or well, Nassau County’s got its own board up there, I shouldn’t negate that—

[00:28:21] Tracy Hayes: Had you come in and speak to new agents, just what should their mindset and attitude be when dealing with an inspection report?

[00:28:31] Tammy Tingle: Positive. Don’t let it drag you down. You know, if there's something that you can do to fix it— do it.

[00:28:39] Tammy Tingle: You're getting paid very well, typically, to see it through.

[00:28:44] Tracy Hayes: Do you find that— that brings up an interesting thing, 'cause I think some of these agents— and they're not top agents, because I’ve had the top agents on and I know their attitude towards it—

[00:28:53] Tracy Hayes: You know, a couple hundred dollars over here is not a big deal, knowing the long-term benefit of—

[00:29:00] Tracy Hayes: —getting the transaction or the mental mindset. If you— the more challenging you make it, the more difficult and angst that you create between the buyer and seller—

[00:29:08] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:29:09] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Yeah. To go in there— but, you know, sometimes you gotta come out of your pocket a little bit.

[00:29:13] Tammy Tingle: Absolutely.

[00:29:14] Tracy Hayes: Have you found some agents though, that are very—

[00:29:16] Tammy Tingle: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, I’ve got one right now. I will probably be out of pocket a couple of grand. But doesn’t matter.

[00:29:25] Tammy Tingle: They're getting what they want and I'm— they're gonna refer me probably to friends and family—

[00:29:33] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:29:34] Tammy Tingle: —when they decide to move. So, it’s a win-win.

[00:29:37] Tracy Hayes: Has that attitude been the same always, or is that something that has grown— that you've grown with the confidence of your business? That, you know, there's another transaction out there.

[00:29:48] Tracy Hayes: 'Cause I think people get that attitude when they feel their glass is half empty.

[00:29:51] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:29:52] Tracy Hayes: They don’t have the attitude of abundance.

[00:29:54] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:29:54] Tracy Hayes: They have the attitude of scarcity. So they’re like, “Oh, I— well, I ain’t gonna spend that money,” or “I ain’t [00:30:00] gonna go there and spend my time. They need to. If they’re not gonna pay someone to do it, well then it’s not gonna happen.”

[00:30:04] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. Yeah. That’s a bad attitude to have.

[00:30:07] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:30:07] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. I don’t like that.

[00:30:09] Tracy Hayes: But it’s an attitude of scarcity, not realizing that customer that’s in front of you—

[00:30:11] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:30:12] Tracy Hayes: —is another billboard that you’re putting up—

[00:30:14] Tammy Tingle: Right. Absolutely.

[00:30:15] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:30:16] Tammy Tingle: Yep. Every customer is a customer down the road.

[00:30:19] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:30:20] Tammy Tingle: That’s the way you have to look at it.

[00:30:22] Tracy Hayes: Every transaction— that marketing is done in front of you. Consistency— what do you feel, and maybe you’ve been doing it from the beginning, maybe it’s something you were taught, or maybe it’s just something you naturally do.

[00:30:32] Tracy Hayes: I mean, one of the things you did mention was coming into the office.

[00:30:34] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:30:35] Tracy Hayes: So, we’ll put that one up. We’ll think of something else. But something you feel you’re doing consistently in your business that is actually, you know, bearing fruit for you?

[00:30:43] Tammy Tingle: Consistently in my business— I have a social media group. And we discussed this—

[00:30:47] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:30:48] Tammy Tingle: —before. Yeah. I’ve got about 13,000, a little over 13,000 followers. And it’s basically the eats, events, and entertainment of Amelia Island.

[00:31:00] Tammy Tingle: I’ve probably done— this year alone— probably around 10 million—

[00:31:04] Tracy Hayes: From referrals from that—

[00:31:05] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:31:05] Tracy Hayes: —page?

[00:31:06] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:31:06] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. How do you— so, great concept. Great subject, you know, topic for Amelia Island, right? Everyone’s always got guests coming in. So, where do we go to dinner? And obviously, you enjoy wine, so you have a little interest in that to share, right?

[00:31:20] Tracy Hayes: Give us a— like, how did you get it started, and then spin it— then if you could tell us how are you actually letting people know that you're not only the organizer of this page and you're, you know, you’re making it happen— but hey, I’m a real estate agent.

[00:31:38] Tammy Tingle: Right. So, I actually started it before I got into real estate.

[00:31:41] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:31:42] Tammy Tingle: I started it when we moved to Amelia in 2019. And I— I just did it as something fun. I was bored. So I’m like, “Oh, I like this kind of stuff, so let’s try it,” right?

[00:31:50] Tammy Tingle: So started it, and the people I met through volunteering— gave it to them and said, “Hey, [00:32:00] if you guys have any input, put your restaurant, anything you'd like to eat, put it on there, you know, whatever.”

[00:32:04] Tammy Tingle: It kind of like grew. It didn’t grow big, but it grew.

[00:32:07] Tammy Tingle: In 2021, when I got my license, I said, “Oh, I can really utilize this.” So pretty much everything that I post on there— at the end of my post, it’s my name: Tammy S. Tingle, Century 21, Miller Elite, Top Five in Florida with Century 21—

[00:32:23] Tammy Tingle: —and my dollar volume for 2024. So everything I post, people see that.

[00:32:32] Tracy Hayes: What are the things that you’re posting on that page?

[00:32:35] Tammy Tingle: All of like the happy hours, the live music schedule, the restaurant specials. Now restaurants are actually contacting me— I’m putting them on.

[00:32:44] Tracy Hayes: Nice. Do you get some— you get some comp there at the restaurant sometimes?

[00:32:48] Tammy Tingle: No.

[00:32:49] Tracy Hayes: No free glass of wine or anything?

[00:32:51] Tammy Tingle: Well, probably not like crazy, but I mean, you know, it’s just a fun thing to do and now it’s like part of my business.

[00:32:59] Tracy Hayes: [00:33:00] So. Well, it goes back to your— you— what, who was the lady that was training you at Century 21?

[00:33:05] Tammy Tingle: Gina Miller.

[00:33:06] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:06] Tracy Hayes: Gina was training you, you know, “Hey, farm your community.”

[00:33:09] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:09] Tracy Hayes: And now you— you are farming your community with this page.

[00:33:12] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:13] Tracy Hayes: And you've picked a subject topic that's popular with everybody. Very neutral.

[00:33:17] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:17] Tracy Hayes: And it's just snowballed. And now you're farming it through this— the entire island—

[00:33:22] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:23] Tracy Hayes: —and beyond, with this page, talking about a subject matter. You've become the expert.

[00:33:28] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:29] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Everyone— and then every time someone goes on there, they're seeing your name.

[00:33:32] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:34] Tracy Hayes: Seeing every time you do a post.

[00:33:34] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:35] Tracy Hayes: Brilliant.

[00:33:36] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:33:37] Tracy Hayes: Brilliant.

[00:33:37] Tammy Tingle: And it's fun, you know?

[00:33:38] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:33:39] Tammy Tingle: I have a lot of fun with it.

[00:33:40] Tracy Hayes: Do you have— who is it— Josh Rogers? He has a page, I think it's like "Moving to St. Johns" or something like that. And he's actually got some other people to be regular contributors on there so it keeps up that consistent—

[00:33:52] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:33:52] Tracy Hayes: —you know, there's always something new going on there, and it's not all just coming from you.

[00:33:57] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:33:58] Tracy Hayes: Tammy's post, Tammy's post, Tammy's post. Do you have other people?

[00:34:02] Tammy Tingle: Oh yeah. I mean, it's open to anybody that follows me for them to post about their experiences— whether it's dining, whether it's music, whether it's entertainment. So yeah, it's a pretty unique page.

[00:34:14] Tracy Hayes: I imagine when people are thinking right now, what if someone posts something negative?

[00:34:19] Tammy Tingle: It's quickly deleted. Because there’s pages for that. That’s "Nassau Rants, Raves, and Reviews." That’s where you go to rant. My page is not the ranting— it's not political.

[00:34:29] Tracy Hayes: Right. If you had a bad experience, then just don’t say nothing. Is that your kind of—

[00:34:31] Tammy Tingle: No. Just, you know, don’t sit there and dog a restaurant if you didn’t go to management and address it while you were there.

[00:34:38] Tracy Hayes: I agree with that. My wife has this— a restaurant she went to, I don’t know, prom night or something in St. Augustine, and she doesn’t like to go there. I’m like, "Honey, that was like 30 years ago." I mean, the management has changed.

[00:34:49] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:34:49] Tracy Hayes: The owner’s probably changed.

[00:34:51] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:34:52] Tracy Hayes: And we definitely— the chef is not there anymore.

[00:34:54] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:34:54] Tracy Hayes: So, yeah.

[00:34:58] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. No, it’s a fun [00:35:00] page, and people like it because it’s just— it’s a fun—

[00:35:03] Tracy Hayes: Fun page. Yeah. So no, I— you know, talk about the consistency. You know, we brought it up before. That’s consistency.

[00:35:09] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. Consistently posting. And also, on that page— it’s only, um— in one of the rules, I have rules—

[00:35:15] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:16] Tammy Tingle: —that you have to abide by on the page. And it's only my real estate that can be posted. So only my open houses. I do post that.

[00:35:24] Tracy Hayes: Oh, so you post open houses on the same page?

[00:35:27] Tammy Tingle: Oh yeah.

[00:35:27] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:35:28] Tammy Tingle: Because it’s my event.

[00:35:29] Tracy Hayes: It’s your page.

[00:35:30] Tammy Tingle: So— yeah. And I usually have, give or take, five to six open houses a weekend.

[00:35:35] Tracy Hayes: You said you’re up there— about 13,000 some change in—

[00:35:37] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:35:38] Tracy Hayes: —followers. So that's roughly been about three or four years now that you’ve—

[00:35:41] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:35:42] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Interesting. Very— I would reach out to Tammy if you have an idea on this. I’m sure she could help you structure this page for you. But that's just— you know, of course the great thing— you know, it's the island.

[00:35:55] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:35:55] Tracy Hayes: Um, you know, but there's— you know, if you’re down in St. Augustine, it's [00:36:00] very similar. You have all these different restaurants, and some of 'em on some of these side streets, you don’t even know they’re there.

[00:36:06] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:36:06] Tracy Hayes: And you need to expose them and give them some love. And it's those— the small business owners, the small restaurant owners that you're putting out there—

[00:36:13] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:36:14] Tracy Hayes: —that know so many people.

[00:36:16] Tammy Tingle: They do. They do. A lot of them— I’ve actually had two restaurant owners refer me.

[00:36:20] Tracy Hayes: Yeah?

[00:36:21] Tammy Tingle: So—

[00:36:21] Tracy Hayes: They know so many— and probably actually more, you just don’t know. They actually probably more that you just don’t—

[00:36:26] Tammy Tingle: Know.

[00:36:26] Tracy Hayes: —know, but because they know so many people. A lot of them have been there a long time.

[00:36:30] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:36:31] Tracy Hayes: So if they have friends or family that are moving in, they’re asking them for their advice.

[00:36:35] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:36:36] Tracy Hayes: And that’s— you know—

[00:36:37] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. That’s spot on.

[00:36:38] Tracy Hayes: You're adding value to the community and it’s coming back.

[00:36:41] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:36:42] Tracy Hayes: That’s awesome. We talked a little bit about— you brought up your daily routine. If we can really narrow in on that. Was it 8 to 11, I think you said?

[00:36:50] Tammy Tingle: 8 to 11. And you know, here recently, like I was talking about Greg Harrelson— he's a guru for C21 out of the Carolinas— you know, I was at home doing [00:37:00] my normal work, but I feel like at home I get distracted.

[00:37:03] Tammy Tingle: You know, there’s distractions at home. So I recently just started going into the office. That is my time. I don’t have distractions. I’m there to literally email, phone call, lead— you know, lead generation, calling expireds, calling FSBOs.

[00:37:22] Tracy Hayes: Do you have a goal each day of— are you doing something a little different each day? 'Cause I imagine you’re not calling FSBOs every single day?

[00:37:28] Tammy Tingle: We were discussing— yeah. ChatGPT— I asked it to give me a 30-day game plan.

[00:37:33] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:37:34] Tammy Tingle: And it does.

[00:37:35] Tracy Hayes: Yeah?

[00:37:35] Tammy Tingle: Obviously— and I kind of, kind of follow that. Yeah.

[00:37:39] Tracy Hayes: That’s interesting. So how did you— tell us how you told ChatGPT, you know, what activities— and then it gave you a schedule?

[00:37:47] Tammy Tingle: It did, it gave me—

[00:37:48] Tracy Hayes: Tell us a little bit how you communicated with it.

[00:37:50] Tammy Tingle: So I asked it to give me a— I think I said, "I'm in real estate. Give me a 30-day schedule for lead generation." And that's very [00:38:00] basic.

[00:38:00] Tammy Tingle: But it did. A very detailed seven days at a time to get followers, lead generation. I mean, it was very detailed.

[00:38:07] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. ChatGPT is very beneficial to me. I use it quite often.

[00:38:14] Tracy Hayes: It is. It has got— I’ve been using it consistently. Well, I was intro'd to it about two months after it started, but lately I've been using it a lot, even with the show here.

[00:38:24] Tracy Hayes: You know, how— because I’ve had all these top agents, I’ve had all this content—

[00:38:28] Tammy Tingle: Right?

[00:38:29] Tracy Hayes: —of the best agents in Northeast Florida, and how it could become— Real Estate Excellence can become a search that— and when you go on ChatGPT— and it knows— if you go on ChatGPT, “What’s the top retail— residential real estate podcast?”

[00:38:41] Tracy Hayes: And—

[00:38:42] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:38:42] Tracy Hayes: —I come up.

[00:38:43] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:38:43] Tracy Hayes: It knows this stuff. And you start going in and you start asking and asking more detailed questions—

[00:38:48] Tracy Hayes: Clarify, clarify. I even— it was telling me to do something and I said— I don’t want to expose my secret— but what I asked, I said—

[00:38:56] Tracy Hayes: "If I’m talking to an expert that does what you’re telling me to do"—

[00:39:00] Tracy Hayes: —because what you’re telling me to do is, you know, has to do with the internet and stuff like that— and I’m like, “If I wanted to talk the language of a person who actually does that in the internet/IT world, whatever you want to call it—"

[00:39:14] Tammy Tingle: Right?

[00:39:15] Tracy Hayes: "—how— spell that out for me so I can basically hand it to them."

[00:39:19] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:39:19] Tracy Hayes: And—

[00:39:19] Tammy Tingle: It’s amazing.

[00:39:20] Tracy Hayes: It—

[00:39:20] Tammy Tingle: It—

[00:39:21] Tracy Hayes: —does. Within seconds. Right? Sometimes it's too fast 'cause you're like, "Oh my God, I got all this, you know, stuff to do."

[00:39:28] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. Stuff that we used to spend hours on.

[00:39:30] Tracy Hayes: Oh yeah. Days, weeks, whatever. And we mentioned— we were talking pre-show because today we do have a lunch and learn with this gentleman using AI to home search.

[00:39:39] Tracy Hayes: You've been using it to do your property descriptions.

[00:39:43] Tammy Tingle: Property descriptions. Again, setting a calendar— daily calendar. Instagram, I ask it for social media—

[00:39:50] Tammy Tingle: —cues.

[00:39:51] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. And the importance— just so the audience out there— you really, if you're not using AI to create your property [00:40:00] descriptions, you need to. Because I think we all will agree in the coming years— AI looks for AI. It's looking for its language.

[00:40:08] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:40:10] Tracy Hayes: It's looking for what it wrote.

[00:40:11] Tammy Tingle: And—

[00:40:11] Tracy Hayes: If you're not having it write your bio, if you're not having it write your property descriptions or anything else on your websites, you know, you may be missed.

[00:40:20] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:40:21] Tracy Hayes: So you want to tell it everything and then have it write it and, you know, go in and proof it and clean it up. I mean, it— it talks, but it's looking for its language.

[00:40:27] Tammy Tingle: Right. Absolutely.

[00:40:28] Tracy Hayes: The way it talks. So, something to put out there. Let’s talk about the— you’ve had huge success since April ’21.

[00:40:36] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:40:36] Tracy Hayes: Killed it last year. What are you seeing? I imagine with your production, you know, some of the top people at Century 21 are communicating with you because you’re in that fine-line echelon of top producers— of what’s going on in the marketplace.

[00:40:52] Tracy Hayes: What’s going on in your marketplace at Amelia Island? We talked— we talked about 70% of your deals are cash, right?

[00:41:00] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:41:00] Tracy Hayes: What are you sensing here? And any prediction— we’re not gonna stick it to you— but—

[00:41:05] Tammy Tingle: Right. No, no.

[00:41:06] Tracy Hayes: —what you feel, what you’re seeing going on.

[00:41:07] Tammy Tingle: Well, you have definitely seen a slowdown. I’ve talked to several lenders that I, you know, normally use.

[00:41:13] Tammy Tingle: Apps for loans have gone down. You talk to inspectors— they’re not as busy.

[00:41:17] Tammy Tingle: Same thing with photography. They’re not as busy.

[00:41:20] Tammy Tingle: So the listings are up.

[00:41:24] Tracy Hayes: Are you— you have a lot of listings right now?

[00:41:26] Tammy Tingle: Uh, 19.

[00:41:28] Tracy Hayes: You have a lot of listings, but are they moving?

[00:41:30] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:41:31] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:41:31] Tammy Tingle: They're not moving as quickly. Days on market are longer. So yeah, I— hopefully, you know, we’ll see an uptick. But right now, showings— I mean, everything is slow.

[00:41:41] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:41:42] Tammy Tingle: Everything is slow.

[00:41:43] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. I was fortunate that the one I had— one buyer we locked in when— you know, Trump’s got everybody on a tailspin of what’s going on.

[00:41:52] Tracy Hayes: Right. And the rates dipped there. And I locked them in the low sixes without any points on just a hundred thousand dollar loan. I was like—

[00:42:00] Tracy Hayes: —feel great.

[00:42:01] Tracy Hayes: Now you look at the rates here now— it’s been over like two, maybe three weeks later—

[00:42:05] Tracy Hayes: —and you know, they’re right back up there again.

[00:42:07] Tracy Hayes: And it is really putting a— yeah, definitely a crunch on the mortgage business. So I know what he wants to do.

[00:42:15] Tracy Hayes: I believe I know what he wants to do. And getting the bonds— the bad day in the stock— people complain about the stock market, but a bad day in the stock market is a good day for mortgage rates.

[00:42:24] Tracy Hayes: Which could be a sale of a home, which is— you know— moves communities.

[00:42:28] Tammy Tingle: Right. You know, there’s so many people—

[00:42:29] Tracy Hayes: —involved. And so yeah, we might suck up a little downturn in a— in a— a day or week or month in the stock market, but it’s that bond market we need to get.

[00:42:39] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:42:39] Tracy Hayes: You know, get those— drive those rates down.

[00:42:42] Tammy Tingle: Sure. Yeah. Sure. Sure.

[00:42:43] Tracy Hayes: Let’s talk— do you work with any new agents coming in to the office?

[00:42:48] Tammy Tingle: No.

[00:42:49] Tracy Hayes: No, you don’t?

[00:42:50] Tammy Tingle: No, no, no.

[00:42:51] Tracy Hayes: No time for that?

[00:42:52] Tammy Tingle: No, no, no.

[00:42:53] Tracy Hayes: Do they ever ask you— they ask you to come in and give some insight?

[00:42:57] Tammy Tingle: They do ask, you know, questions. Yeah. And I, you know, I try and give 'em as best as I can.

[00:43:00] Tammy Tingle: I did a training through my office regarding open houses, because I’ve been doing open houses since ’21. And I do them religiously.

[00:43:07] Tammy Tingle: So I have a set list of rules that if an agent is gonna do my open house—

[00:43:11] Tracy Hayes: Share— share.

[00:43:12] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. Share. So, six to ten signs. And they’ve gotta be highly visible signs.

[00:43:16] Tammy Tingle: You can’t just get the little rectangle "Open House" sign.

[00:43:18] Tammy Tingle: Six to ten open house signs. I want the street address and the times on those signs. I want you to meet me at the property—

[00:43:24] Tracy Hayes: Okay, well— so you are actually making up signs specific to that?

[00:43:27] Tammy Tingle: Oh yeah. Specific. It’s not just—

[00:43:29] Tracy Hayes: Their everyday sign that they—

[00:43:30] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:43:31] Tracy Hayes: —just use on every open house. And you want a number of those signs to have address on there.

[00:43:35] Tammy Tingle: Right. Address and day and time. And usually six to ten. I prefer the higher mark.

[00:43:39] Tammy Tingle: Because exposure— visibility— is key. I want them to meet me at the property a couple days before, so I can go over [00:44:00] everything that I know about the property so that they’re well-versed on it.

[00:44:03] Tracy Hayes: This is if you’re actually not doing it yourself—

[00:44:05] Tammy Tingle: If I’m not doing it myself. If they’re hosting one for me. I make them up a little cheat sheet so that they have a little cheat sheet of everything— you know, when it was built, zoning, flood zone, taxes— all of that is there for them.

[00:44:16] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. But main thing is exposure.

[00:44:20] Tracy Hayes: Well, I like— I like— the signs with the address on it.

[00:44:23] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:44:24] Tracy Hayes: I never see that.

[00:44:25] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. So I take what I do— and I tell them, I have poster board. And I cut strips of poster— each poster board is usually six to eight sheets. So I write it on there. And I have the ugliest open house signs.

[00:44:37] Tammy Tingle: They stand out. They’re yellow and black.

[00:44:39] Tammy Tingle: So on that poster board, it has the day and time and the actual address. Because sometimes people get lost, you know?

[00:44:46] Tammy Tingle: If you’re in a big community— say, in Amelia Walk that has 700, I believe, homes— if you don’t have— you know, get them there— they could just end up at somebody else’s open house. I want 'em at mine.

[00:45:00] Tammy Tingle: They could at least take a picture of the sign. They’ve got the street address, time. So— and— go out 24 hours before the open house.

[00:45:07] Tracy Hayes: Alright. So you have these— it’s a generic sign, but has a place where you can write in—

[00:45:13] Tammy Tingle: Right. So "Open House"—

[00:45:14] Tracy Hayes: —12 to 2—

[00:45:15] Tammy Tingle: Yes. 123 Smith Street, whatever.

[00:45:16] Tracy Hayes: So it’s—

[00:45:17] Tammy Tingle: You know, my sign— it’s a custom sign. It’s yellow, black, has my name, has my brokerage, my telephone number—

[00:45:22] Tammy Tingle: —and then the poster board is across the bottom with the time and address.

[00:45:29] Tracy Hayes: So like an attachment?

[00:45:30] Tammy Tingle: It is. It’s an— like my open house signs— it’s an ordeal. It’s a process.

[00:45:34] Tammy Tingle: So, it’s kind of like a little shop.

[00:45:37] Tracy Hayes: But again, your customer that’s in front of you— in this case, your seller—

[00:45:40] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:45:40] Tracy Hayes: —that is your poster. I mean, that is your billboard. Right?

[00:45:43] Tracy Hayes: And average person— you may not think much about it, but the seller of that house—

[00:45:47] Tracy Hayes: —they’re gonna look at it and say, "Wow. Her sign is different. It’s actually got my address on there and the time they’re doing it."

[00:45:54] Tracy Hayes: There’s no one else doing that.

[00:45:56] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:45:59] Tracy Hayes: I have [00:46:00] not seen anyone else doing it.

[00:46:01] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:46:01] Tracy Hayes: Where did you pick that one up?

[00:46:03] Tammy Tingle: Well, I had somebody come through and they were like, "Yeah, we couldn’t really find it." And this was when I first started.

[00:46:08] Tammy Tingle: And I was like, that’s not good, you know. So then, ended up at a Century 21 conference and— Greg Harrelson again—

[00:46:15] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:46:15] Tammy Tingle: —said, "If you’re not having six to ten open house signs, you know, what are you doing?"

[00:46:20] Tammy Tingle: So therefore, my six to ten signs. I want—

[00:46:23] Tracy Hayes: I want you to take a picture of one of those signs this weekend.

[00:46:26] Tammy Tingle: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:46:26] Tracy Hayes: I want— I want to see it. I’ll post it on my—

[00:46:41] Tracy Hayes: Instagram. 'Cause that really is— you're a hundred percent right— if you're way back in the subdivision—

[00:46:45] Tracy Hayes: Oh yeah.

[00:46:46] Tracy Hayes: —and you need three or four 'cause they're making three or four turns, and you need a sign at every sort of turn—

[00:46:50] Tracy Hayes: You need to—

[00:46:51] Tammy Tingle: Get—

[00:46:51] Tracy Hayes: —an address.

[00:46:52] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:46:52] Tracy Hayes: Because they'll quickly just put it in their GPS and go in their phone and take 'em right there.

[00:46:57] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:46:58] Tracy Hayes: They don't have to look for the next sign or whatever it is.

[00:47:00] Tammy Tingle: Yep.

[00:47:00] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. That— brilliant on— from the standpoint of making sure that if someone sees that sign at the very front entrance, that they're gonna get to the back.

[00:47:07] Tracy Hayes: And I think too, the collateral benefit is the seller is gonna see that and say, "Wow, they’re different. They’re making sure my— you know, someone’s coming by my house today."

[00:47:15] Tammy Tingle: Sure. Yeah.

[00:47:16] Tracy Hayes: You know, especially if they’ve gotta leave and go do something for two or three hours while you’re there.

[00:47:20] Tammy Tingle: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:47:21] Tracy Hayes: No, that’s brilliant. Yeah. Alright, so let’s— yeah, let’s dig into your open house specialist. So we have the special sign—

[00:47:26] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:47:27] Tracy Hayes: You’re giving specific instructions. You’re meeting with the agent who might be sitting that— that’s gonna host it.

[00:47:31] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:47:31] Tracy Hayes: That— to have a little, you know, “Here are the highlights of the residence.”

[00:47:34] Tammy Tingle: Right. Cheat sheet. Mm-hmm. Actually take the cheat sheet, put it in a frame so it’s there. They can see it— easily visible—

[00:47:41] Tammy Tingle: —and the person walking in can actually see it.

[00:47:43] Tracy Hayes: Oh, okay.

[00:47:43] Tammy Tingle: So they know the updates that have been done. They know the taxes, they know the flood zone. They know the rentability.

[00:47:48] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. Any fees, any of those little things. Those are all questions that come up.

[00:47:52] Tammy Tingle: All that. Yeah.

[00:47:53] Tracy Hayes: CDD fee, HOA, monthly fee— all of that is listed.

[00:47:55] Tracy Hayes: From a lending standpoint— I get questions all— "Hey, can you work up a payment for this?" Anyone can go on their phone and put, "I’m borrowing $300,000," and an interest rate, it’s approximately this— "What’s my principal and interest payment?"

[00:48:10] Tracy Hayes: But I think what— the real— they’re not really asking that question.

[00:48:13] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:48:14] Tracy Hayes: They want me to obviously estimate what insurance would run—

[00:48:17] Tammy Tingle: Sure.

[00:48:18] Tracy Hayes: —you know, and then, you know, any other fees and so forth. That’s really what they’re looking for. But I need that information from the agent to give me that.

[00:48:26] Tracy Hayes: When really, having this cheat sheet and having it printed out—

[00:48:29] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:48:30] Tracy Hayes: Keep it simple, stupid. They can look right at it—

[00:48:31] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:48:32] Tracy Hayes: —you know, and calculate approximately what a payment’s looking like.

[00:48:36] Tracy Hayes: Now we— as a lender, I love talking to you guys, but I think from a professional standpoint, it makes you look like you're on top of your game.

[00:48:42] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. Right.

[00:48:43] Tracy Hayes: But in putting that stuff in, I think the other part of it— it builds confidence in the buyer. If you— I’m sure you agree with this— is transparency.

[00:48:51] Tammy Tingle: Right. Sure.

[00:48:52] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:48:53] Tammy Tingle: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:48:54] Tracy Hayes: Letting ’em know what else. We can—

[00:48:57] Tracy Hayes: Alright, so we have the cheat sheet. What else are you doing on the open house? What’s the Tammy open house special advice?

[00:49:02] Tammy Tingle: Social media. They have to post. You have to post on social media. There are at least four Facebook pages dedicated to— whether it’s open houses, for-sale houses, whatever, for our area—

[00:49:12] Tammy Tingle: —and there’s probably— oh my gosh, there’s probably seven, eight thousand people on one of them.

[00:49:17] Tammy Tingle: And so at my open houses, I always make it a point: “How did you hear about it?” I have never had anyone come in my open house and say "Realtor" or "Zillow." It’s always been a sign or social media.

[00:49:35] Tracy Hayes: Interesting.

[00:49:36] Tammy Tingle: I’ve never had anyone. That’s my number one— that and, aside from, "Are you working with an agent?"

[00:49:40] Tracy Hayes: Asking that question is— again, I think that's—

[00:49:42] Tracy Hayes: Not rocket science.

[00:49:44] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:49:45] Tracy Hayes: But how many agents are asking, “How did you actually hear about it?” I guarantee less than 50%. Probably less than 20%. But I’m gonna be generous and say less than 50% are probably not even asking how that person ever heard about why— how they got there.

[00:50:01] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. Yeah. I wanna know because I wanna know what’s working.

[00:50:03] Tracy Hayes: Right. Talk a little bit about that in your success of your business, because you've had enough volume to have some trial and error.

[00:50:10] Tracy Hayes: Versus that agent who may be only doing four to six homes a year, they don’t have enough trial and error to actually really zone in on what’s working.

[00:50:17] Tracy Hayes: What do you do from a— you know, in keeping some— what are some of the stats that you like to have?

[00:50:25] Tammy Tingle: Stats that I like to have— turnover in a neighborhood. If there’s not much turnover, do I really want to farm it? Am I wasting time? If there’s a lot of turnover, that might be a good neighborhood to farm.

[00:50:39] Tracy Hayes: Okay.

[00:50:40] Tammy Tingle: Something as simple as that. Expireds, FSBOs— I like to look back six months’ worth of expireds, see if I can get one of those, ’cause you already know they want to sell.

[00:50:52] Tammy Tingle: They wouldn’t have listed it otherwise.

[00:50:54] Tracy Hayes: I was— oh— specifically I was— like, you were the stats don. You know, you might be just keeping ’em in your—

[00:51:00] Tracy Hayes: —mind, like when that someone comes into your listing.

[00:51:03] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:51:03] Tracy Hayes: “How did you hear about us?” You’re tracking— was it the sign? Stats?

[00:51:07] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. What are some of your business stats that you kind of measure yourself and adjust— maybe adjust your marketing or whatever you do?

[00:51:13] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. Honestly, I mean, I’m so simple. Like you said— the yellow notebook. Like literally, there’s one right here.

[00:51:18] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:51:18] Tammy Tingle: My dry erase board. I’ve never— I don’t even have a CRM.

[00:51:21] Tammy Tingle: So, I’ve kind of been looking at CRMs, but— I need to.

[00:51:26] Tammy Tingle: But yeah. It is mainly mental, you know?

[00:51:29] Tammy Tingle: Mental, you know?

[00:51:30] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm. Keeping it up here.

[00:51:34] Tracy Hayes: Right. So— well— well that brings up an interesting topic. Are you doing everything yourself right now?

[00:52:00] Tracy Hayes: …and then you keep hitting that lid. You've grown every year, so you're like, "Oh, I haven't hit the lid, let’s just keep going."

[00:52:10] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:52:11] Tracy Hayes: Have you thought about, for example, like having some sort of assistant do some of these— some of these things for you? Tracking, prepping the agents to go out and do your— take some of the [work] off your plate?

[00:52:23] Tammy Tingle: No.

[00:52:24] Tracy Hayes: No?

[00:52:26] Tammy Tingle: No.
I look at it like— I know the product that I bring. And, you know, that's why I want to— when somebody does my open house—

[00:52:34] Tammy Tingle: I want to make sure that they understand what my brand means to me. So hopefully that they bring—

[00:52:41] Tracy Hayes: Their brand means— or you're conveying that list— that seller’s information directly.

[00:52:49] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:52:49] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.

[00:52:50] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:52:50] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. But— but the social media, some of the other trivial things, like— it’s like, whether it was you or someone else doing it. ’Cause some of the stuff you said you’re doing— you’re using AI to create for you.

[00:53:00] Tracy Hayes: Someone else could take that.

[00:53:01] Tammy Tingle: They could, yeah.

[00:53:02] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. But you're not there yet.

[00:53:04] Tammy Tingle: No.

[00:53:05] Tracy Hayes: No?

[00:53:07] Tammy Tingle: You sound like my—

[00:53:08] Tracy Hayes: You still have— you just have this great excitement about real estate. You just want to do it all.

[00:53:12] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. But I mean— and it's amazing. It is amazing to have done that— you’ve done that sort of volume completely by yourself. Because I, you know— well, my—

[00:53:20] Tammy Tingle: My husband, you know— yeah, he helped. But he doesn’t do like the social media or anything like that.

[00:53:24] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[00:53:25] Tammy Tingle: He does all of like my paperwork. So—

[00:53:27] Tracy Hayes: So he's doing some of the transaction coordinating.

[00:53:30] Tammy Tingle: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:53:31] Tracy Hayes: Is he writing the contracts for you? How does— what—

[00:53:34] Tammy Tingle: Yes. Yeah.

[00:53:34] Tracy Hayes: Yeah?

[00:53:35] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:53:35] Tracy Hayes: Okay, so you have an assistant basically who’s handling some of those things, right? So you keep forward-facing.

[00:53:40] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:53:41] Tracy Hayes: How important— you know, because you— the people is important to you, that’s why you love this thing— so if we’re talking to someone who’s hitting this lid that I’m— I’ve been talking about and doesn’t have anyone doing some of those little things that give you— in this case, your husband is—

[00:54:00] Tracy Hayes: —giving you that extra time to spend—

[00:54:02] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:54:03] Tracy Hayes: —with your people.

[00:54:04] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:54:05] Tracy Hayes: How— that— I mean, have you realized— how that— when you look at other agents saying, "Well, you know, I'm getting this extra hours to spend with my customers," whether it's out doing showings or just having lunch, whatever it is—

[00:54:17] Tracy Hayes: —how that's actually changed your business. Have you actually looked at that? Because you're so forward— not forward-facing, but you're— you're spending more time face-to-face. You’re not sitting behind the computer.

[00:54:28] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. No. It's definitely beneficial having him be able to do all of that.

[00:54:32] Tammy Tingle: I like to— you know, I’m hands-on with everything.

[00:54:34] Tammy Tingle: Of course, I like to see what he's doing and, you know, sometimes we’ll end up— I’ll end up sending documents that he's already sent just because it’s like, "Okay, it’s— it’s there," you know?

[00:54:44] Tammy Tingle: I want to do it right then.

[00:54:46] Tammy Tingle: But, yeah, it's definitely beneficial because it's definitely more face-to-face. I get a little more time face-to-face with my clients, like you said—

[00:54:55] Tammy Tingle: —because I’m not doing paperwork stuff behind a computer.

[00:54:59] Tracy Hayes: When— because I imagine on Amelia Island you’ve dealt with some higher-end properties, right?

[00:55:03] Tammy Tingle: Sure.

[00:55:03] Tracy Hayes: What have you found— I think any top person delivers the same level of service, but there's dealing with different— I don't want to say personalities—

[00:55:10] Tracy Hayes: —just different— you know, someone who's looking at one and a half, two million—

[00:55:13] Tracy Hayes: —they may have won the lottery and didn’t have anything yesterday. There are people like that, or inherited a lot of money or something like that. But I would imagine some of your tactfulness—

[00:55:24] Tracy Hayes: —for lack of a better word— strategically dealing with— dealing with some of the higher-end clients. Have you— do you— how do you work across the spectrum?

[00:55:33] Tracy Hayes: Because you’re still selling some stuff in the western part of Nassau County, I would imagine, right? You said you had a Jacksonville condo. So it's not like, "Hey, I'm only dealing with people who are buying a million dollars and up."

[00:55:44] Tracy Hayes: You're across the spectrum. What have you found as an agent— some of the things that you’ve done personally to adjust to the different clients that you're actually working with coming from different socioeconomic, whatever, backgrounds?

[00:56:02] Tammy Tingle: Yeah, I— I don't— I think I treat everybody exactly the same. Whether they’re buying a $300,000 house or whether they’re buying a $5 million house, they’re still going to get the same level of service.

[00:56:15] Tammy Tingle: Right. You shouldn't—

[00:56:16] Tracy Hayes: To spin off of that— the importance of— because I imagine dealing with some of these homes, they’re not brand new.

[00:56:22] Tracy Hayes: Something needs to be fixed. Something needs to be worked. How have you found the right people in your community that make you look good?

[00:56:30] Tracy Hayes: Whether it’s a lender or someone to help you fix a plumbing issue or an electrical issue in a listing you have?

[00:56:38] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:56:38] Tracy Hayes: What are some of the things that you’ve worked on that you feel— that you’ve built a Rolodex of?

[00:56:42] Tammy Tingle: I do. I have a vendor— vendor guide.

[00:56:45] Tammy Tingle: And that is given to all of my sellers as well as my buyers. People that I’ve worked with. People that I’m comfortable with. Say it’s a handyman— I’ve got a great handyman that I’m working with.

[00:56:55] Tammy Tingle: Plumber— got great plumbers. But I mean—

[00:57:00] Tammy Tingle: I’m providing them at least five to six names in my vendor guide for each category.

[00:57:04] Tracy Hayes: Each—

[00:57:04] Tracy Hayes: Each category—five or six per category?

[00:57:07] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:57:07] Tracy Hayes: You found five or six really good handymen?

[00:57:10] Tammy Tingle: Oh, I do. I have—really.

[00:57:11] Tracy Hayes: They all live there in Amelia Island?

[00:57:13] Tammy Tingle: They do. They do.

[00:57:13] Tracy Hayes: I don't think we have five or six in all of St. Johns County.

[00:57:18] Tammy Tingle: Yeah. I am fortunate—to actually see one later today. So yeah, I'm very—

[00:57:22] Tracy Hayes: You must have some really good retirees that want to do some sidewalk work.

[00:57:24] Tammy Tingle: I do. I do. Absolutely.

[00:57:26] Tracy Hayes: Because I really feel— and it's funny, again, talking to the Parham team a couple episodes ago— how important it is. Because in their community, as small as it is down there in Palatka, and you, Amelia Island— you’ve gotta have these people that you can call up and say, "Hey, I need— I need— we've got an electrical issue, I need this done."

[00:57:43] Tracy Hayes: "And I need it done 'cause we're gonna go listing," or, "Hey, the inspection's coming," or, "We need to get this done so I can get it on the market—"

[00:57:50] Tracy Hayes: "So it doesn't show up on the inspection report."

[00:57:52] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:57:52] Tracy Hayes: But how important is it to be a concierge—

[00:57:55] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:57:55] Tracy Hayes: —of that? It's providing the value that you're being well paid for.

[00:57:59] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:58:00] Tracy Hayes: You don't leave it up to the seller to ultimately take it— you're forcing the action.

[00:58:03] Tammy Tingle: I'm being proactive.

[00:58:04] Tracy Hayes: You're forcing the action, not—

[00:58:06] Tammy Tingle: I don't want to be reactive.

[00:58:07] Tammy Tingle: I want to be proactive.

[00:58:08] Tracy Hayes: Right. Yeah. I imagine you've gone into some of— just talk— talk about the— that part of it. 'Cause I think it's another thing agents might— I think of the— the phrase I want to use, but some of 'em don't have the confidence—

[00:58:19] Tracy Hayes: —even three years in, that they are the expert.

[00:58:26] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[00:58:27] Tracy Hayes: At what point did you— you know, you— I imagine you're in Amelia Island, you might have had a pretty big transaction your first year.

[00:58:33] Tracy Hayes: You're like, "I've only been doing real estate for four months and I've got this million-dollar sale."

[00:58:38] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:58:38] Tracy Hayes: And you look at it— they're like, "I'm not worthy of this."

[00:58:41] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[00:58:41] Tracy Hayes: At what point in your career did you say, "Hey, I am the expert. I've got Gina back in the office, she's teaching me. I've got these other transactions now through the years"—

[00:58:50] Tracy Hayes: And now you walk in with that confidence and authority? 'Cause I don't think every agent has that.

[00:58:55] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[00:58:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah?

[00:58:56] Tammy Tingle: I would say probably year two.

[00:58:59] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[00:59:00] Tammy Tingle: Felt a lot more confident. Now— I mean, if you get the listing, you get the listing. If you don't, move on.

[00:59:05] Tammy Tingle: You know, I mean, it's just simple as that. You don’t focus on what’s behind you.

[00:59:09] Tammy Tingle: You focus on—

[00:59:12] Tracy Hayes: But that conversation— like, I think the breakdown in the— which causes issues further down the line—

[00:59:18] Tracy Hayes: Like some of these houses— I imagine maybe sometimes you recommend a pre-listing inspection?

[00:59:24] Tammy Tingle: Right. And I have. And I actually did that— prime example— back in December, I had a hundred-year-old house in downtown Fernandina.

[00:59:30] Tammy Tingle: This lady had reached out to me, she interviewed several agents—

[00:59:33] Tammy Tingle: And I actually recommended a pre-inspection.

[00:59:36] Tammy Tingle: And she was like, "Oh, well, we had an inspection when we bought it and, you know, we’ve improved everything."

[00:59:41] Tammy Tingle: It's like— you know, I said, it doesn’t hurt, you know? It’s a hundred-year-old home.

[00:59:46] Tammy Tingle: Come to find out, the inspector prior did not go under the house, and she had to end up spending about 20 grand in foundation repair.

[01:00:00] Tammy Tingle: Because of that inspector not going under—

[01:00:00] Tracy Hayes: The home.

[01:00:01] Tammy Tingle: —the home.

[01:00:03] Tracy Hayes: And you had that done before you even put it on the market?

[01:00:05] Tammy Tingle: Before we even put it on the market. Yeah.

[01:00:07] Tracy Hayes: Because here’s the tip— anyone— agents that are listening— that's an excuse for someone— you worked so hard to get it under contract.

[01:00:13] Tracy Hayes: You got it under contract, and then someone crawls under the house and realizes, "Oh, we got a foundation issue."

[01:00:17] Tracy Hayes: "Oh, we didn’t know that."

[01:00:18] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[01:00:18] Tracy Hayes: You should know that.

[01:00:19] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[01:00:19] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah. And that’s a major issue, which most people would’ve walked away—

[01:00:23] Tammy Tingle: Absolutely.

[01:00:24] Tracy Hayes: —from. They would say, "Uh—" Whether you were gonna fix it before closing or not—

[01:00:28] Tracy Hayes: —they would’ve said, "Oh, now you got a foundation issue? I'm moving on to something else."

[01:00:31] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[01:00:32] Tracy Hayes: You know, even if it— it could be— because I'm sure you've had the smallest— 'cause they all have buyer's remorse.

[01:00:38] Tracy Hayes: Right?

[01:00:38] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[01:00:39] Tracy Hayes: They’re all under contract. They go have the inspection and there's this one little thing that’s a few hundred dollars— they're like, "No, we don’t want to buy it."

[01:00:46] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[01:00:46] Tracy Hayes: You know?

[01:00:47] Tracy Hayes: I'm a big proponent of pre-listing inspections, especially for some of these really expensive homes because—

[01:00:54] Tammy Tingle: You don’t have that many buyers—

[01:00:55] Tammy Tingle: —to sell ’em to.
Right. You don’t. Your pool is very small.

[01:00:59] Tracy Hayes: Yeah. So—
So you don’t want—

[01:01:00] Tracy Hayes: —to give them that out. Let’s finish up with this: give me three things that, with the current market—

[01:01:04] Tracy Hayes: —we’ve got high interest rates now, some applications are down and so forth.
What are three things—if Century 21 said, “Hey, run our sales meeting this week”—what would you tell the agents to say are three things that they all need to be doing within their business right now, with the current market, and obviously be consistent with it?

[01:01:26] Tammy Tingle: Farm your neighborhood.

[01:01:27] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:01:28] Tammy Tingle: Farm your expireds and farm your FSBOs.
Because expired and FSBOs have already demonstrated they wanna sell.

[01:01:34] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[01:01:35] Tammy Tingle: So you could be coming—
You could come in and look up as a king.

[01:01:38] Tracy Hayes: What have you found—
I don’t want to give the answer I think you’re going to give me, but I want you to say from the expireds—

[01:01:42] Tracy Hayes: What have you found with some of these expireds you maybe called upon that you’ve gotten some action from?

[01:01:49] Tammy Tingle: Listing too high.
Or given a price that was not gonna happen.

[01:01:54] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:01:54] Tammy Tingle: And, you know, have that real talk with them that, “Hey, this is what it’s gonna take to sell.”

[01:01:59] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:01:59] Tammy Tingle: Unfortunately, that—

[01:02:00] Tracy Hayes: Because the prior agent may not have had that conversation with them.

[01:02:04] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[01:02:04] Tracy Hayes: Or maybe there was an ego thing where they said, “No, we want this much more money for our house,” and they didn’t want to tell that agent to go ahead and lower.
’Cause the agent told ’em to lower, but their ego said, “No, we’re not gonna lower it.”

[01:02:14] Tracy Hayes: Now that agent’s out and you come in, you’re the second voice saying lower the price. And they’re like, “Yeah, okay.”

[01:02:20] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.
Yeah. And that’s a lot of the cases. I like to go in knowing that they’re willing to come down—

[01:02:26] Tammy Tingle: —if it hasn’t sold, if we’re not seeing the activity that we should see.

[01:02:32] Tracy Hayes: Yeah, yeah.
I think you’d agree—right now, if it’s sitting, most likely it’s because—well, someone, the market feels the price is too high.

[01:02:40] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[01:02:41] Tracy Hayes: Right.

[01:02:41] Tammy Tingle: Yeah.

[01:02:42] Tracy Hayes: Anything you’d like to add?

[01:02:44] Tammy Tingle: No, just—
You know, everybody always asks me, “How did you do what you did?”

[01:02:50] Tracy Hayes: Mm-hmm.

[01:02:51] Tammy Tingle: It’s, you know, putting in the work. It’s not a part-time job.

[01:02:55] Tracy Hayes: Yeah.
Treating it like a business, like you said—coming in 8 to 11, you’re doing these things and you’re holding yourself accountable.
ChatGPT gave you the schedule.

[01:03:04] Tammy Tingle: Right.
Exactly. So easy. Oh my gosh, it’s so easy.

[01:03:06] Tracy Hayes: Or, I mean, ’cause you could go into Chat—
You were very broad with ChatGPT. Go in there and say, “Hey, I need a five-day Monday-through-Friday schedule from 8 to 11 of activities that are, you know, gonna create action.”

[01:03:16] Tracy Hayes: “I like doing A, B, and C.”

[01:03:18] Tracy Hayes: And it will—
It will do it.

[01:03:21] Tracy Hayes: It’ll give you statistics on how, you know, if you make so many phone calls, how many yeses you might get.

[01:03:26] Tammy Tingle: Right.
Right.

[01:03:27] Tracy Hayes: But I think—would you agree—those things, especially right now?

[01:03:30] Tammy Tingle: Mm-hmm.

[01:03:31] Tracy Hayes: There are so many people sitting on the sidelines right now. Like there’s buyers going, “Okay, the interest rates are too high.” So they’re sitting there waiting for interest rates to lower.

[01:03:40] Tracy Hayes: And then there’s sellers in the same situation. ’Cause they have a low interest rate but they really do want to move.

[01:03:45] Tracy Hayes: That there’s going to be—
And it comes a point where they’re forced to, right? So those people are trickling over the top.

[01:03:52] Tracy Hayes: But if—
I think if rates get—like we get 5.875—there’s gonna be a frenzy.

[01:04:00] Tammy Tingle: There will be.
Yeah. Yeah, I agree.
Oh my gosh, I agree.

[01:04:03] Tracy Hayes: And if you’re making those phone calls, when it does—

[01:04:05] Tracy Hayes: It’s your phone—

[01:04:07] Tracy Hayes: And then you’re gonna need more assistance. Your phone’s—

[01:04:08] Tammy Tingle: Gonna ring, correct. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[01:04:10] Tracy Hayes: Running out more people sitting on your—on your listings.

[01:04:12] Tracy Hayes: But Tammy, I appreciate you coming on.

[01:04:14] Tammy Tingle: Thank you.

[01:04:15] Tracy Hayes: I appreciate you making the trip down today.
Reach out to Tammy—her contact information will be in the show notes and so forth.
You know, follow her. What’s the name of the page that you have?

[01:04:24] Tammy Tingle: Amelia Island Eats, Events, and Entertainment.

[01:04:27] Tracy Hayes: Amelia Island Eats, Events, and Entertainment.
So if you’re going to Amelia Island and you wanted a good restaurant or—

[01:04:31] Tracy Hayes: —you have anything to do—

[01:04:32] Tracy Hayes: —or want to know what’s going on this weekend, it’s on there.

[01:04:34] Tammy Tingle: Right. Yeah. It is.

[01:04:35] Tracy Hayes: Brilliant. And actually, I mean, great advice—
Anyone can start that page anywhere.

[01:04:39] Tammy Tingle: Anywhere.

[01:04:40] Tracy Hayes: Anywhere they’re at. That’s—
Because I think—personally, I live in northern—what’s considered St. Augustine, it’s St. Johns County on 210.

[01:04:50] Tammy Tingle: Okay.

[01:04:50] Tracy Hayes: We’re still 20 minutes to go—
You know, 25 minutes to get to downtown St. Augustine.

[01:04:55] Tammy Tingle: Right.

[01:04:55] Tracy Hayes: We don’t ever hear of half the events that are going on in downtown St. Augustine.

[01:04:59] Tammy Tingle: There’s—

[01:05:00] Tammy Tingle: —opportunity. There’s—

[01:05:00] Tracy Hayes: —opportunity there to be putting those events—
Because there’s always something. Just like Amelia—

[01:05:04] Tammy Tingle: Always something to do.

[01:05:05] Tracy Hayes: Always something to do there. Always something going on there. Fish Festival or whatever, right?

[01:05:09] Tammy Tingle: Shrimp—two weeks. Two weeks.

[01:05:12] Tracy Hayes: Two weeks.

[01:05:13] Tracy Hayes: All right, Tammy, I appreciate you coming on.

[01:05:14] Tammy Tingle: Thank y