Episode 166 Transcript: Rebecca Lake
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we sat down with Rebecca Lake from Re/MAX Real Estate Professionals!
To watch the full episode, check it out on YouTube below. To listen, head over to Apple Podcasts. In the meantime, here’s a transcript of the conversation…
Here’s what you missed from Rebecca Lake…
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Taylor: Welcome to the Brad and Taylor show. Today we have Becky Lake.
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Brad: You’re listening to the Brad and Taylor Show, a podcast that inspires entrepreneurs to pursue their passions. We’re sitting down with some of the best to learn how they got started and some lessons they learned along the way.
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Taylor: Hey Becky, how are you?
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Rebecca: I’m great. Thank you. How about you?
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Brad: We’re doing good. We’re doing good. Well, let’s get this show started. What do you do?
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Rebecca: Well, I’m a broker with exp Realty. I’ve been in real estate since 1993, probably before you were born.
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Brad: Oh man.
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Rebecca: But that’s basically it, I’m a residential realtor.
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Brad: Nice. I like it. I like it. Well, when you were younger, is this what you had planned for your future? Be an agent?
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Rebecca: No, I always wanted to be a social worker.
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Taylor: Okay. Well, does that kind of goes hand in hand with being a real estate agent.
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Rebecca: It really does. I went into real estate because of my belief in homeownership. I know how it changed my life and I know that it changes other people’s lives for a very positive aspect of it. It’s best for children. They grow up in a home that’s in a community and that they don’t have to worry about where they’re going to go. So I believe in homeownership.
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Brad: That’s awesome. I like it. When you started out, when did you decide to switch to real estate? Did you just jump right into it? How’d that go?
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Rebecca: No, I was a dental assistant for many years and it’s just I read a lot of books and I worked with a dentist who was very into Zig Ziglar and stuff like that. So it helped me get motivated and figure out where I wanted to go.
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Taylor: Yeah. Take us way back to when you first started out in real estate, you said it was 1993, right? I’m sure the times are way different now. What are the major changes that you’ve seen over the years?
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Rebecca: Oh, well, you know, I’m surprised the industry is still here. One big change that kind of made me a little leery was the agency disclosure. When you find out why we got to where we have to put on notice, who we’re working for, either the buyer, the seller, or a dual agent, you know, one bad apple can really just kinda always make it tough for everyone because the whole idea of real estate was to bring a buyer and seller together. So when you had to start disclosing agency, I thought, wow, that’s really not good because I want to bring the buyer and seller together. I don’t want to have, oh, you can’t speak to this person or you can’t speak to that person, you know? But it all worked out and another big thing is the kind of disclosures you’d need to have the seller’s disclosures, the radon disclosure, and all of that. That’s been a big thing. So it changes. I like the technical changes though. I like being able to do the zip forms and things are easier and cleaner.
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Taylor: I’m sure the marketing strategies have changed over the years as well. Kind of walk us through when you first started in real estate, how were you marketing then compared to now?
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Rebecca: Oh wow. You had printed. Every week, your company’s ad was in the paper, home and land magazines come out every other week. They were produced in Indiana, but you would send your ads in with your pictures and nothing was on the computer. They would actually come to the office and pick up the ads, handwritten.
00:03:59:11 –> 00:04:07:17
Brad: That’s crazy. What kind of advice did you get at the beginning that may have stuck with you along the way?
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Rebecca: Oh, I think probably the best advice was trust, but verify.
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Brad: I trust you, but I’m going to just verify.
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Rebecca: There, you know.
00:04:20:29 –> 00:04:27:12
Brad: Just the wording there, what is one of the worst properties you’ve seen or showings over the years?
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Rebecca: Oh, gosh. I don’t really want to say what I just bought for myself to redo. I’m just like, there have been so many times, I’m like, what was I thinking? Do I have the energy to complain? It’s been a real transformation. Just this April, I’m glad I bought it. I’m always kind of amazed that people think it’s okay to live as they do sometimes. I don’t get it. People in third-world countries are better than this. It’s kind of astonishing.
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Taylor: Yeah. When you first bought the house you said you’re working on, is it done now?
Rebecca: No, not yet.
Taylor: Okay. Is it going to be a complete flip?
00:05:31:18 –> 00:05:44:16
Rebecca: It’s going to be, yeah. I’ll finish it up and it’s just a smaller house, but it’s a great piece of property.
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Brad: That’s awesome.
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Taylor: That’s exciting. Now you get to design that.
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Rebecca: I do. I like that part of it because I went into the building construction in ‘96 and we developed land and built the houses from the ground up over here where I live. So it was quite the experience.
00:06:06:28 –> 00:06:17:17
Brad: Yeah. I know you’ve talked about retiring or trying to retire. What kind of goals do you have for the next year and a half? Is it maybe to retire?
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Rebecca: Oh, well maybe, but you know, it’s more personal. I guess I’m not going out of my way to recruit new business, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like it and I’m not there. It comes down to, do I want to pay the dues? There are big dollars attached to that. But all my goals for next year are personal, my health, spiritual, and what I want to do to my own house. I want to transform my living room into a library. Just goals I have for myself.
00:06:56:10 –> 00:07:03:02
Taylor: I know you mentioned that you like reading. Is there any business book that you could recommend to maybe anybody starting out in the business?
00:07:04:10 –> 00:07:23:03
Rebecca: think probably one of the best books that anybody in any business, not just real estate and it’s an old oldie is Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It. It’s by Al Ries. It’s a fantastic book about branding and what it takes to speak in a prospect.
00:07:24:11 –> 00:07:28:11
Brad: Yeah. That one’s awesome. I haven’t read that one yet but I’ve heard it from someone else.
00:07:29:27 –> 00:07:30:13
Rebecca: You really should. It’s an oldie but a goodie.
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Brad: Yeah. Hey, whatever works, but the concept still works now.
00:07:37:16 –> 00:07:38:08
Taylor: Oh yeah. I’m sure.
00:07:39:10 –> 00:07:46:11
Brad: Yeah. Awesome! Well, if you had to start over today and you have all the knowledge you have now, what is one thing you would change?
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Rebecca: Oh, you know what? I didn’t think about that one.
00:07:58:04 –> 00:07:59:27
Brad: You’re like retire earlier. I’m just kidding.
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Rebecca: I probably would be a little bit less driven. I would have a more balanced life, more work-life balance instead of trying to respond to beat the competition out. I would just be a little more easygoing because I think that makes a big difference too. You set the expectation for what people expect out of.
00:08:34:21 –> 00:08:42:02
Taylor: Yeah. That’s a hard thing to do. I know, over talking to a lot of people, Brad and I have heard the same thing over and over again from everybody finding that balance.
00:08:43:04 –> 00:09:08:23
Rebecca: It’s tough. It’s almost a cliche that you hate saying, but it is important. It’s important for your family. You’re unavailable from five to eight. You’re not available from five to eight. That’s your dinnertime, your time with your family, and you’re like, oh I better take this or I’m going to lose the transaction or something terrible is going to happen. Don’t let that fear guide your decisions.
00:09:09:04 –> 00:09:12:27
Taylor: Yeah. The same goes for when you’re on a family vacation.
00:09:13:08 –> 00:09:17:07
Rebecca: It is. It is very important if you’re on a vacation, be on vacation.
00:09:18:26 –> 00:09:22:26
Taylor: Yep. You took that vacation for a reason. Enjoy it.
00:09:24:06 –> 00:09:26:03
Brad: Yeah. How can people get ahold of you?
00:09:27:14 –> 00:09:35:23
Rebecca: Uh, (517) 256-5706 or [email protected].
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Brad: Awesome. I like it. Hey, thanks for coming on and sharing your story with us today
00:09:39:21 –> 00:09:42:08
Rebecca: And thanks for having me. It’s nice talking with you again.
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Hello. Hello. Are you there? Hey guys, we just wanted to thank you for listening on either a podcast or on the YouTube video here. If you guys wanted to subscribe, that would be awesome. That would mean a lot to us. If you guys could give us a five-star review as well, that would be amazing. And we’ll see you on the next one.
Check out Rebecca Lake:
eXp Realty
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