Episode 188: Tyler Jeleniewski
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we have Tyler Jeleniewski from Preferred Realtors!
To watch the full episode, check it out on YouTube below. In the meantime, here’s a transcript of the conversation…
Here’s what you missed from Tyler Jeleniewski…
00:00:00:21 –> 00:00:03:18
Taylor: Welcome to The Brad and Taylor Show. Today, we have Tyler Jeleniewski.
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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.
00:00:15:07 –> 00:00:20:01
Taylor: Hey Tyler, how are we doing?
Tyler: Awesome. Awesome. Thank you. Nice to be here.
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Brad: So let’s just start! Tell us a little bit about you. What do you do?
00:00:23:23 –> 00:00:37:02
Tyler: I’m a realtor at Preferred Realtors, was formerly Coldwell Banker, preferred implement. And there’s a local Plymouth resident. My family grew up there and that’s kind of where I got my start, so yeah.
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Brad: Nice. I like it. So how did you get started in real estate?
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Tyler: Oh gosh buddy, almost nine years ago now. One of my dad’s good friends was in the business and a pretty prominent realtor in the area. I wanted to learn from him. I didn’t really know what I was going to do after college and this just kind of fell into my lap. So I like looking at houses. I like talking to people and doing all that kind of thing. So you know, it worked out for me pretty well from that standpoint, but I’ve been in real estate for about eight years and it’s been a blast really.
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Brad: That’s awesome. So what should it be for real estate?
00:01:14:27 –> 00:01:50:26
Tyler: Not a whole lot. I was in college and I came home and I didn’t really know what to do. I didn’t. And like I said, I liked looking at houses. I liked that whole aspect of things and my father’s in sales too. So I knew that was something that was going to be in my background and it bled. So I transitioned into this and I worked for a team at Coldwell Banker. We were manual at first and then two and a half years in, I decided, you know what, I think I can do this on my own. And so now I’m an individual agent.
00:01:51:07 –> 00:01:52:00
Brad: Pretty well. What did five-year-old Tyler wanted to do?
00:01:52:00 –> 00:02:27:17
Tyler: Oh gosh. All types of things. Anything outside is really, I just love the outdoors. I do a bunch of fishing up north and that kind of stuff. And you know, I really didn’t have a plan. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t know what college was going to bring me. I wasn’t super specific by any means, but I just knew something in sales, whatever it was going to be, it was something in sales. Because I like to talk to people and that was my best attribute. So that’s a pity.
00:02:28:00 –> 00:02:32:04
Brad: Yeah. You just mentioned your dad, a lot of sales stuff.
00:02:32:26 –> 00:03:06:03
Tyler: Yeah. Yeah. He’s been selling cars for over twenty-five years with his sister and they’ve worked together forever in the area. And I’ve learned a lot of my sales background, my sales technique from him and he’s very laid back and it’s a little bit contrary to what you hear a lot of realtors doing out there these days. But for me, I wanted to build a business that was referral-based because I have such an awesome sphere of people around me and it’s really worked out to my benefit.
00:03:06:23 –> 00:03:11:29
Taylor: Oh your dad, he’s in the car sales. Right. And then you do the homes. Do you guys get like a tag team there going on?
00:03:12:06 –> 00:03:48:17
Tyler: Oh yeah. A lot of my clients are some of his past clients and vice versa. I have friends that want a car and Hey, call my dad. So it works out pretty well, but it’s really been a pleasure too, I mean, we’re spinning images of each other and that’s just, it’s funny because we’ve got the same tendencies, I walk her on the phone and we’re pacing around the room, things like that. But you know, it’s really helped me transition into the sales career because I have been able to learn from that and learn his laid-back demeanor and everything.
00:03:49:10 –> 00:03:55:04
Taylor: Yeah. You probably saw it growing up too. So the whole time as you’re a child, you’re just learning, you’re not even thinking about it, but you were.
00:03:56:13 –> 00:04:13:17
Tyler: He came from not a whole lot. And he has worked himself into a very successful business and I admire that and it’s something that’s, you know, I use every day moving forward. Because it’s how I’ve done things too. So I’m pretty blessed.
00:04:14:06 –> 00:04:18:11
Taylor: Did your dad give you any advice that stuck with you when you first started out in real estate?
00:04:19:04 –> 00:05:02:11
Tyler: Yeah. Yeah. There’s one thing he’s always told me, less as best. And in this business, sometimes you get people who over-talk or overthink and overthink as you said. Sometimes less is best and you can transition that into how you negotiate, how you portray yourself to other clients, and things like that. But for me I can talk, I can, I like to talk a lot and sometimes I tend to say too much and sometimes you just have to stop that a little bit. So that was his one piece of advice that’s really helped me in my negotiation tactics and that kind of thing. So yeah.
00:05:02:18 –> 00:05:12:04
Taylor: I know, speaking of the negotiation part of it, if you just sit still with your numbers, do you find that maybe they come back and be like, okay, I’m going to go higher now.
00:05:12:11 –> 00:05:38:01
Tyler: Yeah, yeah there’s a lot. I mean every situation is different in real estate and I’m sure you’ve heard that a hundred times here but it truly is. Every situation is different. So you have to look at that and figure out each situation separately and say, okay where’s our angle and how can we benefit our client the best way? So that’s usually what I do first.
00:05:38:01 –> 00:05:38:29
Taylor: How many years have you been an agent now?
00:05:38:29 –> 00:06:03:29
Tyler: It’s been about eight years, almost nine. I’ve been around for a long time since I was 22. And I’m 31 now and feeling the age these days.
Taylor: How’d you get your first client?
Tyler: The first client was actually my title company. I went to high school with the daughter and they had just gotten married and were looking for a house. And so we found him one night in the Plymouth Canton area.
00:06:05:01 –> 00:06:06:07
Taylor: Was the transaction smooth?
00:06:06:18 –> 00:06:44:12
Tyler: It was, thank God that I knew the title company. They’re awesome to work with, good people. And it went very well. I had some good mentors growing up too when I was with the team and it did help me learn what I needed to learn to make transactions go smoothly. And you know, that’s the one thing that people just don’t realize when they get into this business is there is a lot involved. You really have to go with the flow at times and understand that there are only certain things you can control. You have to use that and help your client understand that as well.
00:06:44:22 –> 00:06:53:26
Brad: That’s awesome. So, yeah, I know you mentioned that you want to pretty much correct your business for a lot of referrals. How does the agent go about building a business like that?
00:06:54:17 –> 00:07:29:21
Tyler: You really have to work your sphere. I’ve done a lot of different marketing strategies, whether it’s the shopping carts, you see different grocery stores and social media, things of that nature. It’s been very, very beneficial to me, but ultimately if you’re trying to build a business, that’s going to last, it’s gotta be through your network of people. And so that has benefited me greatly by focusing on those people. I would say probably 85%, 90% of my business is from referrals, but it’s awesome. So yeah, it works out pretty well.
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Brad: What’s your favorite way to market right now?
00:07:30:21 –> 00:07:58:26
Tyler: Well, there’s obviously you know, social media that’s the big spot right now. It seems to be. But I’ve been doing the golf carts and doing the little, the lads, and the golf carts, and that’s been working out for me. I get a lot of texts, friends, and see my face on there and that kind of thing. But looking for different avenues, I mean, you have to diversify a little bit, try it all and figure out what works for you.
00:08:00:02 –> 00:08:04:03
Taylor: I know a lot of people send the mailers. Do you send those or is that kind of going away?
00:08:04:12 –> 00:08:42:16
Tyler: Yeah, I did. It worked for a lot of people. I mean, what I like to do is when I have a listing in a certain neighborhood, I’ll definitely send them out to the neighborhood. Especially when I lived in downtown Plymouth for a long time, so I would hit that neighborhood pretty hard when I would list a house down there. And it works, it works well, but where is everybody looking right now? That’s social media and it hits the most people. So you have to transition into that a little bit and as much as I don’t like it, cause I’m kind of an old school guy. It’s something that is vital to our business these days. Yeah. It worked well for me.
00:08:43:03 –> 00:08:48:07
Taylor: I know social media played a huge part when everything was shut down too, did you do the zoom calls for showings?
00:08:48:24 –> 00:09:10:07
Tyler: Yeah. Yeah. I sold a home virtually and it was the weirdest experience of my life. Luckily it was towards the tail end where we were starting to see the inspections in person and that kind of stuff too. But it was an awkward time for everybody. Everybody gets through it and you have to adapt and I’m glad we’re back in person now.
00:09:12:11 –> 00:09:19:20
Taylor: Over the last eight years, what’s the worst property you’ve been to, maybe one that you’re showing when you’re like, I do not want to go through that situation.
00:09:20:07 –> 00:09:55:06
Tyler: Yeah, no, it wasn’t like a bad situation, but it was a house that was out in some township area and it was a giant, it was somebody’s dream house at one point, and must’ve lost it. It had been abandoned for probably more than four or five years. I remember the floorboards and the family room were all broken and sunk down. There was an eight-foot bee’s nest that they pulled out of the wall to the raccoon. I mean, it was crazy. I’ve seen a lot of things, but that one sticks out in my memory,
00:09:57:16 –> 00:10:06:15
Tyler: There had to be 200 or 300 bees in the house that were dead and a lot more outside, but it was pretty wild, pretty wild.
00:10:06:26 –> 00:10:08:12
Taylor: So did you end up selling that one?
00:10:10:09 –> 00:10:14:20
Tyler: Nope. They ran pretty quick from that one, it was cool to see, but never again.
00:10:17:09 –> 00:10:21:02
Taylor: Going forward with the rest of this year and into the next year. What kind of goals do you have right now?
00:10:21:19 –> 00:11:08:19
Tyler: Right. Well, I do a lot of training for newer agents at our office. So we’re working with a couple of different agents right now that we’re probably going to try to transition into somewhat of a team role. I like to work on my own. I’ve always felt in control of a transaction without anybody else touching it. But at this point, we’re thinking about bringing an assistant on, because it’s just too much to do the paperwork and that kind of thing. These agents are awesome that I’m working with right now. And that’s been a pretty cool thing for me is to do the training and watch these younger agents come through and really learn some of these experiences that I’ve had. And so that’s been very beneficial for me as well.
00:11:09:04 –> 00:11:14:24
Taylor: Yeah, out of the new agents that you have, what’s one thing that you could recommend to all of them when they’re first starting out?
00:11:14:27 –> 00:11:47:17
Tyler: I think it’s gotta be the worker sphere and that’s the cliche in real estate, but it’s true and you can do more, nothing is going to benefit you more early on than doing that. And really marketing yourself on social media. Whether it’s simple ads or, you know, a video of yourself or an open house or whatever it may be. That is where you’re going to get your biggest return for the future. So you’ve gotta be consistent.
00:11:48:17 –> 00:11:56:21
Taylor: What about the people who don’t have a sphere yet? They haven’t built those people around them. How do they go about building that first?
00:11:56:21 –> 00:11:58:13
Tyler: I don’t know a handful of people or maybe they went to a new market.
00:11:58:13 –> 00:12:00:09
Taylor: Yeah. I’m new to the market.
00:12:01:03 –> 00:12:32:04
Tyler: I would say for somebody like that, get involved with somebody in the area that is experienced and I mean, that’s real estate. That’s what it is. And I don’t, I don’t care what anybody says. That’s real estate. So for me, it would be to get in touch with somebody who knows the market and knows the area has that and can help you learn that part of it and use that to your advantage because that would really, really push you to do better and be more successful.
00:12:32:06 –> 00:12:34:26
Taylor: Yeah. Isn’t there a saying that you hang out with who you want to be like or something like that and it is true.
00:12:34:26 –> 00:12:57:28
Tyler: It really is. You surround yourself with good people and it’ll go a long way. So I’ve taken that on. I have a lot of good friends in the business now and it’s been so incredibly helpful to me. From brokers to my old team leader, all that kind of stuff. It has been very good for me.
00:12:58:11 –> 00:13:03:15
Taylor: If you could start over today with all the knowledge you’ve learned the last eight years, what’s one thing you would change?
00:13:04:07 –> 00:13:52:00
Tyler: I would have hired an assistant earlier on, that’s one thing that I struggle with organizing the paperwork side of things. And for me, I know I can get bogged down by that at times. Just consistently being on the social media stuff early on would have been more beneficial to me as well. But overall, I mean, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at. I’ve got a great life right now. My fiance and I just got a new puppy. So it’s been really fun. Probably see the scratches on my face cause he’s teething right now, but no, things are good. I wouldn’t change it for the world. I wouldn’t know. We have a Bernice mountain dog. He’s been fun. It’s been very fun.
00:13:52:03 –> 00:13:53:10
Taylor: It’s small right now and just going to get bigger.
00:13:54:10 –> 00:14:05:02
Tyler: He’s 55 pounds right now. So I wouldn’t say small, but he’s really fun. It’s been a nice thing for us, so, yeah.
00:14:05:08 –> 00:14:09:00
Taylor: Awesome. Well, before we go today, how can people get a hold of you?
00:14:09:25 –> 00:14:51:00
Tyler: Through a phone call is usually best for me. My number is 7 3 4 8 4 6 0 3 2 3. You can always text me. [email protected] is my email address. I’ve got a Facebook business page as well. We do all of our listings there. So you’ll know when something’s going to hit the market in the area. We do most of our business around the 2 75 corridors, Plymouth, Canton, Northville, Novi, and all the way out to Royal Oak, really wherever it takes us. So that’s kind of the best way to get a hold of me and my cell phone.
Brad: That’s awesome. Thanks for coming on and sharing your story with us today.
Tyler: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. And hopefully, we’ll do this again. Yeah.
00:14:55:02 –> 00:15:13:04
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Check out Tyler Jeleniewski:
Preferred, Realtors Ltd
preferredrealtorsltd.com/agents/300164/Tyler+Jeleniewski
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