Episode 193: Shay Barber
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we have Shay Barber from United Realty Services!
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 Shay Barber…
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Taylor: Welcome to The Brad and Taylor Show. Today, we have Shay Barber.
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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, how’s it going?
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Shay: Living the dream. How are you?
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Brad: Doing good. Doing good. Well, let’s get this show started. Tell us a little bit about you. What do you do?
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Shay: Well, my name’s Shay Barber. I’m a real estate agent. I work with buyers, sellers, and investors. I’m one of the brokers of United Realty Services and I’m coming up on three years in the business now.
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Brad: Nice, nice. So what’d you do before real estate?
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Shay: I was in college.
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Brad: Nice. You just jumped right into it. Yeah. So you just jumped right into real estate then?
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Shay: I realized I did not want to go through and work with sports and all the moving around constantly. So I jumped into real estate right away and it kind of just took off from there.
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Taylor: That’s awesome. How did that first year go for you?
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Shay: A little brutal. I mean, really right when you get your license, you just get thrown in and you have to learn a lot. So I spent about half a year just learning, learning, learning, and then it took me about six months to finally get a deal done, and then it just kind of started to snowball after that, but you really have to learn a ton before you get rolling. So it’s a lot of learning your first year in the business that’s for sure.
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Taylor: Yeah. And I feel like the six-month mark when you first get that listing is pretty common from what we’ve heard from other people. Anyways, six months, you gotta have that backup plan for at least the first year. Right.
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Shay: And I kind of had that plan going into real estate because that’s what I heard too. It was around six months. So, it is true that a six-month period is a real thing.
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Taylor: Do you feel like at the closing table for your first listing, it went pretty smooth?
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Shay: It did, but I was actually very nervous about it. Didn’t really know what to expect. Once you get that first one in your belt, it’s smooth sailing.
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Brad: It’s a whole lot easier.
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Taylor: The learning experience. You’re always going to learn from that. Yeah. That’s awesome. Well, you said you’ve been in it for three years, right? You’ve been so low this whole time. Or were you on a team?
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Shay: I was on a team for that first half a year, and then I branched out to doing solo. So I’ve been solo ever since.
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Brad: Nice. I like it. What is one of the best pieces of advice you got starting out that kind of stuck with you for the last couple of years?
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Shay: Oh, the biggest thing for me is just to be yourself. Because I realized, you know, I tried to mold myself into a different age. It’s when I first started and that you can’t really do that. You just have to be yourself, be confident in yourself, and fit in while you’re learning. And you know, everyone is so unique in this business. I’m sure you guys talk to everyone as their own person and how they build their business. So yeah. Take pieces from different agents and what you’ve learned, but just be yourself and be confident in who you are, and own it. And then you’ll be fine.
00:03:16:22 –> 00:03:25:28
Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. I know you said take bits and pieces from everybody else. Not everything that works for everybody else is going to work for you. So like what you said, just take what works and go with it.
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Shay: Exactly. I’ll run with that.
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Taylor: We heard some advice earlier today on another recording that we had no plan B. So you have your plan B and you run with it. Just keep going.
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Shay: No progress.
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Taylor: Yep. Shay over the last three years, what is the worst property you’ve been to? Or maybe the worst showing? Which one sticks out to you the most?
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Shay: So I work with investors a lot, so I’m in and out of some iffy. Yeah. And there’s a ton on my list, but I would say the worst was at nighttime and we knew going into the property that you had to watch your step and there’s no electricity. So we brought flashlights. And when we got in there, the doors were already wide open, hopefully wondering, oh boy, what’s going on?
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Taylor: Around the corner.
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Shay: Yeah, exactly. And uh, there were a lot of random, weird stains on walls, the carpets, but it was a huge house. And then when we got to the basement and there were dolls in the closets, there was a random bed in the middle of the living room with nasty sheets on it. A bathroom which had weird stains in it, drawings on the walls, you could tell people were in there and the nighttime had an effect on us for sure. But that was a rough 30 minutes showing you’re like,
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Brad: Is there’s anybody in here?
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Taylor: You weren’t alone with that one, right?
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Shay: Three people, thankfully. But we were all ready to get out.
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Taylor: Did the investors end up buying that one?
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Shay: We did not. Hard pass.
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Taylor: I know when you mentioned that you work with investors a lot. And I was like, okay, you’re going to have some stories then because you don’t really know what you’re walking into sometimes with those houses.
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Shay: Oh boy. Yes. I was chased by massive wants too.
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Taylor: Those powers are huge.
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Shay: That was scary. That was scary.
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Brad: What’s your favorite way to mark right now?
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Shay: Fair way to market. Yeah.
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Brad: You may have changed it over a couple of years, but what’s your favorite way?
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Shay: Yeah, so for me socializing, I’m big on playing basketball. I coached basketball at a high school and I started a new program on the west side. So you’re automatically talking to parents, grandparents, people who are going to be graduating high school and going to college. You just have conversations and even at pickup basketball games, it’s natural for someone to ask, what do you do for a living? So innovation starts and then all of a sudden they’re like, Hey, my sister is actually looking to buy a house and it’s kind of just word of mouth and referrals are a big one for me. It goes a long way when you work hard for people that they’re just happy to tell their friends, their family. So referrals and socializing and that’s been a big one for me.
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Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. And I know with you being the coach, they have a lot of trust in you already. Right. So yeah, those family members, like I know him. He’s good. What kind of goals do you have for going into 2022?
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Shay: I just want to keep building my business more and more. As you know, this will be coming into my third year. I know it’s hard for agents to sustain success, but to just even get this far, I just want to keep it building. I actually have a plan for this year too. I want to hire new agents. I mentored them. Because for me, when I was thrown into real estate, you really do get thrown into it. So if you have a mentor there to help you step-by-step for those first six months to a year, I want to be able to help people do that. I don’t want to have a lot of agents I help, but maybe about five. So that’s my goal for this next year.
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Taylor: Yeah. Do you think that maybe eventually you would add on a team of your own?
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Shay: Yeah. Yeah, I think so. I really want to see how the next year looks with building mentorship. And then after that maybe possibly having an actual team, because right now just being by myself, I don’t have an admin team. I don’t think about myself but I’m not a high-value agent. And I mean, there’s a reason for that for me, because if I have 10 clients, I can’t serve them to the best of my ability. So I have X amount that I’ll work with and I won’t go over that. And I just want to be there for them at all times of the day and help them the best I can. So slowly get there and then get to a team down the road.
00:08:08:09 –> 00:08:16:15
Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. And then when you’re mentoring them, you can kind of maybe pick and choose who you’re kind of looking out for, for the future.
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Shay: Exactly.
00:08:18:27 –> 00:08:25:06
Taylor: That’s awesome. If you could start over today with all the knowledge that you’ve learned in the last couple of years, what’s one thing that you would change?
00:08:26:25 –> 00:09:04:07
Shay: Well, I’m huge on the past is what got me to where I am. So I actually wouldn’t change anything. I’m happy where I’m at and I’m excited for the future in this business. And you know, just turning 27 and now three years in and being somewhat pretty successful. I just want to keep growing and being humble about it and helping people and keeping that word of mouth going and referrals. It’s fun to help people because this is such a big investment in everyone’s lives, whether you’re buying, selling, or investing. So being able to help, it’s been an amazing thing.
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Brad: That’s awesome.
00:09:06:16 –> 00:09:20:13
Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. I know it’s nerve-wracking for new home buyers, right? Because they’re going into this crazy market. Yes. Do you have any advice for maybe someone who hasn’t bought a home yet and is looking to buy in this specific market?
00:09:21:07 –> 00:10:10:10
Shay: One is just to have a conversation with a realtor because there’s a lot of things right now that go into offers to make them look more attractive to sellers. So one, talking with an agent and then kind of having realistic expectations going in because you could have 20 showings, 10 offers, and even more before you get an accepted offer. Just having that conversation, getting good advice before you go in because it is difficult. I started slowing down a little bit, but over the summer it was pretty brutal. And I worked with quite a few first-time home buyers, but keeping them settled, keeping the positivity there because negativity will come when you’re getting denied offers and a lot of showings. But having that conversation with the realtor will be a great help.
00:10:11:10 –> 00:10:19:23
Taylor: I know it’s hard to keep your chin up right? When you have somebody. Nope. Next one. Not this one. Next one. And then they walk in thinking, this is the dream home. Why did they say no?
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Shay: Gotta keep that positivity.
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Taylor: Yes, absolutely. Before we go today Shay, how can people get ahold of you?
00:10:28:18 –> 00:10:44:17
Shay: Yeah. So they can reach them by phone call or text. My number is 5 1 7 2 3 0 7 4 5 3. They can email me at sheaatsbarberproperties.com or they can contact me on my website at sbarberproperties.com
00:10:45:11 –> 00:10:48:07
Brad: Awesome. Hey, thanks. Thanks for coming on and sharing your story with us today.
00:10:48:25 –> 00:11:07:26
Shay: Yeah, thanks for having me. And I appreciate you guys because your business has helped my business. So I appreciate the partnership. You guys have been doing an amazing job and your growth has really taken off because I started working with you when I got into real estate, seeing your guys’ growth over the last three years has been insane. That’s awesome. So congrats.
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Brad: That’s awesome. Thank you. Thank you.
00:11:10:04 –> 00:11:10:23
Shay: Thank you, guys.
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Hello. Hello. Are you there? Are there, are 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 Shay Barber:
www.sbarberproperties.com/
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