Episode 196: Madeline LaFave
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we have Madeline LaFave from True Realty!
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 Madeline LaFave…
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Taylor: Welcome to The Brad and Taylor Show. Today, we have Madeline LaFave.
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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 Madeline.
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Madeline: Hi. How are you?
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Taylor: Good. How are you doing?
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Madeline: I’m doing really well.
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Brad: Awesome. I like it. Well, let’s get this show started. Tell us a little bit about you. What do you do?
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Madeline: Well, I am a full-time residential real estate agent and I work primarily in Southeast Michigan.
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Brad: Awesome. So tell us a little about how in the world you get into real estate, what’d you do before real estate?
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Madeline: So like most people, I think in this industry, it’s always a funny story or weird story of how we got into it. So real estate was not technically something I ever considered getting into. Growing up, I wanted to be a veterinarian and that didn’t pan out because I pass out when I see blood, so that wasn’t gonna work. I went to school, I got my bachelor’s degree in Health Science with a minor in Exercise Science with a concentration in pre-physical therapy. So originally, I was going to pursue a doctoral degree in Physical Therapy after that. But then I was reevaluating my life and looking at, you know, I paid my way through school, do I want to go to school for another three years and get into more debt before I can even really start working in my field?
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Or do I want to see what else is out there? So I decided, let’s see what else is out there. And I came to find out pretty quickly. There’s not a lot that you can do with a bachelor’s degree in science and all those crazy things I just said. It’s not a lot of career opportunities without pursuing some kind of graduate degree. So then it was open to looking at, you know, other fields and just kind of keeping an open mind about everything. This opportunity kind of just fell into my lap. I went in for an interview, believe it or not actually to be a mortgage loan officer. That’s what I thought I was going for the interview for. And it turned out, I’m sitting in this interview being asked why I would want to be a real estate agent. And I said, well, I don’t. So long story short, I listened to what they had to say. I thought it was something that would fit my personality and my background so I decided to just jump right in and go for it. And five years later here I am. I also met my husband that way actually on that day of the interview. So I would say it was definitely meant to be in many ways.
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Taylor: Yeah. Sounds like it. So when you joined real estate, did you join on a team then to start?
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Madeline: Yes, I did. I did. Yes. I’m on a different team that I’m with now. It was originally in-network real estate, the team that I was with, who eventually became Keller Williams Central. And I was with them for a couple of years. And then I transferred over to True Realty, which is where I am now, which was started by one of my mentors, Craig Ward. And so I love it. We’re a small little team. Now I think we’re at 900 agents total and a few of those are part-time. So it’s very much like a family feel. It’s not a giant team, like a lot of teams out there, which nothing wrong with that, but I like having the kind of the smaller family feel and you know, that way when I need something or with them and Alex needs something, it doesn’t feel like a burden to run around and ask for help. It’s like, we want to help each other out because we care about each other. So yeah, I’m really, really happy there.
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Taylor: That’s true. Awesome. Did you get any advice when you first started out that kind of stuck with you through the last five years?
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Madeline: I think the biggest thing for me is, never miss an opportunity to tell people about, you know, what you do or remind people about what you do. Cause there’s kind of like two examples of that. Like I’m amazed by the amount of business that I’ve gotten just by engaging in conversation with people that I’ve never even met before and just being like, oh yeah, what do you do? I’m a real estate agent. And you know, people were like, oh really? Okay, well I want to buy a house, but like literally happened to me at jury duty. I got two clients just by going to jury duty. That’s the most random thing. Then the reminding people part is like as much as you would think, people remember that you’re in real estate or whatever it is that you’re in. But people forget. I mean, people have other priorities and things going on in their lives, so it’s never, you can never remind people too much of what you do so they can think of you and be on the top of mind when the time comes.
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Taylor: Speaking of reminding people that you are in real estate, what’s your favorite way to market right now?
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Madeline: Honestly, I do a lot of word-of-mouth stuff really, which I know is uncommon in today’s day and age. I think, you know, more people are big into social media. I don’t do a ton with that. Should I do better with that? But primarily I use my personal Facebook page and I just will share, I am really good about sharing. Like you know, past sales, sometimes I get really busy. I don’t do it, but just sharing, Hey, here’s the closing of that closing. That way people are seeing it. And they’re thinking of it more. I’ve also reached out to people through direct messenger and Facebook just to kind of, you know, cause we all have a billion friends on Facebook. So just to reconnect with people and be like, Hey by the way, I’m sure you don’t need anything, but I’m a real estate agent in case you do. And I’ve had people reach out to me that way. So I would say Facebook primarily, but I don’t do a lot of the Google ads or anything like that yet. There’s still time I might, but honestly, it’s, it’s more so I, I get a lot of referrals from past clients.
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Taylor: That’s awesome. Madeline, what is the worst property or showing that you have been to?
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Madeline: About an hour long story?
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Taylor: We love these stories!
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Madeline: But obviously we don’t have that much time. I mean, there have just been so many crazy growth houses, which a lot of them are just gross, like just nasty. But that one, you know, I couldn’t single out one in that category, but I won’t say there was one showing that was kind of the most bizarre. So I was going to show a vacant house and you know, pictures, there’s nothing in there. It’s not even staged, completely empty. And the picture is even going to schedule an appointment, automatic confirmation, which typically means no one’s living there. So I go there with my clients who have a toddler and a baby in, like a baby carrier, and walk into the house. We’re talking, I’m pretty loud. It’s hard to miss that. I’m there.
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We’re going room to room and we go into the master bedroom. I’m leading the way. And all of a sudden, I see, well, first of all a bed, which was not there, the pictures and a man sleeping in the bed, not knowing anything else about this. I’m like, okay, there’s a squatter in this house. So automatically, I’m like alright, I need to get my clients out of here. Like we’re in danger. Maybe. I don’t know. I slowly turned around and I just signaled to my clients to get out of the room. And then I’m just trying to get them out of the house. Then I’m like whispering. I’m like, there’s somebody in the house, we gotta go. So we get out, lock the door as well. I called the agent, the listing agents. Apparently, it was the nephew of the owners who were living there to keep up with the house. But I’m like, you might want to let people know someone there, especially when we’ve been in the house for 20 minutes and they have stirred badly. This was at probably like 12 noon. Okay. This is not 8:00 AM where someone would normally be still sleeping.
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Taylor: So he probably didn’t even know you guys were there.
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Madeline: And that’s the funniest part is he had no idea that we came in and went. So yeah, that was probably the craziest. Luckily, it wasn’t a true squatter and it wasn’t that bad.
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Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. Well, you never know what those situations are, especially when you’re bringing your client in to see the house with their kids, you never know so better be safe than sorry.
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Madeline: Absolutely.
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Taylor: If you could start over today, what was one thing you would change?
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Madeline: Well, probably start even sooner. You know, my journey to get here. Obviously, more time in the market would only benefit me so I would have started sooner if I could have. Also, you know, spend more time nurturing warm leads, people who actually want to work with you and spend less time chasing the cold leads. I did a lot, you know, especially in my early days, which I’m grateful for the experience that I had. I did a lot of business with Zillow leads and things like that. People who don’t know you from Adam, you know, they’re just being connected with them on the internet. And granted I’ve had a ton of great experiences with people like that, which is wonderful, but I spent a lot of time chasing down those people and doing all kinds of followup with them and it’s like, they don’t know you. So why would they want to work with you? It’s better to spend time with the people who do want to work with you and know you then they’ll send you even more referrals.
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Taylor: Do you have a good way of recognizing if it’s a good lead or a bad lead right off the bat, or do you kind of just have to play it out and see how it goes?
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Madeline: I mean, you definitely have to play it out and see how it goes. But I think that the initial conversation, especially if we’re talking about a cold lead, right. You can tell pretty quickly in a conversation, whether it’s going to be a good fit or not. If people are nice and that’s the thing with me and in my personality, I really try to connect with people, especially if it is on the phone or they can’t see you. It’s really important to come off as warm and nurturing as opposed to being cold and standoffish people are gonna appreciate that more. So I think if you have a good connection on the first phone call with them, you are more likely to be a good lead, as opposed to if they’re pretty quick and like, okay, I just want to see this house. Yes, no. You know, short answer, stuff like that, you can already tell there’s an act going good. That being said, there are some times where it seems like it’s a good lead and then it turns out, you know, because the average people in the market, don’t know how things work. They might seem really nice. And then it turns out, oh, well we already have an agent. I was just calling you because they didn’t answer the phone. It’s always an adventure.
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Taylor: Speaking of that, I know the cold leads too, do you see it all like the people who maybe are new homebuyers, they don’t know the process? So they contact you before they’re pre-approved. Does that turn into a good lead or are those typically bad leads? They’re like, I want to see.
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Madeline: Yeah, it really depends. I would say, more often if they aren’t, there’s more of a likelihood that it’s not gonna pan into anything, but then again, maybe it’s just not the right time. And then you can kind of follow up with them and nurture that lead and get them connected. I’m going to get pre-approved and then maybe a year from now, because the funny thing is I have had that happen with cold leads. I actually had closings this year where they were people I connected with two or three years ago, even who reached back out to me and you know, I had met them through the internet and they’re like, Hey, we’re ready to go now if you are, I’m like, okay.
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Taylor: Let’s do it.
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Madeline: Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I’m pretty good with, you know, if I connect with someone and even if it is a cold lead or not, and they’re not pre-approved I can just direct them over to someone who can help them and probably put them in a better place than if they came to me with a pre-approval already because a lot of times with the credit union or somebody else that’s good. And I’ll probably redirect them anyway.
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Brad: Yeah, That’s funny. What’s your favorite business book?
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Madeline: So it’s not necessarily like a business book, but it’s self-help so it falls in the same. Um, it’s called What to Say When You Talk to Yourself and I’m going to totally butcher the author’s name, but his name is Shad Helmstetter.
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Taylor: Extremely unique name to me.
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Madeline: Right. But I could have completely made up that name, but yeah. So it’s about the power of your thoughts and even like your subconscious and what you’re saying to yourself inside your mind is basically reinforcing your subconscious mind and the way that basically your mind projects to yourself, who you are. And it talks about ways to change that and work on that and the author actually has a website and has podcasts on affirmations and stuff. So I’ve followed more of his work as well. I’ve found that really helpful because whether you’re business or not, we all need help with the hectic.
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Taylor: Yeah. Especially in this business, I feel like the mindset is huge. If you don’t think you’re going to do great, you’re probably not going to do great. You have to have that mindset. That kind of reminds me of your kind of going into this too. You were sitting down for an interview for a different position. How was your mindset then compared to how it is now? Did that transition pretty quickly?
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Madeline: Yeah, it did. I mean, honestly from that time, from like that question, of course, I was kind of like completely thrown off, but you know, it was a matter of a day or so I think between making the decision, I wanted to go for it and jump right into studying for my license. And then once I was licensed, a week later it was like, okay, go out and show your first house, go out and write your first. It was just like, I didn’t really have time to think about much else. It was just, okay, here we go. Honestly, I think that’s the best way to do it. And I’m glad that it went that way, even though it wasn’t exactly at all what I pictured.
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Brad: Okay. So I need to know, did you ever figure out how you went from going for a mortgage interview to real estate? Did you ever figure that out?
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Madeline: I think it was like a miscommunication kind of thing. I worked with the two brothers, one was the mortgage loan officer and then the other was a broker. So it was all kind of in the same building. So I think it was just the person who was supposed to interview me, who couldn’t be there. So had someone else stand-in for me, but the message got mixed up and they were just interviewing me for the wrong thing.
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Brad: Yeah. I like that story better. That story sounds perfect.
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Taylor: It all worked out.
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Madeline: No complaints.
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Brad: That’s awesome. Well, how can people get a hold of you?
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Madeline: Probably the easiest way is by phone. Most people love to text. So do I, quite frankly, that’s probably the fastest way. Otherwise, if you call me, I will answer my phone and unless I’m in front of somebody and if I am, I will call you right back. That’s probably the best way or email. I get 8 million of those just like everybody else, but I do my very best to see them and respond to them quickly. And then otherwise I am on Facebook. I do have a business page and I get those direct messages. There’s my personal Facebook page and I don’t have a business Instagram yet. That’s in the works for early next year. But yeah, I would say the best way is probably via phone.
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Brad: That’s awesome. Hey, who says you can’t start today?
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Madeline: That’s true.
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Brad: What’s the name going to be? I’m going to go check it out now. I mean, I think you’re going to do it till later today.
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Madeline: That’s awesome.
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Brad: Okay. Okay. Well, we’ll look at it. We’ll look in a couple of months. That’s awesome. Well, awesome. Hey, thanks for coming on and sharing your story with us today.
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Madeline: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. This is great.
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Check out Madeline LaFave:
True Realty
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