Episode 197: Beth Hanthorn
On this episode of The Brad and Taylor Show, we have Beth Hanthorn from Century 21!
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 Beth Hanthorn…
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Taylor: Welcome to The Brad and Taylor Show. Today, we have Beth Hanthorn.
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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 Beth, how are you?
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Beth: I’m great. How are you?
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Brad: We’re good. Doing good. We’re doing good. Well, let’s get this show started. Tell us a little bit about you. What do you do?
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Beth: Well, I am a realtor. But before that, I guess I am a wife. I’m a mother of two boys. They are grown now, so 23 and 28, and I’m a grandmother of one little girl who just turned six, which is pretty exciting. But other than that, I am a realtor and I enjoy the outdoors and I love it.
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Brad: That’s awesome. So how’d you get into real estate, what’d you do before that?
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Beth: So before I was a realtor, I actually worked as a set-up technician machinist in an aluminum plant, believe it or not. I was, you know, just kind of working my way up. I started on the line and did this and wanted to do what the next person was doing. So I just kind of worked my way up. And then when I was pregnant with my second son, I used the maternity leave time to take my classes to become a realtor. And then, what got me into real estate is actually when I sold my first house, I think I bugged my realtor just enough because she said you should really do this.
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Taylor: That’s awesome. Did you get any advice when you first started out that has stuck with you through the years?
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Beth: I think the biggest advice is just to keep going and not to let absolutely everything bother you, you know, when you’re dealing with consumers and the public, you’re going to be communicating with people of all different personalities. And you just have to understand that, that you don’t know how somebody’s day is going. So you just have to kind of take everything with a grain of salt and make people smile.
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Taylor: That’s awesome. How long have you been in real estate now, Beth? How many years has it been for you?
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Beth: So I’ve been working for almost 24 years.
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Taylor: Oh, nice.
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Brad: Yeah. Do you have a team now or do you still sell or how ‘d you got going on?
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Beth: I’m all by myself. I mean, I can’t say I’m all by myself because our office works very well together, you know, but I know I’m not part of a team. I sell on my own and then I do have an assistant that helps with an unlicensed assistant that helps with contracts and that kind of thing. She comes in, she’s a college student. So she comes in in the summer and on holiday time.
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Taylor: How many years were you in real estate before you decided to get an assistant?
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Beth: It was just a couple of years ago that she started with me. So most of the time I was, I was by myself. I mean, I guess along the way I have, you know, hired a newer agent to help me with something along the way, but for the most part, she is my first real assistant.
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Taylor: Yeah. That’s awesome. Do you have any plans to maybe grow your team or get a team and develop one here in the future or you just kind of want to stick solo?
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Beth: I think I’m the solo. However, I do think that one of the things I’m working on this year is having more things written down so that I can pass it off if I need to. So, you know, some of the different work that I would do during the day, if I were to pass them off, I would have it written down so somebody would know how to do it.
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Taylor: Okay, nice. Over the last 24 years, Beth, what is the worst property you’ve been to or showing which one sticks out? I know you had to have seen a couple.
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Beth: Yeah. Yeah. So in the great times of 2008 and nine, I sold a lot of foreclosures. I worked with four or five different banks. I sold a lot of foreclosure. So I have seen some things, but I think there’s two that really stuck out. One of them had no notification, no warning that it was full of fleas, absolutely full of fleas. So when I walked in they were covering me. So you strip down in your garage and like, so that was pretty bad. I got to say that. And then the other one that really sticks out was, it was winter time. It was a foreclosure and the pipes broke. And when I went to check on it for the very first time, there was actually a frozen water slide coming out of the front.
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Taylor: Yeah. That sounds kind of fun for a kid to play on, but probably not the best as you’re walking into a home that you’ll be showing.
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Beth: Yeah, it’s not safe. You know, it’s just an experience.
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Taylor: Did either of those homes sell, did you end up selling either of those? The flea one or the oh, the ice?
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Beth: Yeah.
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Taylor: Nice.
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Beth: We thought it out and, and yeah, no, it’s great. It’s a great career. I love it. I have so much fun and I experience so many different things.
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Taylor: I think the best part is about being a real estate agent.
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Beth: So the best part to me, and it might not be to everyone, but teaching people. I love to teach people. So whether it be their first house or their first sale, or they’ve done it a million times, or they haven’t done it for 30 years, I like to actually teach people as we’re going through the contract. Some people don’t want to know. But I feel like my clients, if they are more aware of how everything works, they’re going to be more comfortable and confident in their purchases and sales.
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Taylor: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Cause there’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes, in those paperworks that people probably don’t read over fully, especially when closing is like, okay, sign here, sign here.
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Beth: Yeah. And in this market that we’ve had recently where it’s just get me something, you know, I still want people to be very informed in what they’re doing.
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Taylor: Yeah, absolutely. If you could start over today with all the knowledge that you’ve learned over the last 24 years, what’s one thing that you would do differently?
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Beth: I will probably have kept better track of when I first started. I didn’t know about keeping track of who all of your clients were for that was something that I wasn’t really taught. Later on, I think I remember that person that bought that house and I wonder what they’re doing. And so I’ve reached out to quite a few of them, but in the very beginning, I didn’t know that that was something I was supposed to do. So I would say if I was to give advice to any new agent, it would be to definitely do that.
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Brad: Yeah. That’s awesome. So you got a lot better at that now.
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Beth: Yeah. Yup. That’s the fun part really, honestly, just to see where people are at. And then, you know, during the time when I was selling foreclosures and people were buying this houses and they were not gorgeous, I mean, they needed some work and so to go back and see what people have done to the homes and how they’ve made them their own is, it’s just really cool.
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Brad: That’s awesome. Yeah. And I think most like a lot of agents are the same way, not realizing how important it is to keep track of everybody at the beginning, unless you were actually in some sales business before. Because like, that’s kind of a general sales thing. If you have been in sales before. And then I think a lot of people are not realizing that. And then like, we were the same way. We didn’t keep track of as many people as we do now. Now we’re got a system down, you’d figure it out. But that’s so important though.
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Beth: Yeah, for sure.
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Taylor: Absolutely. What is the best business book that you’ve read or one of your favorite books?
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Beth: Well, I read so many books, like really so many books. I think there’s a book by Brian Buffini. I really, really like Brian Buffini and I like so much of his content. I listened to his podcasts and it’s a very simple, small little book that’s called taking care of business. And I think every new business owner should read it. It’s just very simple. And it seems like all common sense, but again, it’s just something that it’s a good reminder.
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Brad: That’s awesome. How can people get a hold of you?
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Beth: Well for sure, my phone. Text is always great. That’s 6 0 8 3 4 6 8 1 8 9. I am on Facebook. I have a business page. There’s an Instagram out there, but there’s nothing on it. So I have to say that’s something I need to work on. But bethhrealestate.com.
00:09:52:27 –> 00:09:56:08
Brad: That’s awesome. I like it. Thanks for coming and sharing your story with us today.
00:09:57:05 –> 00:09:59:23
Beth: Yeah. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate being on.
00:10:03:08 –> 00:10:21:10
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Check out Beth Hanthorn:
www.century21.com/real-estate-agent/profile/beth-hanthorn-P25047781
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