Guru Alan Hamson with Fathom Realty

Rick Ripma: 0:01

Welcome to Indy's Real Estate Gurus. We're recording today from the advisors Mortgage Group studio right here in downtown Carmel, Indiana. And I'm Rick Ripma, your hard work and mortgage guy I've been in mortgages for an in real estate for over 34 years. I've helped over what was it 5200 Folks, that's not enough people know I need to I need to I need to do a better job of county, finance their homes. My team and I believe in custom tailored loans, not the one size fits all approach. We believe there is a best mortgage for you and we are the team to deliver it.

Ian Arnold: 0:36

And I'm Ian Arnold part of Rick's hard working mortgage team. I've been in the financial industry for 15 years, helping people either rebuild their credit or even just get a better credit score so you can get the better rates so you can purchase what you want and help build your overall financial wealth and security.

Rick Ripma: 0:55

And as we get started today, just remember if you have any questions, any one any information on the real estate market here in Indiana or have any mortgage questions, go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call 317-672-1938. That's 317-672-1938 Almost forgot that.

Ian Arnold: 1:15

Hey, you got it in there. I give you good Goldstar and we're really

Rick Ripma: 1:18

excited today we have Alan Hampson and it's with Fathom Realty.

Alan Hamson: 1:23

Right Fathom Realty.

Rick Ripma: 1:25

I don't know why I can pronounce that every time until I tried to say it out loud. Yeah, if you

Alan Hamson: 1:29

say it a few times fast. It can be a tongue twister. There.

Rick Ripma: 1:33

It is for me. Thanks so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Absolutely. My pleasure. And we would like to get started kind of get an idea of what you did. You know, how you what you did before real estate? You know, where you grew up? That kind of thing? Kind of?

Alan Hamson: 1:47

Sure. Yeah. I'm a longtime lifetime. Indianapolis residents, I grew up on the south side, Garfield Park area and kind of migrated a little bit south to Franklin Township and then to Greenwood where I live now. But yeah, I've lived here all my life know the area love the area. But yeah, as far as getting into real estate goes, you know, I went to college, got married very young. I got married while I was in college, my wife was only 19 At the time, actually. Yeah, so, you know, life kind of just got started. So you know, I went to school for business, I did finish with my business degree. But you know, life got in the way and you just get going sometimes and got a job out of necessity more than desire. And you know, and and as life goes on, you know, you do the things that maybe you're not necessarily passionate about, but because it's just the thing you need to do for your family. And that's where we're then you know, as we went on live, my wife getting to hair. And as you know, just like real estate, you have to build your clientele and you know, it grow. And she got to a point where she's been very successful with that. She's, she's very good at what she does, has a great clientele and has built that up. And since she built that up, it's like, Okay, now it's my turn to really follow my passion. And do something that I love to do in real estate was something that was always in the background for me and in the back of my mind. And but it's like one of those things where it's like, you know, you're gonna have to take a leap of faith. And I never really wanted to do that when I had the responsibility of a family on my shoulders. So I finally just said, Okay, we could live off your salary if we need to. We saved up some money, like, Okay, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna jump all in and kind of just go for it. And I did and glad that I

Unknown: 3:40

did. Yeah, you've done extremely well. Yeah, yeah.

Alan Hamson: 3:43

It's it's been a lot of growth, since I've started and continual and small and steady growth, but it's

Unknown: 3:51

been great. Now where'd you go to school?

Alan Hamson: 3:54

College, ipy graduated from the Kelley School of Business with a degree in business. Awesome.

Rick Ripma: 4:00

I went up I also write,

Unknown: 4:02

so did I. That's what I did. JUNIOR I,

Ian Arnold: 4:05

what was the next four or five years? Nobody? Oh, you know what that is? I'll be talking to my kids. And they'll be like, a college even around? Not really.

Alan Hamson: 4:13

Yeah, I was in a position where I had to work my way through school. I didn't want to take out a ton of student debt or loans and have to pay those back. So I worked and lived at home and commuted so that's why I ended up at IUPUI.

Ian Arnold: 4:26

And you get the same degree. Exactly. Yeah.

Alan Hamson: 4:30

In the university degree on my wall, so nobody knows the difference. That's right.

Ian Arnold: 4:35

So tell us about why you chose to work for Fathom and stuff like that. For

Alan Hamson: 4:42

Fathom really came down to you know, I when I first started, I didn't go into fathom, I worked for a larger brokerage, and it was great. I loved it, great culture. But what it came down to for me was cost, the cost of the brokerage and what they're providing, you know, they didn't give me leads. or anything like that most most, for me personally in the way I operate, they provided was a culture, which is great. And I learned a lot there. But it got to a point where the expenses outweighed what I was getting in return. And with fathom the way they're structured, it allows me to do some things that I couldn't do there, with some flexibility and things and costs, and stuff like that. So that's why I moved to fathom. And that's why I'm there now. And it's been a really great fit for me. Yeah, that's awesome.

Rick Ripma: 5:30

So when you when you got into real estate, obviously, you had the support of your wife, which is phenomenal. But how did you get going? Because you obviously you got going pretty well, and you're doing extremely well. So what did you do? What was your process?

Alan Hamson: 5:44

Yeah, you know, when I first got started in, I was a slow or a late bloomer. I guess. I didn't get started in rolling out the gate, like a lot of people. Do. You see that? And you're like, wondering, man, what am I doing that? Or what are they doing that I'm not. And you know, a lot of it comes down to personality, for me, in the way I work in the way people are teach you are is a lot different than my personality. So I'm not, I'm an introverted person, by nature. That doesn't mean I go into a room and I'm, you know, in the corner, sitting by myself, but you know, it does take a lot of work for me to be in those situations, you know, if there's a party or something going on, I'm not the, the focus, I'm the guy off to the side having a one on one conversation or something like that. But basically, what I did when I started is I worked on processes I worked on, things that I can do to create the best experience for my clients that I could I didn't focus as much on how do I get those clients, you know, and going out and meeting people I did those things, I planted all the seeds that would grow. And, you know, it would be a slow growth, rather than just an explosion at the door. I'm calling people every day on the phone saying, hey, let's buy and sell real estate. You know, it was it was things like farming neighborhoods, and talking to people and finding things that I can do to help people out, rather than just asking for business all the time. And, you know, that's kind of snowballed over over the years. And, and it's really developed into a business that, you know, I love

Rick Ripma: 7:25

when you said farming, a neighborhood, what does that entail? What did you do?

Alan Hamson: 7:28

Yeah, so I would do things this was in the neighborhood that I lived in. And, you know, I've had several homes that have sold on single street now, in this neighborhood. And it's something that takes time, like, like farming, the word implies, you're planting seeds, and it's going to take some time to develop and grow and nurture. So it's the things that I did personally, is, you know, I would invite neighbors over for cookouts not necessarily talking real estate, but just to get to know me, and, and allow that were, all the neighbors come together and get to know each other and, you know, just build a good community, basically. So it didn't have as much to do with me as it did to the community. And then I would piggyback along with that and send out mailers to people, Hey, this is what's going on neighborhood this this month. And, you know, just let people know where the market is, and things like that, and just be a resource, you know, for for the neighborhood. And through that, you know, I've gotten develop some great relationships. You know, I'm actually listing a house tomorrow from that. So and that was something that I've done. I don't even live in that neighborhood anymore. So yeah, it's it's good. Yeah. Build a

Unknown: 8:41

relationship. Yeah, exactly.

Rick Ripma: 8:44

And it's funny because I'm the same as you I'm, I'm much more of an introvert and my natural, you know, my base, how I am. So if I go to a party, when you were talking about just like I do it, I go to a party. I don't like huge crowd. Right, right. And I want to just get with somebody talk to them right and get to know them. I'm not I'm not trying to be I'm not going to be the life of the party, right?

Alan Hamson: 9:07

Yeah. Yeah. I'm not comfortable being the center of attention. Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 9:10

Rick's that guy in middle school in the middle school dance just ain't over there in the corner, right.

Rick Ripma: 9:19

That guy standing. Right. And I'm happy.

Ian Arnold: 9:25

So did you have any mentors or anything that helped you when you got into the field?

Alan Hamson: 9:30

You know, there's, I didn't have a single one mentor. I mean, you know, I kind of took bits and pieces of everything. I'm, uh, I listened to a lot of podcasts. When I first got started, there was some mentors that came in, and I took some advice from and it I think it really hampered my development, and really kind of hurt me because they were teaching a certain way, and that didn't fit with my personality. So I'm trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. and do the things that they're telling me to do, like, you know, call these people every day and go knock on doors, and that stuff just didn't fit with me and my personality. So, you know, I find it's good to just get not from just one person, I've found that, for me anyway, it's great to listen to all kinds of different perspectives and different things. And so I listen to a lot of podcasts and different real estate podcasts and business podcasts, listening to CEOs and how they got started. Because that directly relates to us in real estate. You know, because you are your own CEO of your own business. So it teaches, it's taught me a lot on, you know, things that I can do to kind of just grow and continue to grow. So

Ian Arnold: 10:46

that's awesome. Because what most people don't understand is when you do that type, when you're listening all those, you might get one little tidbit from some person, you're not thinking about, Oh, let me let me try that. Right. That might work great for you. Right. So what do you spend most of your time doing? Would you say, as being a realtor?

Alan Hamson: 11:08

I don't spend. You know, I don't know if there's any one time one thing, obviously, it's, you're putting out fires a lot. Or actually, I like to like not saying putting out fires, I'm preventing fires, I'm putting the water on the ground before the fire gets to it so that we don't have those. Yeah, so you know, a lot of time doing that, those kinds of things, just communication with clients, and, but a lot of it's just working on processes that any spare time that I have, I'm trying to develop processes, improve processes and make things better, not just for me, but for the client experience. It's really my focus is how can I make this the best experience possible for the people that I'm working for?

Ian Arnold: 11:51

That's awesome. And I know we're coming up on the break. Alan, what's the best way for somebody get a hold of you?

Alan Hamson: 11:56

Yeah, absolutely. You can call or text 317-496-0656. That's 3170656 or 4960656? Sorry. But if that ever changes, you can always reach me at Alan hamsun.com. That's ham, like the meat? Ha msoa In Alan hampson.com. All

Ian Arnold: 12:17

right, Rick, how would they get ahold of you and I

Rick Ripma: 12:19

go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. Or you go to 31767 to 1938, right? 31767 to 1938. And you can get a hold of us there on the website, just find our information, and you can contact us directly from the website.

Ian Arnold: 12:35

After the break. We'll talk with Alan and find out what is his superpower. All right, hey, welcome back from the break. We do have Allen here and he great information so far, how he got into the business and everything. But before we get into what is his superpower? Let's do the question of the week. I love the question of the week. The question of the week is sponsored by Rick and I the hard working mortgage guys, where we believe in helping and supporting you and your realtor by sending constant updates on your loan through his whole entire process. Contact us today at HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. All right. So here's the question for you, Alan. Okay, what was your first car?

Alan Hamson: 13:19

Oh, boy. So we could talk about this for a while, but it was a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville? Oh, yes.

Unknown: 13:28

That's a good one. Yeah,

Alan Hamson: 13:30

it was a neat car. So my friend growing up had a used car lot. And they had a few of those on there. And they really caught my eye over the time and you know, being young gadgets and things really kind of, you see all the flashy things. And so, if you if you've ever seen that car, it's got probably a million buttons on the steering wheel and throughout the car. It's a lot going on. And that's actually my dad's biggest concern when we were getting it. It's like, Man, that's a lot of car for you. A lot going on in there. I mean, it had probably nine buttons just for the seats. Oh, yeah. And then the steering wheel itself had probably I had people get in the car and say it looked like a cockpit plane. It was just insane. But no, it was a great car was really a lot of fun.

Ian Arnold: 14:17

How long the last year

Alan Hamson: 14:19

well, I only had a few years. I had some issues with the transmission and ended up finally just getting a not old but a small pickup truck and for that, but but no, it was a great car. Love that car.

Rick Ripma: 14:31

I know the Bonneville by then was a great size before them. It was huge. And somewhere in the Yeah, I think it came out about 86 or seven. I can't remember when they changed the body style from what most people consider grandma and grandpa's car. I think 89 or 88 I was selling Pontiacs at the time and I know is in that timeframe. I just don't remember when it came out. I remember when it first came out and it was the first car at the dealership that we had had that had antilock brakes. Oh yeah. So we have to take it out and test out the analog brakes and they were very impressive. But there was I was like, once they change that, that body style, the body style was phenomenal.

Alan Hamson: 15:10

Yeah, it was a great car. It was for the time it was it was a looker. I remember you know, the taillights kind of smoked and had that. Yeah, it was it was neat car. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 15:20

So would you buy another one if one came along? And it was like, Yeah,

Alan Hamson: 15:23

I think about it, but I haven't really seen any. I mean, they they came with great engines, the engines were really solid and those cars, but for whatever reason, you just never seen anything around.

Unknown: 15:35

Maybe it was the transmissions? I think that's what it is. Well, you know, it's funny, I

Rick Ripma: 15:41

if you can't tell I'm really into cars. Yes. Yeah. So I think you know, it's one of those things where it matters. And, and every year different cars become popular. I, I the first car that my parents had me they had that I drove when I turned 16. And I'm embarrassed to say it but it was a gremlin. Okay, okay. And I saw online somebody selling their Gremlin. Now they'd fixed it up and put a V eight in it and all that they were selling for $35,000 for a gremlin. I guess anything becomes popular, but I I can't imagine somebody looking at going, Man, I always wanted a gremlin.

Ian Arnold: 16:23

Or people who do you want to talk about anything and become popular. The Smart car became popular for like three, four years, everybody wanted to own 109 through or Oh, eight through 2010. Everybody wants to because they're like cash prices are $4 a gallon. Yeah. And yet look at our gas prices now. But

Alan Hamson: 16:41

we could divert this whole podcast and they can talk about cars. We wanted to

Rick Ripma: 16:46

mark just the one thing about smart cars. The only thing about that as I would be scared to death to drive around and that small of a car right? Especially in the highway with semis and everything. I probably doesn't matter. But it's just

Alan Hamson: 16:57

if people lifting them now and using them for off road. Oh, really?

Rick Ripma: 17:03

Well, that sounds like a good idea. Let's go do it. So what is or are your superpower superpowers? Oh, boy.

Alan Hamson: 17:13

Would you believe me? If I said I have X ray vision? I would say yeah, I was gonna say it's endorsed. But no, I would say a couple of things. One, I'm a very curious person by nature. So that Curiosity has really gotten me where I am. It makes it drives me to learn and constantly develop and grow. It's one of the things that I like about real estate is because it's unlimited learning and growing potential, right. But what my clients tell me most often, I think, is just the calming spirit that I have. Because I'm not that extroverted, you know, typical real estate, I'm more introverted, and I'm analytical thinking I think I'm more thinking along, not to say that that doesn't mean I'm not empathetic, and all those things that makes a good agent. But, you know, throughout the transaction, and process, there's a lot of things that can come up. So having that calming influence really helps people. I've had several people tell me that the I don't know how you do it. You really calm me down through this whole thing. Like there was times I wanted to freak out. But you know, just talking to you helped me, you know, because I'm looking for solutions instead of, you know, freaking out when something comes up. Because inevitably, there's always going to be something that comes up. So trying to figure out what the best solution is, rather than our emotions. Helps go a long way for people. So

Rick Ripma: 18:48

it's critical for me to call me and it's critical. And it's very obvious that that's your personality. So it's, obviously if somebody's freaking out, and you're freaking out, it just gets worse. If they're freaking out and you're real calm, they will calm down to your level for sure. And that helps immensely. So they make a rational decision, not an emotional decision, which tends to be the wrong one. It might even be the right thing could be thought through. Right. And you don't think through things when you're in an emotional state now, and real estate's very emotional through the entire process. There's ups and downs. But I got the thinking, as you said it, wouldn't it be helpful to have X ray vision and real estate?

Alan Hamson: 19:30

It would be awesome. Yeah, it's inspections. Oh, who needs an inspector? I mean, to me five seconds only look the same.

Rick Ripma: 19:39

That would be that would be incredible. I know. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that one.

Alan Hamson: 19:44

Maybe I really do have extra revisions. Yes, one of my clients coming to me.

Ian Arnold: 19:47

So if you want to use Alan's X ray vision, how would they get ahold of you?

Alan Hamson: 19:52

You can find me at Allen hamsun.com. That's a l a n H A M as in Mary sln.com and Alan hamson.com or 317-496-0656? It's call or text 317-496-0656. It's Hamsun.

Rick Ripma: 20:10

HJM. SOS ham, like the meat. Yep. Perfect. So I'm on the, you've got, you've got your superpower, which is calming people down, we talked about how important that is in the in the, in the transaction. What is it? I mean, can you kind of give us an idea exactly what you do somebody, somebody gets the they have their house for sale? The appraisal comes in $10,000. Short?

Alan Hamson: 20:38

Yeah, I think people when they freak out or get very emotional, it's because they don't have answers, and they don't know what to do, or, you know, you're afraid of the things that you don't know about. Right? So giving them those answers, really goes a long way to calming their emotions, you know, letting them know that okay, yes, this is an obstacle, it's a hurdle that we have to overcome. But here's our solutions. These are ways forward. What do you think is best and it takes them out of the emotional state into the Okay, let's figure out which one of these best works for us. So you've educated them? Exactly. Yeah, education, knowledge is huge. So as long as you know, you know, we're afraid of the things we don't know about. Right. That's, you know, uncertainty, right, basically, is what creates fear. So my job is to eliminate any uncertainty that we have. And along with it goes the fear. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 21:33

And what's what's great about that, as you educate them, so that they know, so they can make a proper decision. You're not making that decision for him, you're just making sure they make an informed decision. Right. And there may be times I'm sure you get the same thing we get well, what would you do? Yeah, and that's a tough question. Because if Yeah, maybe different than what they would do.

Alan Hamson: 21:51

Exactly. Yeah. Because I'm not them. And I'm not in their shoes and their situation. Yeah. But you know, I can, if I can give you a good answer, I would, you know, in those situations, but sometimes it's, you know, something, they have to figure it out for themselves? Well, it's nice

Ian Arnold: 22:07

that you can just break up different options for them, so to speak. So you can say, All right, so here's an analytical way. All right. Now, here's the money way. Now, here's your emotion, or here's the time or what what one works best for you. Because, again, I'm forensics, I'm a penny pusher. For the least cost, let's go figure a way to get it done. Other people are like, let's just go spend money. So every person is going to be different. Yep.

Alan Hamson: 22:34

And that's when that curiosity comes into play, too, is it's important to ask questions in the beginning, rather than trying to figure it out later. And understand those things like what's most important to you in this transaction? Like, is it getting the most money? Is it you know, getting out of here quickly? Is it just about having the smoothest and best experience like those are the things that can determine how you go forward? Because, you know, it's not one size fits all, to the transaction? So, right.

Rick Ripma: 23:03

And it's amazing how a lot of times people don't realize now, not every market are the last market, this may not apply, but you may you may you sell your house tend to sell your house quicker. If you price it a little lower, right. So somebody's in a hurry to sell their house, they may want to price a little lower, to get it to move, as opposed to somebody who has time and they would rather get maximum.

Alan Hamson: 23:30

Yeah, there's all kinds of strategies, you could you could use this just matching that strategy with what their intended outcome is.

Rick Ripma: 23:39

And one of the things I'm an analytical person, also, a lot of what we do is, is, you know, we make sure they get a lot of detail, so they can be educated on it, they understand it, you know, sometimes I have to catch myself not doing too much, right? Because sometimes I can overanalyze something where somebody else doesn't care. But I'm what you said you have processes, like, what would you say your your favorite or best process is to, to help somebody understand whatever it is that you you know, whatever process it is you want to talk about.

Alan Hamson: 24:13

My favorite process is, and I have like a step 1234. But it's just asking questions, asking as many questions as I need to, to get to the bottom of the basically to the root of the problem or source, the foundation of what we're trying to accomplish. So, you know, I think the theory is yes, why seven times you actually get to the root of whatever times that's that's something I think I've read or heard that somewhere. So if you ask why seven times, you'll get to the root of all problems. Yeah, I know. They were great. Yeah, problem is, we didn't answer. They never figured it out.

Rick Ripma: 24:55

No, we never got to solve and did we win then we were over it. Right.

Ian Arnold: 24:59

Well done. Budweiser came out with their with their little slogan. Why why, right? Why? Why try bud dry? Right? And then that's what my parents told me. way go now let's see what the issue.

Rick Ripma: 25:12

I don't remember that. Oh, you don't know i? I've never heard that.

Alan Hamson: 25:16

Yeah, well, I asked why try bud dry? I remember that.

Rick Ripma: 25:19

Yeah, see, I guess that's that's a that's a what is that age thing? Right? And it must be Yeah, I don't remember that at

Ian Arnold: 25:26

all. But that was a Superbowl commercial too. So

Rick Ripma: 25:29

I think that's the reason another reason I would have heard it. So

Ian Arnold: 25:32

I know we are coming to the end of the radio show. So these people are dying to know how would they get ahold of you?

Alan Hamson: 25:38

They can call or text me at 317-496-0656 or go to Alan hamsun.com. That's ham with an M.

Ian Arnold: 25:49

And they can text you early morning. Doesn't matter four o'clock in the morning through Yeah,

Alan Hamson: 25:54

they actually can, you know, I'll have it on Do Not Disturb most likely. But then the next morning, I'll go through my phone and check my messages and get back to them right away.

Rick Ripma: 26:04

That's not the beauty of text. Yes, they can text when that when they're available. When I'm thinking of it, I can text you. And when you're available, you can get back with me. And I think that's the beauty of text.

Ian Arnold: 26:15

Yes. Not only that, you can be like, Oh, they haven't read it yet. Hold on. No, they've read it online. Well, now

Alan Hamson: 26:21

with the Apple phones, you can uncheck it again. So that shows unread again. And that's the way you know, and it keeps me in check. Because now I know I can respond to everyone. So it's good. Yeah, it helps me out a lot.

Rick Ripma: 26:34

And Rick, how would they get ahold of us go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 317-672-1938. That's 317-672-1938.

Ian Arnold: 26:45

And for the rest of this show, and hear us continue to talk to Alan about what is his most memorable deal? Go to indies real estate gurus. All right. Hey, Alan. So thank you for joining us and being with us for this long. I know sometimes talking to Rick takes a long time, but it's all right. So what is your most memorable deal?

Alan Hamson: 27:11

Oh, geez. It's, that's like asking me what's my favorite car? it narrowed down to the list? Well, yeah, I'd have to narrow that down to probably 100. You know, there's things that I like about all of them, you know, it's always great to help out old friends and reconnect. Or, you know, especially when you get referrals from people that, you know, that means a lot. Just a few I had this past year, I guess I think of one in particular, where, you know, I had a referral from past client, you know, for their daughter, that's always a huge compliment to me, and helps me stay pretty humble knowing that, you know, your home's your height, your biggest asset for most people, and it's the most important asset for most people, but your daughter, that's, you know, that kind of takes it to another level, you know, even more than your house. So to trust me with that means a lot to me personally. I had one where, you know, these people found me online, reached out to me, and, and they were thinking about listing the home sells for sale by owner. They said, you know, basically, they interviewed a few agents, and they ended up saying, Okay, well, we'll just list it over the weekend here and see what happens. And, you know, the weekend came and went, and a few days later, they called me to please come list this house for us. And it wasn't, you know, it turned out, then they were like, we'll never ever do that again. That was amazing. You know, and it just, you know, it went really well. And it wasn't just a cheap house either was, you know, just under a million dollars. So it was it was, you know, not something that most people would sell quickly. So it was it was a good, but I had one this past year to where are these people? You know, we interviewed and they interviewed several agents. And they were at a point where, you know, they did not see the value of having a real estate agent. And they told me that they're like, you know, we've had this agent in the past. And we sold her house before and we just don't understand why they get paid what they get paid. And, you know, we just don't get it. You know, I don't understand. So, long story short, they ended up picking me and at the end of it, they were like just telling me how great everything went and they were thrilled and they were wanting to give me a bonus, like after closing like they wanted to nothing I asked for. They're like, we want to give you more money because we think you deserve it. And I'm like, okay, so they went from thinking that agents are overvalued, to wanting to give me more for, you know, the work that I did and the value that they thought I presented. So that was that was amazing.

Ian Arnold: 29:54

I think that some if you get the right salesperson that knows what they're doing, they They give you that value. And sometimes you get that one that basically, all right, I list your house, and you don't hear from them. You don't see them. Oh, I got an offer here you guys go, this is the best offer. Way, that's just one offer. I want three or four I want. So I think that you you were able to show that over what somebody else was. I think that's awesome.

Rick Ripma: 30:20

Yeah, first of all, I always think I know for a fact that the vast majority of time somebody is better off having a real estate agent, a good solid agent, to work with what we call a guru, right? People work with the top agents, they will do very, very well. And they will do much better than selling it on their own. I've had my brother in law and sister in law do try to sell it on their house on their own bottom line was by by the time they finally listed it with an agent, and they were they were times constrained because their house was completed. They made $30,000 More than when they sold it on their own. And it fell out. Right, right, because they had somebody who knew what they were doing. Right. And it's extremely important to get a real estate agent who is is good at it. And you know, when you said I don't know why it took me all this time to finally hit me in the you know, that I understand. You know, it's just like having a teacher. There are phenomenal teachers who are way way underpaid. And there are teachers who are way way over pay, right. Okay, exactly. And there are in every profession. I'm sure it's that way. And it's the same in real estate. They just needed a top agent, right? They needed somebody who knew what they were doing to realize it's if all they get is somebody who puts it on the MLS or the MLS.

Ian Arnold: 31:47

I don't think they need to go to our licensing. But

Rick Ripma: 31:52

it's not even called the MLS anymore. Is it? It's the BLC

Alan Hamson: 31:55

quality. Okay, good. I think people know what you mean. So,

Rick Ripma: 31:59

I mean, it's just that that isn't, it's all the other things that you do, plus what you bring your calmness and all, all those that makes a huge difference to people.

Alan Hamson: 32:09

Yeah, there's there's value in that for sure. You know, I guess it's tough, because there's so many agents out there. And it's really hard to get through all the noise and, you know, get people to find us, basically, because there's a lot, there's a lot out there.

Rick Ripma: 32:27

So if somebody is looking for a real estate agent, yes. So they're looking for somebody, what traits and characteristics do you think they should look for in that agent? Well,

Alan Hamson: 32:36

they need to understand their own goals, what is it that they want out of out of that? And then, you know, one of the things I encourage people to do is you can look, past listings, look at, you know, if you're listing a house, and that agent has shoddy cellphone pictures with their thumb over the lens, you know, that's probably not you know, what you want? You know, it's been proven that those don't bring as good a results, you know, somebody that that really knows their numbers, you know, you can look at and see past results for agents, actually, it's pretty open book out there. Now, you can see, you know, I wouldn't say the number of houses matters so much as okay, how do they perform when they sell the house? What sort of list to sale percentage, you know, is that, are they good negotiators? You know, those kinds of things? So,

Rick Ripma: 33:28

and what about the team? Does it does a team, the team and agent has does that make it when I say team, I'm including the the office?

Alan Hamson: 33:36

Right? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you have to have that good support structure. You know, nobody can do everything on their own. As much as I try.

Ian Arnold: 33:45

How I can do it all on his own.

Alan Hamson: 33:50

Future tuna? Yeah. Awesome. Would right. Yeah. Yeah, that's the one superpower I'd love to have is trial time. Because there's not enough of that. No, there's not. But yeah, you know, having a good team around you have, you know, just mortgage people title. You know, all those kinds of people that are are great. You know, you need people you can call on whenever you need to. So

Rick Ripma: 34:14

yeah, you gotta have that experience.

Ian Arnold: 34:15

So what is your team? Do you do have a team? What does it look like?

Alan Hamson: 34:19

Yeah, so outside of those other professionals, it's just me right now. Um, so when I'm flying solo, you know, I'll do different things to kind of help in some some ways, but actually, right now I'm looking to kind of grow and develop a few people to help me out. So if if you're out there and, you know, you've been struggling as an agent for awhile, you've been, you've been going a while, you know, I'm looking to bring somebody else on possibly, if you're the right fit. So, you know, whether that be someone like me that's introverted. It's definitely somebody that I could help with. Or For you extra, that's fine too. But, you know, I could really help develop and help give you leads and some of the things that I have a ton of leads right now that I can't even follow up with right now because I just, I'm spread kind of thin. So I want to kind of grow exponentially here in the next few years. That's kind of the goal.

Rick Ripma: 35:20

Well, it's awesome to have that many leads. And I would think that having somebody who is analytical and has processes, Twilight processes tend to go that way. But it's so much easier to learn something if there's a process and you say, Okay, do a do B, do see, do we do F? Right? It? This is the process, right?

Alan Hamson: 35:42

Just follow it? Yes. And it works a lot off your mind.

Rick Ripma: 35:46

Yes, you can just follow the process. And it works. You get, you know, you become successful at it. And I always told people, when you know, you can't change anything, until you know what you're doing. Right? Okay, because I found, I don't know if you found this, but I found that the people who, when they change it, they always change the thing that was the most important piece of the puzzle,

Alan Hamson: 36:06

or the thing that they don't want to do the most want to do the least Yeah, but it also was most effective. Exactly right. The reason it's the hardest is because it matters the most.

Rick Ripma: 36:17

And a lot of times, it's what you say, you know, that's so much of what we do is what you say when you say it how you say it, you know, and so it all that matters, and it's it's great if you already have it laid out, and then people it just makes it so much easier to get going, you know, to build build their business. And it's amazing, what's the number 87% fail after after five years and first five years, incredible. It's one of the things we want to help. And this we want people listening to people like you, because you're successful, they can hear your story, they understand that you didn't just walk into it didn't become the topic, you know, a top agent or guru, right off the bat, you had to work at it, and they can learn from what you did. And I think that's really important. I think it's also important that probably one of the biggest things that I've learned by doing by doing this show and talking to so many real estate agents, is you need very good mentors, right? Like you, you had you had mentors that weren't good for you. Right? Right. You need mentors that are good for you, you need a fit that, that they can help you. Because it's really hard for somebody who, if they're, if they're really outgoing, and they're telling you to go do all this stuff that's really outgoing, which is not in your wheelhouse, right?

Alan Hamson: 37:31

That's it. And, you know, I find that most agents that I know that are successful are those extroverted types, and that's an easy way to develop business is to go out and meet people and build relationships. And that just isn't something that's fun for me, right? You know, I like people don't get me wrong, I love spending time with people and hanging out. But like, just to go out and be the life of the party and make sure everybody knows who I am. That's that's not who I am. But you know, so I find that that's kind of where I'm going at next is I really want to find somebody that's in that position where they're struggling in the business, and they have the abilities they have, you know, the drive and the the grit and everything, they just don't know how to get there yet, and bring those people on and kind of develop and help them grow and become build the business that they want. Right. So that's awesome.

Rick Ripma: 38:28

I think I think it's critical that, that that that happens now. So how would you describe your brand?

Alan Hamson: 38:36

My brand is about value. So it's basically providing to the client, the highest return in the least amount of time, basically. And that's, it's just that simple, really. So everything that I do is focused on how I can make that maximize the client's time, money and experience. So anything that I could do to lower costs for the the seller or, you know, time that that's what I'll do? Yeah, well, and I have statistics that back it up, and I show clients and that really goes a long way. So yeah,

Rick Ripma: 39:22

well, tie like, for me, time, most of the most, most of the time is more important than the money. Yeah, cuz I don't. The one I the one thing I don't have much of his time and you indicated you're the same way you just don't you wish you could make more time,

Alan Hamson: 39:39

right? Yeah, you know, you could tell the client to go spend $5,000 and do all this renovation on their kitchen so they get 7000 back but for some people, it's just not worth the time and money and you know, I'm not gonna tell somebody to do that. If that's not something they want to do. It's like let's, you know, may not be worth it, or you may be spending more money. So let's let's not do that

Rick Ripma: 39:59

right now. You know, to that point, I had a friend who this is a few years ago, they listed, they listed their house where they were, before they listed at the person came in. And they said you need to do you had to had to redo their whole kitchen. This is a fairly expensive home. And so they, they had people come in and see the house and they did have done their kitchen. They finally decided, Okay, we'll do the kitchen. So they put $25,000 into their kitchen. The person who bought it was one of the first. Yes, they did. They were one of the first people through never saw it. And when they came in, they ripped it all out.

Unknown: 40:36

Yeah, it's not just a waste of

Alan Hamson: 40:38

yeah, they threw down the toilet. Yeah, it's yeah, it's, you know, that comes back to that curiosity, like ask questions like, what is it that you want to get out of this? Do you want to spend all these all this time renovating your house, you may not want to, it may be worth it, just to sell it for a little bit cheaper, you know, your time is more valuable, like it is for me? You know, I might get another week, couple weeks out of my life for $1,000. Let's do that. Right?

Unknown: 41:04

Because renovating is no fun. No, no, it's a lot of work. And it adds stress

Alan Hamson: 41:09

to something that's already stressful. There's

Rick Ripma: 41:12

no question there. So what are two resources that you have that you or have had in the past that just, man if you didn't have those resources, you wouldn't be where you are today?

Alan Hamson: 41:24

Boy, are you talking physical things?

Rick Ripma: 41:27

Or whatever it was? Yeah. You know. I mean, just from what you

Ian Arnold: 41:31

said, I just say your wife and your and yeah, there you go.

Alan Hamson: 41:36

That is true, though. You need that support at home. If you don't have it, then then you're kind of paddling upstream. But, you know, obviously, our phones are key to us. Now. We can't do anything without those. But you know, beyond that, you know, I feel I'm pretty adaptable. I would adapt to whatever tools are out there and use them and find the best ways to use them. But mostly I'm coming back to that curiosity mindset, just always learning, growing and creating better processes and systems. That's kind of the thing that really is key for my growth and success. I think

Ian Arnold: 42:13

he missed one thing. What's that the grill? The grill? Yeah, grilling out for all your neighbors? Oh, yeah. That's a great tool.

Alan Hamson: 42:21

I didn't get anybody sick. Right?

Rick Ripma: 42:25

That's, that's the first thing you don't want to do. Right?

Unknown: 42:28

Maybe I did. I just didn't know that. You'll be stuck on their memory.

Rick Ripma: 42:32

You'll be memorable. Right? That no question. So what are what is one thing that you want to tackle this year, personally and professionally?

Alan Hamson: 42:42

I, you know, personally, it's, it's trying to set boundaries for myself, turn turn it off, sometimes, because real estate can be a 24/7 thing. And it's hard to be present with your family sometimes. So just making sure that when I'm with them, that I'm with them. But also, you know, I still want to continue to grow in real estate and create some processes and systems in place that kind of allows me to multiply my reach without taking up more time. So those are the things I'm focusing on right now. Just creating more even more systems and processes that can help me grow exponentially.

Ian Arnold: 43:23

That's awesome. Me, because when you really think about it, and you were talking about growing your team, and by you adding one or two extra people, that allows your, your, your brand slash company start to grow. Because you can do so much more with a few more people than just yourself

Alan Hamson: 43:41

move for sure. Yeah, so yeah, and you gotta have that trust, too. I'm, uh, I, you know, that's one of the probably my weaknesses is I like to do everything myself. And, you know, a lot of that comes back to the reason, you know, I am interested in a lot of different things. So I enjoy doing a lot of different things. So, you know, sometimes I have to just let things go. And I got to learn to, you know, allow people to do their own thing.

Rick Ripma: 44:07

My coach has taught me that you have to do the things you do the things you like, but you also have to do the things that are most valuable, right? There are certain things that you you know, at least in my book, you you have to do you know, you're the you're the face of everything. And the you can have a lot of people do other things. And I've had the same struggle as you have is just letting people do things. And I noticed that holds a lot of people back they don't, they can't grow as much as big and they can't be as helpful as they would like to be because of the time

Alan Hamson: 44:42

restraints we talked about. Right? Yeah, he can only be so many places at once. That's right.

Rick Ripma: 44:46

Well, we're running out of time. Already. The best way to get a hold of you. If anybody has any real estate needs, they want to talk. They want to talk to somebody who has a great process, and we'll keep them calm and can see here.

Alan Hamson: 44:59

That's right. Go to Alan hamsun.com Hampson with an M and or call or text me anytime 317-496-0656 And to

Rick Ripma: 45:11

get a hold of ian or I, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 317-678-3831 767 to 9030 I always want to give a different number 31767 to 1938

Ian Arnold: 45:29

You almost got through the whole show I was almost proud of you I almost dead in follow us.

Rick Ripma: 45:34

You don't want to miss any of our shows.

Ian Arnold: 45:36

Yes on indys, real estate gurus. And also if you know any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy sell refinance, contact Rick guy and we'll be more than happy to help you us.

Rick Ripma: 45:47

Thanks so much. Have a great day.

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