Guru Angi Oakes with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Announcer: 0:01

Advisors Mortgage Group is proud to present in these real estate gurus hosted by Rick Ripma and Ian Arnold, the hard working mortgage guys, please contact Rick Annie and for all of your mortgage needs at HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. Now, here's the hard working mortgage guys, Rick Ripma and Ian Arnold.

Rick Ripma: 0:24

Welcome to Indy's real estate gurus. And before we get into the meat of today's show, I wanted to remind you that for the most up to date information on mortgages, or India's real estate market, go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. And I'm Rick Ripma, the hard working mortgage guy and I'm told I'm supposed to tell you about myself. That's that's the thing. When I read up this, you got to, you know, tell people I, I'm always a little uncomfortable with it, but they people need to know whether you know what you're doing or not. So I've been in the business for 34 years, I spent 11 years as a new home and new home sales and left as the vice president of sales. I've been in the mortgage business for 22 years, I've helped over 5200 folks get their mortgages, refinance purchases, and then that's over a billion dollars in close loans. So I do have some experience. But what really matters is what do we do for you? How can we help you? My team and I, we believe in the custom tailored approach. So not the one size fits all approach that you see many, many places. We also believe that the best mortgage that there is a best mortgage for you. And we are the team to deliver it. We're very excited today because well, first he hands out and that always makes me excited because it's easier to buy yourself. And I just did that for him. But we have Angie oaks and you're with Berkshire Hathaway. I am. Yep. And I is at Berkshire Hathaway Home Service. Indiana Realty. Right. That is our full name. Yeah. And that office is where I'm in the office. It's located in Greenwood, Indiana. Awesome. Okay, perfect. And I like to, you know, find somehow some way to introduce and I was looking through your information, and to have your review stuck out. So I want to read those reviews because I think it gives a really good idea of who you are. And I just think it's important. So this is from Kelly T she wrote about her experience with you. We recently sold our first home with the help of Angie. We had no clue where to even start. So we reached out to her and she guided us the entire way until the house was sold. She gave us advice, useful information, as well as tips and pointers to make the process run smoothly without any hiccups. Any questions we asked you we spotted in a timely matter manner, I would strongly recommend her. If you are looking for a realtor that is truly passionate about what they do. I think that's a great, just to me, that says a lot about you. The next one's from Karina, I hope I pronounced it right it is that I can mispronounce my own name. So it's always a struggle. And she says I cannot recommend it recommend Angie enough, I have never met a more well organized hands on Realtor. She believes so much in my property. She believed so much in my property from day one, and made sure that every step of my process had her full attention. Her marketing, passion strategies and content are what sold my house in a matter of hours. Selling buying is normally stressful. But using Angie as an agent was one of the best and easiest things I've ever done. You can tell she truly loves what she does for a living. And you can ask for more. When looking for a realtor. You can't ask for more. You know, I can't even read today. You can't ask for more. Yeah, I actually I'm pretty much done that there are just some of the things that have propelled Angie to become indeed one of India's real estate gurus, anti Welcome and thank you so much for joining me. Thank

Angi Oakes: 4:04

you for having me.

Rick Ripma: 4:05

I appreciate it. I think that's such a the the reviews. I I'm not a huge review person, but there's some times you read reviews and you go okay, that's a that's an honest, really great review. And those two, I think that's really, I think sometimes people give bad reviews when I don't think they're really because they don't really know what you do. But when you do when you go over and a bond over and above their expectations. That's the kind of reviews you get. That's phenomenal.

Angi Oakes: 4:36

Yes, thank you. I I agree with that. Also, people are very quick to review. Something bad. Yes. Not necessarily something good. So I'm very familiar with those people, obviously. So I'm very grateful for their words. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 4:50

And that was just two I just picked out two that I thought resonated with me. But there were plenty. There's lots of them there. So it's not like you know I was I feel just strong. Yes. Okay, I probably could pick up the whole show, just read your reviews, but I don't think anybody wants to just listen to that and Google it, it's fine. But if somebody needs to get a hold of you, we'd like to talk about real estate has any questions for you about real estate? What is the best way to get ahold of you?

Angi Oakes: 5:15

Honestly, it's my phone, you know, you can find me on social media. Both my first and last name are spelled awkwardly. So that's always helpful. But usually the phone numbers easiest. So you can call text 317-514-4695. So 317-514-4695,

Rick Ripma: 5:37

for any of your real estate questions needs. Call Angie. Please do. And as we get started, I always my first question, always tends to be so how did you get into real estate? Because it's It's always fascinating to me.

Angi Oakes: 5:53

So I, I have a wonderful advocate, who was my former real estate agent who has told me for years and years and years, probably close to nine years before I actually got into the industry that I needed to be an agent. And so I attribute that transition to her her name is Tammy Lee Hall. For those of you down in Greenwood, you all know Tammy Lee, she has been in business for over 30 years. And so she was the person who just during our transactions always told me, you should really be an agent. And after nine years, I listened to her finally, nine years. Yeah, right. I'm stubborn, it's fine.

Rick Ripma: 6:36

Well, that's awesome. So is she still a mentor of yours?

Angi Oakes: 6:39

Absolutely. And she's part of the mother daughter team. So her daughter is a close friend of mine as well.

Rick Ripma: 6:44

Awesome. So how important do you think it is to have like phenomenal mentors?

Angi Oakes: 6:51

critical, absolutely critical. I have some just absolutely wonderful people. I have our VP of sales I, I myself, as many other people have dubbed her my work wife. I call her on a very regular basis to ask for advice, I think outside the box a lot because I didn't grow up in the real estate industry. So sometimes she just, she just checks me sometimes, like, Oh, that's a little too far outside the box. Bring her back in a little. So yeah, I've several people that I can lean on call upon. Yeah, yeah.

Rick Ripma: 7:26

Yeah, I think it's critical also. And unfortunately, for me, I didn't realize it till much later in life than you then you picked it up. And I have my youngest son is 29. And he went to IU. And that's where, when he was in a business fraternity, and they did that, and I can see what it did is life. It changed his life, having mentors changed his life. And so it's so important, I cannot recommend it enough to people, it really matters, who you're working with and who you have as mentors. And it's, it's not just the people above you, it's also the people in the same area as you they can be mentors. Also friends can be mentors.

Angi Oakes: 8:04

Yeah, and accountability partner too, right? That's absolutely, yep.

Rick Ripma: 8:08

Yeah, I think all those things can be extremely important. So as you became a real estate agent, and you've done phenomenally well, what did you do? What What was your process? You know, if there's a new agent out there, what would you say? Okay, this is what I did. This is what you need to do?

Angi Oakes: 8:28

Well, I it's not rainbows and butterflies, right? So like it, there was a lot of just long hours and grit and determination. So for me, this is not my first career. This is changed careers a few times, and I'm not a young puppy. So for me, it was there was no backup plan, there was no safety net, there was no option for not to work out. So it was a very grit is the proper term for it. My son was born before I got my business cards in the mail. So he came early and so therefore, it created a an interesting path that maybe not all new real estate agents have to go through. For those who are not in the business you spend like your first 90 days just building the business right? Build your website, get your business cards, do your branding, do your headshots, that's your first 90 days. And so my first 90 days were half in the NICU and half in the office getting stuff done. So it was an interesting beginning and then it was just a matter of putting in the hours I haven't had very many days off in six years but I love it so it's okay

Rick Ripma: 9:47

yeah you know I think that I agree first of all, yeah, if you love it and every every top producing agent love it seems like are most of the people I talked to love real estate They do,

Angi Oakes: 10:00

you'd have to, yes, you have to, or you're not gonna, you're not gonna get up and go do it.

Rick Ripma: 10:04

Yeah. And number two, now my taglines, the hard work of mortgage guy. So you can imagine how much I care about. Make me the hard working real estate girl. Yeah, that's how much I care about hard work. Right. And that didn't I didn't even come up with that I had a marketing guy. And we were talking and he said, Man, based on what, you know, your your beliefs and what you do. This is the let's do this. And it's worked because it is what I believe. And I think it's one of the biggest reasons people fail is they don't work hard enough. You have to know what to do. Sure. Okay. But even if you don't know what to do, you got to do something. Yep. Right. We say around here. If the phone's not ringing, pick it up. Yep. Right. Because if it's not ringing, you better do something to make it ring. Right. Right. You pick it up. So hard work matters. So when you did that you were putting in that hard that effort? Who were you? You know, who were you after? What Who were you trying to? You know, become your your tribe?

Angi Oakes: 11:06

Yeah. So I did not come, like I said, from the real estate world. So my path is a little unorthodox, I can't stress outside the box enough. So if you are a new agent, this is not what your mentor is probably going to tell you to do. Let me just disclaimer right there. But I spent the first two years getting to know the different mortgage programs, the different people who have the different mortgage programs, as you know, every mortgage company has something different, right? There's not just one mortgage fits all for everybody. And so I did a lot of educating of myself of how does a credit score impact what programs are out there is their downpayment assistance, what does that look like? Differences between FHA, conventional VA, USDA, and really schooled myself for two years on that, so that when I can sit down with a buyer, I can advise them, I can't do your loans don't I don't I do stay in my lane, I promise you that. But I, I can advise them on who is probably the best person to talk to in the group of people that I know I work with about seven different lenders, which is different a lot of times than real estate agents. Normally, they have a lender, or their preferred lender, I have seven, it was really kind of awkward conversations in the beginning with them, but they all really kind of refer with each other now. So it's a really cool group of people. And they all work for a different company. Some are credit unions, some are banks, some are brokers, it just kind of makes sense as to whatever the buyer need is. So that's, that's what I did in the beginning. And in addition to obviously telling my sphere that I did real estate, right. And, and working on my branding and kind of putting out to the world. This is who I am. This is what I do.

Rick Ripma: 12:51

And how long how long did it take before you really started to get traction?

Angi Oakes: 12:55

That 18 months, 18 months? I mean, I'd closed transactions less than a year, but I was like 18 months, I kind of got my groove, right? Yeah, yeah.

Rick Ripma: 13:03

It's always interesting to hear the story, because everybody has different ways of getting into the business. And it's just, it's fascinating, because a lot of them, it wasn't what they it wasn't even in their realm of what they really wanted to do. It just ended up doing it. And all of a sudden, they love it. And they do. And, you know, when you say lenders, I agree with you, there is no one right mortgage for anybody. Right? For everybody. There's a right mortgage for each individual. It all depends on their situation. And, and it depends on what they're what they're after. It's like, you know, we do this, other people are really much better at this. I've had agents call me and say, Hey, we need this as like, that's not what I do. Let's go over here and call this person because I could do it. I have the access to it. But I'm not good at it. Because I don't do it every day. Right? So let's get somebody who does. Yeah. And I think that's the critical. So in your opinion, what if somebody is out there, and they're looking for a real estate agent? What characteristics or traits would you suggest they look for?

Angi Oakes: 14:07

So I have two that I recommend for people. One is, you want to make sure that they're qualified in this situation, you need them to be qualified in to what you just said, you specifically said I, there are certain mortgages that I can do them. But that's just not my thing, right? So find, find the person who has your thing, right? Find that person. And you can usually figure that out online, do a deep dive in their social media because of number two and number two is, this better be somebody that you like to enjoy and spend time with because you're probably going to be their best friend for like the next four months or more sometimes. But oftentimes, once you have the pre approval, it takes 30 to 60 days to find a house and another 30 to 45 to close it. So you're spending a lot of time with this person for at least 90 days you better like being able to spend time with that person, or it's going to be the worst moment and save your life trying to deal with these people. So just make sure that they can get you where you want to go and that you enjoy the ride.

Rick Ripma: 15:07

To that point, I was talking to somebody the other day. And she was saying that the first house she bought, she met the real estate agent. They went to saw the house. And the next time she talked to her, was that closing? Yeah, nothing in between. Well, she didn't even have an inspection. Because nobody told her she needed to watch. It was a first time homebuyer she didn't even know. She didn't even know she needed an inspection. And so good. No. And that's why it's so important. It's one of the reasons I do the show is it's so important to get the people out there so people can see. And it's not always, you know, time in the business matters. But not it's not the only thing, right? Not always, if somebody does two houses a year for 20 years, and somebody else is doing 40 houses a year. I mean, I think that's much more valuable. They're doing it now they've, you know, it's important, not that the person who hasn't been in the business long time doesn't have some some experience and knowledge. But it really matters that they're active today. And they're in there, and they're phenomenal at what they do. So I think it really matters. Yeah.

Angi Oakes: 16:10

And understanding of the current market is invaluable.

Rick Ripma: 16:13

Yes. Well, if we have if we haven't learned that after the last couple of years, right?

Angi Oakes: 16:19

Yes. And being able to understand it in two weeks from now, because it'll change again. We're running

Rick Ripma: 16:25

up on the break. So before we go to break, if somebody needs has any real estate needs, how would they get ahold of us? What's the best way?

Angi Oakes: 16:32

Oh, my phone definitely, you can call or text my phone number is 317-514-4695 so text is fine. 23175144695

Rick Ripma: 16:46

Perfect. If you need to get a hold of the inner eye it's hard working mortgage guys.com That's hard working mortgage guys.com. After the break, we'll ask the question of the week.

Unknown: 16:57

Advisors mortgage broker licensed by Indiana Department of Financial Institutions equal housing opportunity. NMLS 33041 Rick Ripma NMLS 6645890

Rick Ripma: 17:06

Hi, I'm Rick Ripma. With the hard work and mortgage guys and advisors Mortgage Group, where we believe delivering the best mortgage for you is why we exist and it's how we all succeed. We believe

Unknown: 17:15

honesty, kindness and hard work are how we honor each client at hardworking mortgage guys, we believe in custom tailored loans, not a one size fits all approach. We believe in always presenting you with all your options. So you get the loan you want the way you want it. We believe in continually monitoring the rules, rates and market trends. So you don't have to we believe in working hard to meet your closing date so that your entire plan isn't upended. We believe in offering the same quick online process that the bookstore mortgage companies brag about whether you're refinancing or buying your first home, we believe

Rick Ripma: 17:49

there is the best mortgage for you. And we believe we are the team to deliver it find us online at hardworking mortgage guys.com.

Announcer: 18:01

Brought to you by advisors Mortgage Group, where we believe the more you know about financing a home the less stressful buying and refinancing will be.

Rick Ripma: 18:14

Welcome back and thank you so much for joining us. Again, we are here with Angie, she is a guru real estate guru. been in the business for six years. That's right, and doing phenomenal volume. And just she's just a great, great person and a phenomenal agent. Now it's time for questions with the gurus our question of the week is always the same. Okay. And it's it's if you can't tell, I'm a car guy.

Angi Oakes: 18:47

I can tell look around.

Rick Ripma: 18:50

So the question is, what was your first car? What was your most memorable car?

Angi Oakes: 18:55

Oh goodness, my first car was a 1986 Chevy Nova. That's not the cool Nova that they have in the movies. That's the one that looks like a box on wheels was two different tones. It was my first car Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 19:08

And do you have fond memories of it? Or were you glad to get rid of

Angi Oakes: 19:11

it got me from place to place but that was about it with it.

Rick Ripma: 19:15

It's funny how everybody has like, because most of our first cars are kind of like that. Yeah, but some people fall in love with that car they may be driving a you know high end Mercedes at this point. But that that first car even though you know the air didn't work and you know, it just met some memories. Yeah, memories. It's amazing. And I really because I'm a car guy I like to talk about cars with my son bought his first vehicle he had to had vehicles but it was his first vehicle he bought. And it's just an old Toyota. The small pickup truck I now get the name escapes me. And man, he just is in love with that thing. Okay, it's just That's how people are, they just fall in love with it. Yeah. So with with the criteria, we talked about what somebody should look for in an agent, they need to be qualified, they're gonna, you know, you better be get along really well, because you're gonna spend a lot of time thinking about that. So, based on that criteria, tell us how you set up your business.

Angi Oakes: 20:22

Like when I work with a client, like how that process works. So if you are a buyer coming to me, say, you text me from this podcast, and you're interested in learning more about buying a home, I set up a buyer consultation with you, we sit down, and I blocked two hours on my calendar, which there's a lot of agents that just heard that and just gassed in air. But I blocked two hours on my calendar to really talk through your situation. So when you leave that meeting, you have your next steps, you've we've talked through lending options, and probably some programs for you to discuss with a lender partner, then you've also left with your search already set up, I have a very clear picture of what it is that you want. We've got most of our documentation completed at that point in time, the only thing left to do is an offer. And and we've kind of got our, our boundary set, right? Because I mean, sometimes people call me at 11 o'clock at night when my phone's on Do Not Disturb. So please do that. And I'll get back with you later. But when I first started, I wasn't very good about setting those boundaries. And we talk through how do I work? How does my system work? What does that look like for you? You know, if you're a new mom and your nurse and your baby at two o'clock in the morning, and something pops in your head, drop it in my phone now, because you won't remember it in the morning, right? Like that's just how new moms are. So my phone like I said, it's on Do Not Disturb people drop stuff in my phone all the time. And I get to it, when I get my kids on the bus and they're off to school, then I start answering questions. So that's that's my process. I do require that people sit down and talk to me, I think that kind of shows that their level of intent. And so if they're not willing to talk to me, then I'm not willing to get off the couch. So there's that. But um, yeah, that's that's kind of the process. And I'm very clear in explaining stuff. So I do ask people, How much familiarity they have with the purchase? You know, have you done it? 20 years ago, it's different now. Have you never done it before? You just did it three years ago? Okay, let's talk about the differences so that they understand what the current market is. And they know what their expectations are, and kind of that what that path looks like.

Rick Ripma: 22:35

Yeah. Because it's even in three years. It's, it's even in a year, it's

Angi Oakes: 22:40

2020 was one of the craziest markets in the world ever in history. And that was just three years ago. So yeah,

Rick Ripma: 22:47

yep. And so and, and not that we aren't having a still a very strong market. But, you know, I remember when people would come to me, you know, they'd say, Well, you know, when we sell our houses, they sell in three days, every time that just the day, right, right away? Well, some of that's markets, some of that's how well they took the house, things like that. But it is important that you understand what's going on, and setting the expectations and making sure everybody knows is, I think a critical piece. And do you have any trouble getting people for the most part to come and meet with you? Because you'd like to meet with them in person? Correct?

Angi Oakes: 23:22

Yeah, I, it's vital. I have found that if I don't do that, things go off the rails. And it's some of the messiest transactions because the buyer doesn't understand the process because we didn't take that time on the front end. So on the front end, you learn with the process is you learn with timelines are you learned with the cost of things are? How much is earnest money? How much is the home inspection? How much is the appraisal? When do I pay for that? Who do I pay for that? Those things are all covered in that initial meeting. And so that's why I block out two hours. So we can really go through answering their questions, and setting them up for success during the transaction. If they don't take the time to do that. It's some of the most terrible transactions I've done. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 24:02

I can see that we do the same thing. It doesn't take anywhere near as long because it's a mortgage, but basically going over the critical pieces and how the team is set up and so that people understand that. One of the biggest things I find that people don't talk about, especially, not especially but even other lenders, is, there is a big difference between cash to clothes and downpayment. Yep. And you would not believe how many first time homebuyers or even experienced buyers, I talked to that. I've got my downpayment. I've got my 20% I've got my 5% I've got my 3% home inspection money, not exactly all the other other not that there might not be ways to work around that a little bit. But it is important that you understand the entire cost. Yep. Otherwise, you're it's it's a big shock and can be a real problem.

Angi Oakes: 24:55

Yep. Right. Yeah. So we do talk about that. And a lot of people they have The misconception at least when I sit down with them, I don't know about when your conversations look like but where they think the earnest money that they put down in the beginning, that's their downpayment. Right? Those are two totally different things. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 25:13

The earnest money can be part of the downpayment. Sure. But that earnest money is not the downpipe. Exactly.

Angi Oakes: 25:18

Yeah. Because that's, that's what they're putting down on the house in the beginning. So they think that's their downpayment. And yeah, there's, there's a lot of misconceptions out there. So I try again, that's what that conversation is at the beginning. Let's clear up the myths. Let's make sure you know what's happening. Let's make sure you're educated so you can make future decisions properly.

Rick Ripma: 25:35

And just so it makes sense. Earnest money is normally less than your full downpayment. Absolutely. Right. So hopefully, in some markets, it could it couldn't be my my niece is a real estate agent in North Carolina. I had her on the show. And she because it's interesting to hear about other markets and one of the things they do and their market which she hates, is they have the earnest money, but they also have a non refundable, non refundable no matter what that you give somebody to take their house off the market. Interesting. And when when things got really busy, she was selling her house and she said they didn't even the most of the saw. They gave her $100,000 non refundable, so they could buy her house. Wow. So what's to me at that point, so why inspect? Why do anything? There's no way, there's no way I'm backing out of it, I've gave you 100,000 said normally it was like, you know, 300 bucks or something that wasn't that big a deal. But it just changed. And she hated that. She just didn't think that was fair. But it is the law. So somehow they got that line, but it's just different ways things happen. So if somebody's coming from a different part of the country, come they need somebody who can explain exactly how it works here. Yep. I've even found it's different in different parts of Indiana sometimes, like who's going to do this? And who's going to do that? It does change by by your area. Yeah. Market specific. Absolutely. Yeah. So people really have to look at that and worry about that. So what are two resources that that you have? Or have had that you think man if I didn't have these two resources? I wouldn't be where I am today.

Angi Oakes: 27:17

Oh, goodness, that's a good question. I mean, my phone all the apps on my phone. My calendar is only and I live and die by my calendar. It it tells me when I have to get in my car and leave to go to the next appointment. It tells me where to go when to get there. That that would be my one resource. Man I don't have to resources that's a good one. I don't know that I have an answer for that one. Um, as far as my job is concerned, I I use I use my like database and CRM and stuff like that religiously. That's I spend my day there. And then my phone for my whole life is on my phone. I think everybody's kind of that way we've kind of morphed into the phone tells us what to do. Or it's or it sucks our life away. Right social media. But um, yeah, I think that's about it.

Rick Ripma: 28:12

Well, it's amazing. You know, how dependent we are on our on our phones. I'll do but I agree with you, I think callate the calendar. Once you figure out how to live by your calendar, your life is much less stressful.

Angi Oakes: 28:30

Yep. It told me it sent me an alert when I needed to get my car and come here today. Yeah, right. That's amazing. Let me grab my water bottle and go

Rick Ripma: 28:38

Well, we're coming up on the end of the radio show. So please join us on the podcast side. Four we go though, if somebody needs to get a hold of you. What is the best way if they have any real estate needs? How would they get ahold of you?

Angi Oakes: 28:50

Absolutely call or text my phone 317-514-4695 Again, Texas easy to so 317514469505

Rick Ripma: 29:04

Texas. A lot of people get it get it get around today yeah, you need to get a hold of either i It's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com And we thank you if you're not you know hopefully we'll see you on the podcast if

Announcer: 29:21

you're listening to in these real estate gurus with Rick Ripma and and Arnold to hear the conclusion of this interview, go to hardworking mortgage guys.com and hit the podcast have Brent NMLS number 33041 Recruitment NMLS number 664589. Ian Arnold NMLS number is 1995469 equal housing opportunity. Some restrictions apply.

Unknown: 29:45

Well first off, thank you for joining us, Danielle. I appreciate it. And I just was curious. How did you come to find out about Rick Ripma and advisors mortgage? Well, I was looking for a mortgage for myself for a brand new home that I was building and I wasn't sure that direction to go, I didn't have anybody in mind. So I kind of just spoke to whoever I could speak to, I got their number and everything seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. So I went with them. The thing I liked the most about Rick and his advisors mortgage is that I could go and upload things online. And I didn't have to always be on the phone with them or sending them documents or trying to look for certain things that I needed to get the process going, which was really great for me, I had a processor named Mark Coleman, who really helped me out in making sure I had everything I needed. Because I, I didn't know the first thing about having a mortgage. So it was awesome to have so much help. I think probably what I've benefited from the most is really just the understanding that sometimes I would get busy. And maybe I forgot to upload a document or I forgot to do a certain part of the process in a timely manner. And they would get right back with me and it wasn't like a, hey, we really need this right now. It was always Hey, just wanted to make sure you still remember that we need this. Well, you don't get that too much. In this day and age, it seems like most people are either, you know, very demanding of something they need from you. And they need it right now. And, and I agree. I've seen that in Rick's attitude with us over over the last 10 years that he's very patient, but also helpful to get the right things he needs. So, exactly. In conclusion is Rick Ripma and advisors mortgage, somebody that you would use in the future and or tell your friends and family about. Absolutely. And I just want to thank them for all the effort they put in to help me find my dream home.

Announcer: 31:36

Ranch NMLS number 33041 Recruitment NMLS number 664589 equal housing opportunity. Some restrictions apply.

Rick Ripma: 31:42

I'm Rick Ripma You can go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Hello, everyone. Hopefully if you came from the radio, you are in the right spot. This is us coming back from the radio. And we're talking with Angie. It's oaks. Oh a kes.

Angi Oakes: 31:58

That's right. So the E is not on my first name. It is in my last name. I am difficult on both it

Rick Ripma: 32:05

funny how that that works. And you're again you're with

Angi Oakes: 32:11

Berkshire Hathaway in Greenwood, Indiana

Rick Ripma: 32:13

and Greenwood. Yeah, it was a long name. And it's okay. For some reason. Berkshire Hathaway it's a name I should always know, as an investor, you know, obviously, Warren

Angi Oakes: 32:22

Buffett, right? cynical of investing. That's right.

Rick Ripma: 32:26

So we talked about you know, your process and and you know, what resources you have? The, what would you say? Your superpower superpowers are.

Angi Oakes: 32:41

When I meet somebody, I try very hard to come across as approachable as it doesn't always work, just so you know, I try to come across as approachable. But I also want to make sure that people feel at ease. So I two things that I think I do really, really well. And that is I can establish a relationship with somebody pretty quickly. I am my authentic self, good or bad, no matter where, where I am or where I show up. It's always this is what you get. And the second thing is, I'm really good at connecting people. So in my previous life, I did a lot of networking and a lot of connecting. And so I really, truly enjoy being able to make the connections to business owners, or a consumer to a resource. And I don't need the glory for it. But I literally love to just sit back and watch people do great things out of the connections I've made. And just I can quietly sit there and sip my little glass of wine and say, I did that. So yeah, it's kind of nice to be able to do that.

Rick Ripma: 33:47

Yep. And I seems like being a connector is really important for a real estate agent. Because you're kind of connecting somebody with the right home.

Angi Oakes: 33:56

We call ourselves matchmakers. No, we are matchmakers.

Rick Ripma: 34:01

That's yeah, and that's what it is. Right? That's right. That's what you have to do. And so with with the superpowers the other things that I've noticed, just from talking to you, is you know, it's why I love the question because there's so many other things that you're actually seem like you're extremely good at, you're very process oriented.

Angi Oakes: 34:22

I try that that is not my normal default of my personality. So it is it is a hard thing for me but I do find that when I don't do the processes the train falls way off the tracks so I am very diligent about trying to make sure I do that

Rick Ripma: 34:36

your life stays in in a much better boundaries when you do that because you can keep track of everything if I happen to be that way. I'm I'm a process guy. I like process. I like I like to know you know, have things going the way it's supposed to go. And the only way you do is if you have it and that's why you use your calendar. It took me forever to get to the Point to use a calendar but it's freeing. Yeah, you think it's gonna hold you back? Right? No, it frees you up. Yep. Because you know exactly what you're doing. And you can get your you can get, you can be organized and you get a lot more done to

Angi Oakes: 35:13

That's right. I worked all the way up to the minute it sent me the alert and said, Get in the car drive to carpool. So that's what I did. I just grabbed my stuff and drove here.

Rick Ripma: 35:21

Yeah. Yeah, I think it's I think it's, it's huge. So what's your favorite part of the job?

Angi Oakes: 35:28

calling somebody and telling them their offer got accepted? Awesome. It's my favorite phone call. If I'm with my kids, I usually do it on speakerphone. And usually they're cheering in the background. So it's my favorite part of what I do. Obviously, the good stuff is wonderful. It's again, like I said, it's not always rainbows and butterflies. I mean, there is an ugly side of real estate sometimes. And so holding on to those moments of joy. And living for those moments of joy is kind of kind of a happy place.

Rick Ripma: 35:55

Yeah, that's awesome. And not, not every real estate transaction is is a happy real estate transaction. Not because real estate agent did anything wrong or anything like that, but it's the reason somebody might be doing what they're doing. It can be very difficult sometimes.

Angi Oakes: 36:11

Yep. And so it is, it's

Rick Ripma: 36:15

so even even somebody who sells let's say they're the seller, they sell their house, but maybe you know, like me, I've been in my house 30 something years. It's you know, it's it's, it would be great when you sell it, but it also it there's some baggage there with yourself.

Angi Oakes: 36:30

Yeah, absolutely. There's emotions. Yes, you know, and then sometimes it's a divorce situation, or there's been a death. And it's, you know, a part of a family estate where maybe mom's passed, and the siblings have to figure it out. And there's a lot of emotions involved in it. So it's not always pretty, there is definitely some ugly sides to it. So like I said, you just hold on to those moments of joy and celebrate whenever you can.

Rick Ripma: 36:50

And what's the most memorable deal memorable. I have actually you've ever had, well, I've

Angi Oakes: 36:57

had some doozies. Everybody in my office is laughing if they're listening this right now because I have I have some stories of legends that are made of so memorable will go with a memorable positive one. This one was it was a family estate, I actually find myself doing really well when it comes to kind of those harder transactions, divorce situations, estates, those kinds of things, I do pretty well with communicating with the family. Again, that process helps everybody's on the same page. Everybody knows what to expect. Everybody knows what the path is. So in that I kind of typically do those really well. This one was eight siblings. And they had all gotten together and chosen a spokesperson, right? There's the spokesperson of the group. And we got through it. Everybody got the materials that they wanted out of the house, we sold it for the price more than what they wanted. Even the attorney was happy. So that one was probably one of my favorites. That was a repeat client. I hate that she had to call me for that reason. But that was a repeat client. And I was very pleased to be able to to do that. For her to I was kind of honored to be able to be the person chosen out of eight siblings. Right. That's, that's a lot of people's opinions. So yeah.

Rick Ripma: 38:18

I just have to know how did you keep How did you keep eight people

Angi Oakes: 38:21

person was very helpful. Hey, they, they were very helpful. In and to be honest, they they were doing a really good job of communicating with each other. So there wasn't a there was everybody has fine family dynamics, but there wasn't any, like really traumatizing family dynamics there. So for the most part that it they were okay. Yeah, they were good to go.

Rick Ripma: 38:45

I will say the family had that makes a big difference. Because if you like I have five brothers and sisters, and and we all get along, so we'll be on vacation together and people will go Are you guys all family? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Man, I wish my family got along like you guys get along a lot. It's not the norm. It's not I did not know that is not the norm, just how ours is, you know. So I didn't I didn't know my wife's is kind of the same way. So it's like, I had no ideas. And so I can see how difficult would be when you have some bad family dynamics with eight?

Angi Oakes: 39:20

I've been there too. Yeah, not with eight. There was a little less than eight. But yeah, and again, I will tell you, having the conversations and setting the expectations with everybody in the room and everybody being heard is vital to that process.

Rick Ripma: 39:35

Yeah. Let's see. That's, that's one of the things your standard process is to get everybody together.

Angi Oakes: 39:41

I told you what I don't do the process. Everything falls off the rails. It's a tragedy. So we try and stay very, very in that in that process.

Rick Ripma: 39:49

I don't know about you, but when I get off my process, even if something doesn't go wrong, I don't feel right. I don't like I make I make calls every day for two hours in the morning, if I don't get my calls done, I don't feel right, I'll actually I'll actually make it up later in the day or whatever I have to do, because it just doesn't feel right. I'm supposed to do this. It's part of my process, I got to do it.

Angi Oakes: 40:14

And I'm more of a free spirit kind of gal. So like I said, I'm not personality wise, driven into processes, but I forced myself to do it because I know what the result is, if I don't. So I, I, I'm okay, if I don't do a routine every day. My husband is the opposite. He is very routine, he has to be this like you. Right? I have to do this in the morning. I have to do this. And if not, he feels very off. So I understand how you feel because I live with somebody who's like that. So it's very challenging for him when I'm just like, Okay, let's go. So I applaud him for his routine. And he accepts me for for my free spirits. So there's that.

Rick Ripma: 41:00

I think I think what I took away from that is you're a free spirits. I'm much more routine. But we, but by having the the routine, or the process by having the process both people can flourish in that environment, right? Because you can you adopt it to your personality and everything else. Sure. But I know for me, it does. I drives me crazy. If I if I don't get it done, I have to do it. So what what does your team look like?

Angi Oakes: 41:30

Oh, we are a team in our infancy. So I have two team members who both came to me from outside of the real estate industry. So lucky for them, I am their first first stop. And so we started that team. And, gosh, about 18 months ago. And I think August will be August will be two years. And I'm I'm extremely blessed. I really am. I am doing it with people that I enjoy both of these people I knew prior to them getting their real estate license, they kind of raised their hand and said, Hey, I'd like to meet with you. And what does getting into real estate look like? And some, some of them were several questions. And one of them took a few years to get there. And one of them took about, I don't know, four months or so. But the joke is, and I'll just put it out there to the whole world right now that this all started because Denver on my team, his wife referred me business all the time. And I told him, it'd be really awkward if he had his real estate license. And his wife referred me business. So he and I should probably figure this out. So that's kind of how it started. It wasn't an intentional start. It's just man, I really enjoy Denver, and I really love his wife. And everybody knows that. And so I didn't want to see them go away, right like so. Okay, let's figure out how we're going to set this up. And me and I didn't set it up right last year. But we figured it out. We muddle through, we we really put our, our, our stuff together this year. So they're being very supported. And I'm pretty excited about what the team has in store. I've seen their pipelines, it's going to be a good time. So

Rick Ripma: 43:17

that's awesome. And you know, it's, it's important to enjoy who you're with. Absolutely, no, that makes you

Angi Oakes: 43:24

I can't I can't sit at a desk next to somebody I can't have fun with, right?

Rick Ripma: 43:28

Yeah, you have to. So what's one thing that you think, gee, if I could just do this, maybe two things, that it would improve my business?

Angi Oakes: 43:40

Oh, man. Um, so a few. I picked up some tips. I did a panel yesterday at our Northside location. And I picked up some tips from some agents who have been in the business for about 1516 years. And one of those is I overthink things. Sometimes that's like my, my weakness in life is I overthink it. And so I've learned over the years not to overthink so much. And sometimes just put it out there, right? It doesn't have to be perfect. And so for me, just keep keep on embracing that. And I picked up some tips from like I said, this team member who a team lead I'm sorry, who's been the business for 16 years. And yesterday and I'm gonna go take those back and implement those because I mean, she's clearly very successful. And so that would be something, you know, I'm, I'm forever learning, right? I don't I don't have it all figured out. I probably will never have it all figured out. I'm just trying to do the best I can for my team. For my clients perspective. I just, I keep learning from them too, right? Every time I do something wrong. I'm like, oh, that's never gonna happen again. So let's figure out how to fix that hole in the system. And I just keep doing that over and over and over. So with your clients who worked with me before, there's a new system, I just finished out a new buyer's guide that was inspired by a buyer who really needed something in their hands to read, and was a very like, touching learner visual learner. And so we have a new buyer's guide. I just finished that up. So that's yeah, that's,

Rick Ripma: 45:22

it's impressive. And I think it's part of why process. What I love about a process is when you work the process, but when you see the holes in the process, it's very easy to see them and you can get those fixed, I believe, and have for a long time that if if I get a question three times, I better fix whatever I've got. That's creating that question. So if, in other words, if you have if I'm your lender, and you have to call me about something, and it's and I get that same call three times that I'm not communicating well enough, that's a touch point, you need to add. Yeah, yes. So I fix that, ya know, and so even even with all the time I have on, there's still things that come up because people change and how you communicate changes. And so it is vitally important that you have, if you don't have a process you I don't know how you'd see it. But you have a process so you can see what it is. And you can say, Okay, this needs to be taken care of this needs to be fixed. Yeah. So I think that's, that's huge. What are you most excited about, as is this year takes off and into the future.

Angi Oakes: 46:34

So we spent a lot of time like I said, last year, building the team and what that looks like. And we moved from the front of the office to the back of the office, and all the team is in one, four walls together. And that literally just got done the second week of January. Okay, so we are freshly moved in one room, ready to go. And so I'm really excited about what the next 12 months does. Now that we put all those things in place, right, we moved all the chessboard off, everybody's in their place. What does that look like? And that's what I'm really excited about. I'm, I spent a lot of time last year, my numbers went down, because I spent so much time last year building out my team. And then I also was a vice chair for the South Side division of my board. And so I there was a lot of time that was spent outside of actually executing real estate. And this year, I have I'm the chair this year, but I don't my team knows like they're trained, they know what to do. They're ready to go help people. And so this year, I'm very excited to see what we do.

Rick Ripma: 47:42

Yeah, that's awesome. And it's, obviously it's vital to have other people who can take care of it while you're doing things that are important for the industry. Yeah, we yourself,

Angi Oakes: 47:51

we have a group text with the three of us on there. And oftentimes, it's okay, who's available to do a showing tonight, because I'm doing this or you know, whatever. So when in our buyer booklet you, you're introduced to all three of us because as a buyer, you will get all three of us over the course of the time of your buying very likely, just from availability of being able to show all three of us have young kids that are school age, and they all are in sports. So no matter what we've got you taken care of. It just may not always be me. It may be one of the others on Yeah, a bunch of great people so that I trained them. They're awesome.

Rick Ripma: 48:26

That's awesome. Well, so if somebody has any real estate needs, how do they get a hold of you?

Angi Oakes: 48:31

You can find me by my phone, so call or text 31751446953175144695 And I'm going to add one more thing to that. If you want to Google me to find any information out about me my first name is spelled and g a n g i And my last name is Oake s

Rick Ripma: 48:57

perfect. And if you need to get a hold of Ian or I, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. We are at the end of the show, if you would would subscribe, we would certainly appreciate it. It also helps you not miss any of the shows. And if you have any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy, sell or refinance, please go to hardworking mortgage guys.com and let us know we'd be an honor to help them out. Thanks so much and have a great day.