Guru Barbara Whiteside with Succeed Real Estate

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 and Ian 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: 0:25

the hard worker mortgage capital real estate and mortgages for over 34 years helping over 1500 folks finance their home my team and I believe in custom Keller labs, not a one size fits all approach. You know, we believe that there is a best mortgage for you and that we are the team to deliver it.

Ian Arnold: 0:41

And I'm Ian Arnold part of Rick's hard working mortgage team. And I've been in the financial and financial industry for 15 years helping customers purchase what they want and build their overall wealth, or even their credit score if they needed to.

Rick Ripma: 0:54

And as we get started today, I wanted to remind you that for the most up to date information on mortgages, or the real estate market here in Indy, go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 31767 to 1938. That's 31767 to 1938. And today, we're really excited to be talking with a real estate guru. Barbara Whiteside with succeed real estate.

Barbara Whiteside: 1:20

Yes, hello. Glad to be here. Thanks for having me. We really

Rick Ripma: 1:24

appreciate you joining us. And if somebody wanted to get a hold of you has any real estate questions or needs, how would they do that?

Barbara Whiteside: 1:30

The best way to contact me is is by cell phone, text 317-414-3262. You can also call that number as well. And you can check out my website. It's www dot succeed realestate.com And that's su CC Ed, you wouldn't believe the number of people who don't know how to spell succeed, including me when I first purchased the domain name, like, Oh, this is really available. Maybe I spelled it wrong. So yeah, Barbara Whiteside. 317-414-3262, or succeed real estate.com.

Rick Ripma: 2:07

That's awesome. It's funny because I do the exact same thing because I am a terrible speller. So when I buy a site, if it's available, it's like, okay, I must have smelled it wrong. How can it still be available? Yes.

Ian Arnold: 2:19

I mean, it's just one of those things is, we all love, spellcheck and everything. But it's like our phones. Look at how when's the last time you can rattle off somebody's phone number? Yeah, I mean, you just can't, because it's all in your phone. Let me go go to it. You talk to your grandma and grandpa, and they're like, they'll rattle off 20 different numbers. So me, it's just different. So let's Sorry, what actually got you into real estate.

Barbara Whiteside: 2:41

So I have a pretty interesting story. I'll try not to go too long and lengthy, but so I've been entrepreneur pretty much my entire life. I had a job at an insurance company for about three and a half years, started off at the bottom of the totem pole and worked my way up and you know, was very successful, but just not very happy being stuck in a cubicle, having to take an hour lunch every day. My kids were very young, I had to commute through rush hour an hour to work in our home. So I basically just lost three hours of my life every day. And I it didn't sit well with me. When I tried to talk to my employer, they were basically like, sorry about your love, they won't let me change my hours require that I took a lunch. So after that job, I got back into being an entrepreneur, again, started buying and selling, I say stuff because it's literally whatever I whatever people were wanting to buy and whatever I could buy cheap enough to make a profit off of it, if I could find it wholesale. So started doing that again. And honestly, after about three or four years, I was kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul. And I knew I didn't want to go back into corporate America because I felt like I was in prison. But at the same time, I didn't want to keep struggling. So I decided I'm going to apply for a job. And I just so everyone knows I'm not college educated. I took about a semester of college, and that's about it. I dropped out of high school in 10th grade. So I'm not you know, super educated. I had my daughter when I was 19 single mom of two kids. So not super, super qualified person when it comes to like how I look on paper, if that makes sense at this time in my life. So but I decided I'm not going to get a job unless I'm making at least 100 grand a year. And I just decide I'll keep doing what I'm doing robbing Peter to pay Paul and doing what I want to do. Or if I'm going to go back into corporate America it'll be it'll be making really good money. So I put my resume out there and I got a call from a builder. Because of my experience with one of my past businesses selling jewelry. They were looking for someone that had high end sales experience and against all odds to try to shorten it. I was not a fit for them on paper either. They wanted college educated they wanted all these things that I just didn't fit into the box. I was competing against about four or five other candidates and Somehow lo and behold, I got the job. I believe I manifested it. I don't know if that's true, I can never prove it. But just based on what they were looking for, and what I was, and my sales experience was the only thing that I that's probably that's why I got the job just because I had been buying and selling stuff, and had that high end sales experience. So long story short, after working for a builder for a year, year and a half, just kind of got back into the same mentality of it's kind of like always, what have you done for me? Never, you know, never enough and just kind of it was a lot more freedom than corporate America. I guess I can say that. But I just never felt from the builders, that you ever did enough for some reason not to, like dog them, because I love new construction. But it working for the companies that I worked for at least you just kind of always felt like the redheaded stepchild. It's the weirdest thing. You could be selling so many houses, but you just always, it always just seems like you're the You're the problem I don't know, is really weird mentality or structure that builders have the way they treat the salespeople. So I got my real estate license. And here I am now. So I hope that wasn't too long.

Rick Ripma: 6:08

No, it was great. You know, I was, I was also an a new home sales of 11 years with a builder left as the vice president sales. And, you know, it's what I've learned in my life, because I've hired lots of people. I never hire two qualifications. Because I don't think that's in what we do. Now. If you're if you're hiring a doctor, you probably want to hire to qualified, of course, yes. Or maybe an engineer, you know, there's certain things lawyer, but when you're hiring a salesperson, the personality, the man mentality, all those things are much more important. Yes, I agree. I think it's I think it's really important. So when you got into real estate, how did you get going? What did you do that make your make your business explode.

Barbara Whiteside: 6:58

So the the first year, I really struggled, going from new construction to being a realtor, I was a little cocky, I have to be honest with you. I thought I could just hit the ground running, I was going to go sell a bunch of houses. But what I didn't, what I took for granted is that the builder had people walking through the door for with all the money in advertising that they were spending, right? I didn't like I didn't real I didn't put that together. So here I am a real estate agent and everybody and their brother who would want to want to have my circle, my spear wanted to buy a house from me when I was working for the builder, but they didn't want to buy in the neighborhood I lived in or they didn't have the they couldn't buy at the price point because it's new, right? So when I got my license, I had all these people lined up that were wanting to use me to buy or sell a house. Everybody was ready and willing, but the ABLE part wasn't quite there. So I thought I was gonna you know, just go for it and get it done. And I got my license. And it wasn't necessarily crickets, but in terms of transactions or viable buyers, it was crickets. So So I ended up I started buying Zillow leads me I had a credit card, I didn't have a lot of cash. I was paying $200 a month at that time for ZIP code. And I, I don't want to say I got lucky because I don't believe in luck. I believe more in intention. But I had a cash buyer that put an offer on a property close in 10 days and I had you know $4,000 check in my pocket and that from there, I bought more Zillow leads. And that was like my first year I struggled like it wasn't great. But honestly, without Zillow, I maybe wouldn't be a realtor right now, because I didn't have any clients. And the brokerage that I was with at the time, you know, they didn't have leads, or it didn't really offer a whole lot at that time was just a small boutique brokerage. And I ended up going with Keller Williams about four or five months into my career. And I joined a team. That was a really good move for me, because I was able to learn a lot from people that were doing transactions and got to shadow them. And I think that's where like I mastered my listing presentation and all that stuff. So I was on that team for a little around a year and then finally went on my own. What really spurred my career, I think if I can look back and say where how did I go from selling five or six houses a year to selling, you know, 60 to 70 a year. And I think my best year was about 120 units. But I think so I have a lot of connections with investors with off market properties. They would send me their properties. And then I would I started building a buyer's list, started sending those properties out to my buyers list. And what ended up happening and at the time, like it was just you know, here's a property for sale. And what the perception was from the people receiving the emails, some of them is that I had all these properties for sale. They weren't my properties. I was trying to find a buyer on him. You see what I'm saying? I didn't represent them as my listings, but I didn't say this isn't my listing either. are now I think I technically have to do that on the off market properties. But what happened is a lot of those investors that were on my list were like, man, she gets a lot of property, she sells a lot of property. She's moving a lot of volume, when really I was taking other people's property saying, Hey, who wants to buy this? Because I need to make a commission. Right. And so long story short, I started getting calls from these investors when they wanted to list properties, because they it seemed like I was I was the girl to go to just based on me trying to drum up a buyer on someone else's property, if that makes sense. So yeah, so then I started getting listings, and then you know, anyone that's in the real estate industry knows, once you start getting listings, it's pretty much it's snowballs. From there, you start getting buyer leads, and more people that want you to sell their houses and etc. So it's listings that are the list listings drive the business to be 100% transparent. Right now, at this stage in my career, I don't I work specifically, I work strictly with listings, I have a team of agents, and they all work with the buyers. If it's like a repeat client, or you know, someone that I have a very strong relationship with, I'll work with them. But you know, the listings is where it's at. So that's where I focus my effort and energy in order to keep driving business for the team. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 11:13

you know, that makes sense that that's what you would do, because it's important that you're, you've you've grown big enough where you can do that. And you have people who can take care of your your those same people who are listening to house, if they if they're going to buy a house, they need somebody who can help them and you have the team that can take care of that. So it's kind of a one stop shop. Right? They just come to you and

Barbara Whiteside: 11:35

that's correct. And in terms of one stop shop as well. I mean, we we pretty much specialize in everything we we dabble a little bit in commercial, that would probably be the one thing I would say that we don't specialize in. But we do dabble in it, if it's not super complex or super complicated. We've we've done a few commercial transactions. But you know, we we work with, you know, probate, divorce, luxury investors, you know, dilapidated houses, pretty much, you know, there's the, the the motto for succeed real estate is that everybody deserves a home, or everybody deserves a place to live, right? We don't care if you're buying a $5,000 house or a $500,000. House, we want to help. So our team works with a lot of different niches. And we've been we've been very successful with that, if that makes sense. So we help everybody one stop shop. I mean, just to elaborate on that.

Ian Arnold: 12:33

So you were talking about when you first started, and then four or five months later, then you moved over. So what is mentors, mentor status? How did that help you grow from when you were like basically trying to do it on your own?

Barbara Whiteside: 12:50

It was everything. It was everything. You know, if there's any newer or younger agents listening to this, if you feel like you're on an island by yourself that you're probably not in the right place. I I've only moved one time, I know there's a lot of agents that jump brokerages all the time, I'm very happy where I'm at. So Keller Williams has a little bit of a different culture, which I didn't see it was in a small boutique brokerage, I think there was like maybe 10 or 11 agents there. And it was great, it was fine. It's just that everybody kind of was at a different stage and was doing their own thing. And here comes this new person that needs all this help that has all these questions. And it kind of just felt like I was bothersome to people. And I also felt like the advice that I got from them was based off of them and their situation. And they weren't really putting yourself in my shoes. I was a single mom that had I had to close deals. And I was kind of getting when I would take my scenarios that I was dealing with that I was like helped me I don't know what to do it the responses I would get is like, oh, that clients just difficult. Well, that doesn't solve my problem. I gotta get to the closing table. What do I do? What action do I take? Right? But I understand now at being more accomplished. I don't deal with certain people, right. But when I was new, I had to do it. Like I had to get to the closing table. That wasn't an option for me to just decide someone was difficult and that I didn't want to do it was not an option. So going to Keller Williams, there's a culture there where basically everyone helps everyone. There when I started there, there were the top, you know, agents that are in the top 10 of all my bore, were in my office. And what was the craziest thing to me is that they would literally sit down and share everything with us. They would tell us what they're doing these people that, you know, that are essentially we're all kind of competing against each other. But they would sit down and share and spill all their secrets and tell us everything. I'll share all their processes, all their documents, everything. And it took me a while to understand but so basically it's just the culture of Keller Williams, we have what's called a profit share program. So The way that the company is structured from the top down, basically makes a culture where everyone wants everyone to be successful because we share profit. So you so there's no problem with you know, the new agent in your office, knowing how you got your leads, how you close your deals, what paperwork you use, what your follow up program is, there's no competition there because when we when one succeeds, we all succeed, I guess if that makes sense. And so going into a culture like that, you know, the previous brokerage I was at wasn't bad, I didn't feel like anyone was against me. But there was no benefit for anyone to help me if that makes sense. And I it sucks that we as humans are geared that way. But whenever there's a bigger picture of why you reach your hand down and you pull somebody up, you have more people willing to do that. I guess if that makes sense.

Ian Arnold: 15:52

Now, I know we're coming up on the break. But I will tell you this each every place is going to be different each place is works for somebody may not work for somebody else and I'm glad that you found the right place. But if somebody is looking to get hold of you, how would they do that?

Barbara Whiteside: 16:07

So they can reach me on my cell phone. Text is probably the best way I get so many random phone calls random numbers so if you text me Tell me who you are and what you want. That is the best way to get directly to me 3174143 to six two, you can also do a contact inquiry form at my website www dot succeed realestate.com

Ian Arnold: 16:32

All right, and people to get hold of Ricker I go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That is HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. Or you can even call us at 317-672-1938. Again, that's 317-672-1938 and if you did miss any of this, and all the information will be down in the description of the podcast.

Unknown: 16:55

Advisors mortgage broker licensed by Indiana Department of Financial Institution equal housing opportunity. NMLS 33041 Rick ritmos NMLS 6649

Rick Ripma: 17:04

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 honesty, kindness and hard work are how we honor each client

Ian Arnold: 17:17

at hardworking mortgage guys, we believe in custom tailored loans, not a one size fits all approach.

Unknown: 17:22

We believe in always presenting you with all your options. So you get the loan you want the way you want it.

Barbara Whiteside: 17:28

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: 17:47

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: 17:59

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: 18:12

And thanks for joining us, we appreciate it. And you know, it's time now for Question of the week. Now it's time for questions with the gurus.

Ian Arnold: 18:27

All right, the question of the week is sponsored by Rick and I the hard working mortgage guys. So, for us to put together a quick easy mortgage planning for you just contact us at hardworking mortgage guys.com That is hardworking mortgage sized.com Or like or call us. 317672193. Now, here's the most important question we're going to ask you. Okay, what was your first car?

Barbara Whiteside: 18:53

What was my first car? Do you want the answer that I want to tell you or do you want the truth? Okay,

Ian Arnold: 19:01

which one has a better story? Hold on? Well, they're both

Barbara Whiteside: 19:03

Okay. Okay. So my first car, it was maybe a Skylark. It was a Buick, it was some kind of Buick. My dad had a used car lot at the time. And he hadn't started the car lot. But this was the first car that would have been on the lot. I think he paid $100 for it at an auction. And he gave it to me. And it was pretty much a rust bucket was completely rusting out. Whenever it was idle. It sounded like it was going to blow up. It was my first car. So I wrecked it pretty quickly. Thank goodness. And then my true first car which my dad like, you know, it was a nicer it was a Ford Mustang in 1989 Ford Mustang. So yeah, that's

Ian Arnold: 19:48

a big step up.

Barbara Whiteside: 19:48

Yeah, I mean, it was a four cylinder, wasn't it? But it was a convertible. It wasn't a rust bucket. No, it was not a convertible convertible.

Rick Ripma: 19:57

That's pretty high up on the first

Barbara Whiteside: 19:59

call. Yeah, it was really need my sister got one too? We're 11 months apart and he got her. Some kind of Pontiac, she got a convertible too. So my dad thought he was the coolest guy and you know, had his two kids running around in convertibles and pretty high. I thought it was pretty cool to

Rick Ripma: 20:15

like a Pontiac

Ian Arnold: 20:18

called Well, there's the Pontiac Firebird. Yeah. It was a Firebird.

Barbara Whiteside: 20:24

Yeah, I carry ever. I can't remember. I can't remember the model of my Buick. I used to remember all that stuff.

Rick Ripma: 20:30

Well, that was the first car I was in the car business is the first cars that I sold. Was it a Pontiac store? Okay. We have quite a few Pontiacs ourselves. So what you know, one of the things we heard about that now, a family is obviously extremely important, and you're sick, and everybody's success is you have to have the family. Can you tell us a little bit about your family?

Barbara Whiteside: 20:56

Yeah. So um, so as I alluded to earlier, I do have I have two children. Right now, my daughter is currently 22. And my son is 19. I did raise them on my own. So a lot of my success or you know, Dr. was basically be able to provide for my kids. And literally, like, that's, that's what every that's why I did everything I did in real estate, because I, you know, different stages of my life, I was in different financial positions, but I would say, majority of the time raising them, we were we were poor. We couldn't afford vacations. I mean, we always had a roof over our head, we always had food in the fridge always had, you know, power on and things like that. So it wasn't like, you know, we were starving or didn't have a place to call home. I always did well enough to do that. But I always wanted to do I didn't want to just survive, I guess if that makes sense. So that that has to do with the the name of my business succeed real estate, because when I was in real estate school is when I chose the name, Raymond module. And I don't know if you guys know him, he was my teacher, I love that guy. He said that he gave some kind of percentage of the number of agents that fail or within like the first year or two. And I was like, No, I'm not going to fail, I'm going to succeed. And that's where and then I was like, Wait, succeed, and came up with a name. But that basically my kids and being a single mom and my family structure is what I would say, drove and motivated me to work so hard to become a top agent. It's,

Rick Ripma: 22:28

I believe, in the first three years 90% Fail. Wow. That's what that's what somebody told us a few shows back. That's what it was. That's a huge number. It's part of why we want to make sure this gets out. If somebody who's struggling, here's your story, they understand or they might understand that what they have to do. Yeah, and many people they can reach out, they can talk to the different, you know, they're like you said, your structure at Keller Williams is a little unique. What I have found is people like yourself, top agents who are phenomenal gurus. They, they share pretty, I mean, just they're very sharing. Yes, they're very caring, they want to help the industry. So if there's agents out there, everybody's willing to help that, really, and I think sometimes it just helps to know, you didn't just walk in and you were you were a top producer, you had to work.

Barbara Whiteside: 23:20

I busted my tail. Yeah, I busted my tail. And to just to piggyback off of what you said, you wouldn't believe how many times I wanted to quit, I almost quit. So many times I went and like, you know, put my resume or updated my resume. I don't think I ever put it up there. I did apply for some jobs. And I did update my resume. And I did you know, there were just times where it was either really dry, where I didn't have a lot going on, or what I did have going on was so stressful. That made me question if this is really something I wanted to do, right. And I just I feel the reason I'm sharing that is because that, you know, once I felt okay with okay, I'm not going the wrong direction, because that's always a question you have to ask yourself, you have one life, where you put your time, your effort and energy in which direction you want to go is only up to you. If you don't feel like you're on the right path. There's nothing wrong with throwing the towel in and saying this isn't for you. But if you are dedicated and driven, decide that this is the direction that you're supposed to be going. Then in those moments where you want to quit where you pull through, that's the deciding factor of whether you're going to be successful or not. Right, that's that's what drives you when you just give up and quit. Or you quit and then you start again. Now you've lost all that time and all that momentum. I just I guess that wouldn't they put real estate on TV or portrayed anyway, they make it seem so sexy. And I'm not here to bust anybody's bubble, but there's nothing sexy about it. There's nothing I'm sorry, I'd love to sit here and say, but if there's not you every once in awhile, you get those transactions that are super smooth, super sweet, super warm and fuzzy. But majority of the time you go through hell to get where you need to go. So it does take some tenacity and someone that says, hey, in the end, this is all worth it, this is what I signed up to do, I'm going to keep doing it. And I think that's the difference between the agents that come out successful, that 10% that stay in in the three years, right, versus the ones that quit. So and I am an open book. So I've given my contact information multiple times, if anyone wants to just say, hey, here's what I'm going through, here's what I'm dealing with. I'm not a counselor, I'm not licensed to legally advise you psychologically, but at the same time, I can share my story with you and kind of tell you what I did. So I would be more than happy to help anyone at any stage in their career.

Rick Ripma: 25:48

Fantastic. It's great that you would do that. And I think it's really important for people to understand that they have people out there that will help just to help. And it's it's it's very helpful. And it's it also says a lot about our industry. I think that that our industry has a tremendous amount of phenomenal people that sometimes real estate agents end up with bad names, you know, and it's very unfair, the vast majority of agents are phenomenal people. And I think it needs you know, it what you just said is because proof of that. The other thing is people you know, a lot of times they quit right before it takes off for Yeah, you do all that work and then right before it takes off you stop. Yes. And that's, that's it's just such a shame that that happens.

Ian Arnold: 26:37

So what would you say your favorite part about being a realtor is?

Barbara Whiteside: 26:41

My favorite part about being a realtor, I would say is being able to help change people's lives. You know, I'm I'm not very salesy. I'm more of, you know, get people what they want help them make a you know, in educated decisions by providing information, so I'm not super salesy, but I can tell you, that when I sit down next to someone who shows me that they have the ability to purchase a house, but I can tell from a mentality standpoint, that they don't understand how important it is or how it can change their life. That's when I become salesy. Okay. So that's what that's my favorite part, I guess, is being able to make an impact and change people's lives.

Ian Arnold: 27:22

Alright, so I have to ask this, and I'm not going to lead into it. But I want to see if you answered the same way, Rick, and I do, how does get in the house, change your life?

Barbara Whiteside: 27:31

How does getting a house Change Your Life? Well, I'm a single single mom of two kids. Growing up, I can't count on two hands, how many places we lived, different school systems, it was very unstable. So being a mother of two kids, like buying a house and providing that stability was like huge for me. I happen to buy during the recession. So I've already refinanced my house once and I still have a ton of equity in it. So you know, other than stability, just being able to have an asset that you can leverage. That's, that's how it changed my life. And now I have something that I can pass to my children. If I want to, you know, start a business I can. I have a ton of equity in my house, anything that I want to do, really the sky's the limit, but without buying my house, that would never be that and just so you guys know, my payment when I purchased my house was $800. Right. And I was there for 13 years before I refinanced and now I'm at like, $1,100, but I have a beautiful house and your guys like you can't, you can't rent a place. Right? Like I have anywhere decent, you know, anyway, a one bedroom studio probably cost you 1100 In a decent area. So we're running

Rick Ripma: 28:51

out of time on the radio side. So we're going to be going to the podcast, but before we do, how would they get a hold of you if they have any any questions on real estate?

Barbara Whiteside: 29:00

Yeah, the best way to get a hold of me is to send me a text to my cell phone, it's 317-414-3262 again Barbara Whitesides. Send me a text or give me a call 317-414-3262 or you can go to my website and send a submit a contact form, and it's www dot succeed real estate.com.

Rick Ripma: 29:26

And if anybody needs to get a hold of ESRI, go to hard working mortgage guys.com That's hardworking mortgage. guys.com Or you can call 317-672-9038. That's 317-672-1938.

Barbara Whiteside: 29:42

So what is your guys's answer that you tell people

Announcer: 29:46

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

Barbara Whiteside: 30:10

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,

Unknown: 30:17

oh, I was looking for a mortgage for myself for a brand new home that I was building. And I wasn't sure the 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.

Barbara Whiteside: 31:30

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?

Unknown: 31:55

Absolutely. And I just want to thank them for all the effort they put in to help me find my dream home.

Announcer: 32:01

Ranch NMLS number 33041 Recruitment NMLS number 664589 equal housing opportunity, some restrictions apply. I'm Rick Ripma, you can go to hardworking mortgage guys.com.

Ian Arnold: 32:10

So our answer is normally we go to more than the financial side. So we go into more the Alright, so this how much you spend on rent this how much you spend, let's say in five years, go into that. But we also do the mental aspect of now you can change everything in your house, you can do that. I mean, we talk about I mean, we've seen people and you've probably seen it to people who bought their house for the first time in their family. And they're in their car crying after they sign because they are just so happy. I mean, just that relief of pressure of not knowing Oh my rents gonna go up every single year. And I'm just doing away. Let's say if your rent $1,000 a month, that's 12 grand, you're just throwing away just to live somewhere. Or you can invest that into yourself, right and was Indiana's roughly 5% increase every year. That's a great investment.

Barbara Whiteside: 33:07

I remember when I was renting, I think I had something in the oven. And I took the trash like I was going to take the trash out and I was like, Oh, I don't want to leave that I had to walk kind of far down to my dumpster. So I just set it out on my like, in front of my door. And I was like as soon as I turned that off, I'll go take it out. But I didn't want to leave it in the in my apartment till if there was juice in it or whatever to drain. So I just put it outside. And my landlord happened to be like making his rounds around that time. And he pounded on my door. And I think at the time whatever I was baking was done. I think it was like cookie. So I was like, Oh, let me sit down have a warm cookie. Right? Yeah. And as I'm sitting down in my apartment, eating my warm cookie, my landlord is pounding on my door like he's the police and I'm like, you know, open door. Hey, how's it going? And he literally sticks his finger in my face and yells at me. Because I put in him like, I mean literally had been out there like 30 seconds, maybe a minute. Who knows? It wasn't something it wasn't like I just put my trash in front of my door regularly. Right? I didn't like the way that felt right, that doesn't feel good to have somebody that thinks they can treat you that way essentially have power over you. I don't like people having power over me. I'm just going to be honest with you. What's the other thing I have my my nephew and his fiancee I just helped them buy a house recently because they were renovating their apartments and they even though they hadn't renovated the apartment they lived in they were raising the rates on all of the apartments to cover the renovations and also probably just to catch up because the the rates went up so fast for rent and you know, house prices. And you know, so one month they're paying 900 And then they get a notice in 60 days, they're gonna be paying like 11 or 1200 like it was pretty, pretty significant increase. And I just you know if they I told them if you guys owned your own house, you wouldn't ever have to deal with us and then we were they were getting reapproved and we were looking for. Right. So there's an element of where you kind of you get your power back a little bit too, whenever you buy a house, you know? Yep.

Rick Ripma: 35:07

I think another piece of that that's important that you were talking about is the is the equity, that people the wealth that people build with the equity in their house? Yes. And that's something that, you know, it's so important that, I bet if you sat down, and you made it, and you ran the numbers, you would be shocked at how much wealth you've helped people build in their lives. You know, we look at it that way we look at you know, okay, so not only do we help them buy a house, but then how much did they appreciate how much of the gain there? How much have they gained by paying down the the house, right? Because again, there Yeah. And then, you know, when they, when they look at, look at all of that over time, and you multiply that, it's, I mean, we've helped hundreds of millions of dollars. It's amazing how much it matters in people's lives. I think that's why it's so important. And it's, you know, you love the emotional piece of, of selling houses of doing financing and helping people get a house. But it's that piece that really helps. It changes their life, because like you said, you've got all this equity, the sky's the limit on what you can do, because you have the money to do it.

Barbara Whiteside: 36:17

Yeah. And I actually took my equity out of my house and started flipping houses. So I took 80,000 out, and I flipped for like, I think, a year and a half. And I ended up just keeping one of the properties. I had a partner I partnered, and I end up just keeping one of our houses. And that house is worth about 240,000. So I was able to triple the equity that I pulled out of the house. Yeah, I mean, it's not liquid right now. But if I wanted to put that house on the market and sell it, I could, you know, net 200 200 for about 240 230 40,000. So that 80,000 that I pulled out of my house, basically, you know, gave me three times the return. And now I own more real estate. That's phenomenal. So So what

Rick Ripma: 36:59

would you say your superpower superpowers are?

Barbara Whiteside: 37:02

So you know, I don't know that anybody would consider this a superpower. But based on our conversation, you know, I think my superpower is I have the ability to just instantly warm people up. Like I was talking to a guy on the phone last night called me off of the sign couldn't find the house because we do directional signs, frustrated Where the hell's this house at right and frustrated? And I'm like, you know, hey, do you have a realtor helping you? So I converted him, you know, off the house on the process. That's what I tell my agents converted him to where, you know, he was talking to me about what he wanted. And he just started off like, very kind of stressful and very tense, right? And by the end of the conversation, I was like, so how do I spell your name? And he's like, he's, he's said he said his name. I think it was like ersten or something like that. And I kept saying, Thurston like, I couldn't, I'd never heard the word ersten before. So I kept like, making up stuff. And he was like, Well, if you could say it, right, you might be able to spell it right. And I said, Well, you know, so he tells me, you know, how to spell his name. I said, Oh, I thought you're gonna let me take a crack at it, you know. So, like, by the end of the call, we're just, we're cutting up and joking with each other. Right? And I know that this guy is going to be my clients, because we just built rapport. We already know that our personalities click, but when he called he was, you know, upset and pissed off because he saw a sign with an arrow but couldn't find a house for sale. Right? And it was actually it was it was an old directional sign that got left and there was no house for sale anymore. So I mean, his you know, rightfully so for his frustration, but I'm not sure why or how or what but it's something that I do, and I can do and yeah, I think it's my it's my What do you call it my magic power superpower?

Ian Arnold: 38:51

It could be your magic power. Yeah. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 38:54

I think they said they could fly.

Barbara Whiteside: 38:56

Oh, yeah. Well, there's a window right there you're nicer than me. If you tell me you can fly I'm telling you to go for the window and show me

Rick Ripma: 39:13

makes note of that. We don't want to tell her we can fly

Ian Arnold: 39:18

alright, I do have to say though, that most people don't realize that we talked to people during many different situations in their life. So some are happy some are not so happy some are irritated like you're so being able to come somebody is a huge superpower be able to break down walls. I mean, look, I was in car sales for longest time people hate car salespeople. I mean, luckily I was one of the good guys but until you know that there wasn't Yes. But until you know somebody, it's hard for people to open up to you so and like you I like to joke around a lot if people can't tell. So I mean, it just it breaks the ice a lot better, I think with a lot of people. So I think yeah, that is a huge superpower.

Barbara Whiteside: 39:59

Yeah. Not sure what I do or how I do it. Honestly, nobody taught me I didn't intentionally say, How can I get people to warm up to me faster and easier? I maybe I read some books and got some knowledge, and I do use it and apply it. But it's definitely not like, what's the word like, calculated? I guess if that makes sense?

Ian Arnold: 40:17

Well, it's the art of being able to read a situation and people I would say, but I do have a good question. What would what would you consider one of your most memorable deals?

Barbara Whiteside: 40:28

Oh, man, I've had some doozies. For sure. Memorable deal. I think, for me, any the most memorable ones are always single moms, always single moms that, you know, maybe are the first in their family to ever own a house. Right? Those are nice, because I can relate to that, because I'm a single mom, like, it's very, it's very emotional. It's very rewarding, you know, like, you know, that you had to really be very responsible, in order to keep them alive. Just kidding. But in order to take care of them, be responsible with your finances, have some money in the bank and be able to it just, it's, it's a one heck of an accomplishment. So anytime I see a single and it could be a single guy, I've never sold a house to a single guy with kids. Unfortunately, it's always been single moms, in my situation.

Ian Arnold: 41:20

So if you're a single dad out there and would like to buy a home, she would like to be your first Yes,

Barbara Whiteside: 41:25

I want to be your first single dads. I respect everyone that takes care of their family, whether male, female, single or a couple. So I'll take it, come on over there, get a hold of you. 317414326 To send a text, that's the best way. Just tell me who you are and what you want. And I'll get back to you.

Rick Ripma: 41:45

Now, so. So send a text, I just bring this up because our technology has changed. So how has it changed what you do?

Barbara Whiteside: 41:53

Oh, um, it's, it's tremendous. I mean, yeah, I so I'm starting to dive a little bit more into the AI and understand that. It's definitely not up my alley, not something I would want to like spearhead. But I'm looking to hire a Director of Operations for my company. And I would like that person to specialize or be very knowledgeable in AI, because I believe that's the way that we're going how that's going to change my business. I don't know yet. But I do know that it's something that I need to implement or, yeah, sink or swim. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 42:27

it's definitely going that way. I just started learning about it. And my coach gave me, you know, one to start with, and it is amazing. I do though, sometimes you get on these chat boxes. And you can tell us an AI right. And actually, sometimes it's actually very irritating.

Barbara Whiteside: 42:47

Yeah. Because they keep asking the same stuff over and over. It's like human please. Human bliss. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 42:52

So they're getting there. They're not where they're not where humans are. You know, right. I agree. I think it's, I think it's good. Well, we've seen it. How many things have we seen that it were? I mean, when I got into the business, fax machines were big. I mean, that was really important to have.

Barbara Whiteside: 43:08

When anytime someone says can I send a fax I just I'm like, Nope, we don't have fax machine. Which, which we do. It's the worst way? Yes. It's the worst way to send information. They get a confirmation, but it still doesn't come through on our end like, no, no, let's stay at an email.

Rick Ripma: 43:28

Most of them now. Come into your internet. That's

Barbara Whiteside: 43:31

true. It comes in like an email. Yeah, comes like an email. It's not safer.

Rick Ripma: 43:37

People can't see it, right.

Barbara Whiteside: 43:39

Yeah, it is what it is. Yeah. That's a big change. Yeah, I hear a lot of stories from realtors in the way they used to conduct business before technology. And yeah, I can't. There's nothing I can say about that. Other than, yeah, I'm grateful. I'm just I'll just say I'm grateful for technology when it works.

Rick Ripma: 43:55

Yes, when it works. That's what we're testing today. This is our first video broadcast this white kid

Barbara Whiteside: 44:01

I dressed up and I fix my hair. So I mean, let's hope it works. Let's hope it works.

Ian Arnold: 44:07

Okay, so what does the team succeed, real estate look like?

Barbara Whiteside: 44:12

Okay, so from an administrative standpoint, we have a runner that does anything, basically agent responsibility, non sales. So we want our agents to focus on sales and focus on their clients in the service to them. So we have a runner on staff. We have a transaction slash listing coordinator on staff that basically enters all the listings and transacts all the court coordinates all the transactions. And then we have an executive assistant. She's been with us for four years. She's based in the Philippines. She's wonderful. Her name is Belle. So that's our administrative staff. So we have three administrative staff. And then we have in terms of agents we have me, we have Anthony, Keisha and Bob. So we have for a agents on the team, including me. And like I said, the agents work in all niches. And I'm specifically specializing in listing so that I can also be I'm kind of I'm the Director of Operations right now, but we are looking to hire for that position as well.

Rick Ripma: 45:17

So I have a VA also. But you're the first person I've had on that has talked about having a VA? Yeah. What's What do you see the benefit is and how is it helping you in your business?

Barbara Whiteside: 45:29

Okay, so the biggest benefit, maybe call it selfish, but so my VA has already purchased a home, and she just bought her first brand new car. Awesome. Okay, so the salary that she makes with me, is equivalent to someone in the Philippines, probably making about 75 to 85,000 a year. All right. So that's very rewarding for me. So when you say what, you know, that's what I get out of it. I can say for anybody that is working with VAs or wants some help or advice with Bas, probably virtual assistant. Okay,

Ian Arnold: 46:07

I was wondering, yeah, I don't want to interrupt, but I wanted somebody to Yes,

Barbara Whiteside: 46:11

VA is a virtual assistant. So one of the one of the biggest things that I can share with someone that is hiring, or is currently working with a virtual assistant, is whenever I first hired my virtual assistant, I just gave her very mundane menial task to do. I didn't give her anything very complex. And for some reason, I don't know if someone told me that, but I had like a self limiting belief that she could only do like, very simple, like, robotic type of tasks, if that makes sense. She she's my, my executive assistant, right? She pretty much does all admin. That, you know, the transaction coordinator or me, the Director of Operations doesn't do in and she's phenomenal. Phenomenal. She's a doer. So you know, that's, that's, those are the two things that I guess I can share the most as I'm, I'm literally changing someone's life and a third world country because I'm employing them. And then I, as a human, or as a boss, as a leader have grown to know that you can't put limits on people who want to succeed and thrive. And she has shown me that and it's it was it's a game changer for me, game changer.

Rick Ripma: 47:31

Well, a lot of them are extremely intelligent. They've they've gone through college, they've got they're educated, they obviously speak more than one language because they speak English. Yes. Yes. They're, you know, they can, there's so much they can do. And I know mine, I just I just keep asking her. And I told her today I said, just keep telling me what your what you what you like to do what you're good at? Because I don't always know. Yes, some things I do, I could easily have her do. And so we're she's gotten more and more because of, of just to ask him, you know, what is it that you're good at. And I think that I want to talk about because I think there's agents out there that maybe have never heard of it before. Or maybe they've heard of it, but they don't know, it is it can be really helpful to not only your business, but to that person

Barbara Whiteside: 48:21

leverages everything, I mean, you're gonna get to a point where when you get good, you're gonna be by yourself, you're gonna get so good that you're gonna have so much going on that one day, you're gonna look up and you're gonna say, I can't do all this, I need help, right? Have a virtual assistant as a new agent who's just starting makes the most sense than going in hiring someone at a $50,000 salary. Because first of all, you don't know if it's just, you know, temporary, maybe you're just you just don't know, it's so new So, but a virtual assistant to they're very loyal. I have to put a shameless plug in here. So my virtual assistant is so good, that she started taking all her friends that needed jobs, and matching them up with agents. And then she would charge a fee to train the chair to train the VA, because she's worked for me for four years. So she's done everything in my business. She knows the ins and outs of a real estate business. And she started when I was like at, you know, 888 million a year, right? So I wasn't doing a ton, but she was with me. And she was there all the way up until my highest number so but shameless plug. So we did end up. I told her I said, Hey, why don't we why don't we start a virtual assistant business. I'm an agent who can counsel and talk to agents. You're a VA who can counsel and talk to the VA? Why don't we bring our strengths together and then offer a service to people. So whenever an agent is like, what should I do when I hire my VA? Or how can I train my VA? Now they've got you know, both sides of it. So we just actually started a virtual assistant. I don't know what a virtual assistant business I guess I don't know. I guess that's what you call it. By I think that's super cool. Like, I'm super excited about teaming up with someone in a third world country and starting a business with them. Man, this is good. This is life changing for her. It could be life changing for me too, but I'm not going in. I'm more thinking about her. Like, how wonderful is that? So just FYI, that there is a need for it. There's a huge demand, or would we wouldn't even be talking about it, but I highly, highly recommend it.

Rick Ripma: 50:23

So we're running out of time. But if anybody has any real estate needs any any questions, or or also if they have if they want more information on VA, who said Well, first let's talk about that. They contacted they want more information on a

Barbara Whiteside: 50:41

VA they can, they can contact me as well. Same number and and Bell. My virtual assistant has access to my text. Okay, so we both work that form of communication together. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 50:52

yeah. And so what is the best number for them to call? If they're looking to virtual assistant or somebody out there going, Man, I want to work with her. I want to buy a house. Well, I guess I want to list a house. Yes.

Barbara Whiteside: 51:04

Well, we'll help you buy two, we'll help you buy a house too. You can text me if you want to buy a house, we've got an agent, we'll get you to an agent. Yes, buy, sell, build, invest with success. That's our motto. 317-414-3262 If you're able to text that's the best way just let me know who you are and how I can help you. Or if you feel like calling that's totally fine, too. We'll take care of you either way.

Ian Arnold: 51:28

All right. And reminder if you know any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy, sell or refinance, please contact us at HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That is HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or call us at 317-672-1938

Announcer: 51:43

branch NMLS number 33041 Recruitment NMLS number six, six for finding 19 Arnold's NMLS number is 1995469 equal housing opportunity. So I'm restricting supply