Guru Cate Waggoner-Lee with Craftsman Group

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

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 and the Indian real estate market, go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. And I happen to be Rick Ripma, the hard work of mortgage guy I've had the honor of helping over 5200 folks finance a home closing over a billion dollars. My team and I believe in custom tailored loans, not the one size fits all approach. We also believe that there is a best mortgage for you. And we are the team to deliver it. And you know, I'm very excited today to have Kate Wagner. Lee. Hello, how are you doing? Great, great. And you're what you're now you have it's the craftsmans group

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 1:11

with REMAX advanced. Yes. So we are a team. And then we have recently, I guess, a couple years ago, we joined with REMAX advanced. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 1:18

awesome. And you've and you've been in real estate for

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 1:22

20 years. I just had my 20th anniversary. I started when I was 12.

Rick Ripma: 1:26

Yeah, that's what I that's good time to start. You're you got a lot of experience. That's so you've, you've done a tremendous amount of business. You're, you're you know, you're a guru. That's why you're on you're a guru in real estate, we want to talk to the top people because we think it's really valuable for people to hear from you. And your story is very interesting. It's a fantastic. I just love talking about the story. So we'll just get into it. Sure. So how did you get into real estate back when you were 12? Well,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 1:59

I did start actually, when I was 23. I started right out of college. So actually, I hadn't even graduated at that point. Going through college, I could not figure out for the life of me what I wanted to do in life. I took all the career personality placement test, nothing just fit. Because real estate is not one of those that's on the list, you know, Doctor lawyer, those are the normal ones. I really enjoyed taking classes in psychology. So I did I do have a major in psychology. But when I was in my senior year, somebody mentioned real estate to me and the light bulb just went off. I was like, Oh my gosh, that is it. That is what I want to do. It's a good blend of people paperwork, I get to walk through cool houses. So I started taking the class, the beginning of my senior year of college, the real estate course. And I got licensed in January. I started selling before I even graduated and then I finished college in May I figured I was that far along. I might as well finish and get my degree, which I have used it a lot. But so yeah, I started right out of college and I haven't looked back and where did you go to school? Franklin College Grizzlies.

Rick Ripma: 3:08

I mean, I I've never actually visited but I've driven by it a bunch of

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 3:12

beautiful down there. I've known quite a few people who graduated from Yeah, it's a good school. Good school. Yeah, it has.

Rick Ripma: 3:17

It has really good reputation. And you studied

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 3:20

psychology psychology. Yeah. So I went through a couple of different majors throughout school and nothing just stuck. And psychology was the most interesting major for me. So I went with it. But I knew I did not want to be a therapist, although I basically am a therapist now helping people buy and sell houses and work through this emotional turmoil. So it's come in handy quite a bit.

Rick Ripma: 3:42

That's what that was. One of my questions was, how do you how does that yeah,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 3:46

it does apply? 100% It does.

Rick Ripma: 3:48

It is amazing to me how those you know, all the things that we we learn many times we don't think they're going to help us and for me it was my mom made me take typing. I was sure that there was no reason I would ever need to know how to type.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 4:05

And now today laptop their computer over there

Rick Ripma: 4:10

it is all you do. And if someone needs to get a hold of you, what's the best way to get home?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 4:14

Sure. They can call or text me at 317-430-3890 or you can always look me up online at Rubicon realtor.com

Rick Ripma: 4:24

and Rubicon real tour is why that's kind

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 4:27

of my tagline. So I drive a beautiful white Jeep Her name is Roxy and I love driving her around because I like you know taking the freedom tops out and having the sun in the summer I love going through the snow and four wheel drive. So it's just fun. And somebody mentioned that the term to me Rubicon realtor and it just stuck like that's it. That's what I want to be known as. So yeah, Rubicon realtor.com Look me up. I'll take you for a ride in the jeep.

Rick Ripma: 4:57

And you know it those words fit together. So they're good at it. Having that makes, it just makes it easy to remember Rubicon River. That's easy to remember it is it is very easy to remember. So you became a real estate agent while you were still in school. Yeah. Which is? That's, that's amazing to me. I don't think I've talked to anybody who that's what they did. And, and you obviously that you knew what you wanted to do. And you found your passion.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 5:28

Yeah, I love real estate. Yeah. And I find I mean, most people in real estate, at least that I find real estate as a second or third career for them. I'm one of the weirdos that it's my first and only career. But I find that it, it uses so many different skills that I'm always learning. And it just makes every day fresh and new. So it's always exciting.

Rick Ripma: 5:50

Yeah, that's what I like about I think it's, it's always exciting. So what is it you love most about real estate? Oh, my gosh,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 5:56

a lot of things. I probably say, mostly helping people achieve their dream of whether it's moving into their dream home or getting a, you know, downsizing, heck, moving out of state and getting their retirement home, something like that. So really helping people is probably the first and foremost thing, I do lead a team as well. And I very much enjoy coaching them and helping them basically be the best agents they can be. So it's kind of twofold. I love working with my clients, but I love doing that. But real estate in general, it's so I'm gonna use the word flexible, but every day is different. And so I do have the opportunity to be home and have dinner with my kids. And then I can go take a phone call after that. So I have that flexibility. I mean, I have some clients that want to talk after their kids are in bed, and then minor in bed. So we'll, we'll take a phone call at 10 at night, and we're all super focused. And it's really cool that I can be able to do that and be there with them through somewhat a stressful time. So it's kind of cool.

Rick Ripma: 7:01

Yeah, it is. It's a very emotional time. Whether you're buying or selling a house. And it's there is there's a lot of stress. I sold houses for 11 years with a new home builder. Nice. And so you have a six month process. Yeah. And there is a you could see the stress. I mean, just it's up and down and up and down. And you could never take it personally if somebody came in upset or because it's just the stress of the process. And that's just part of it. Deal with it every day. Yes.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 7:29

When you had a six month timeframe. I mean, some of these are happening in two weeks. I had one we just accepted an offer yesterday, and we close in two weeks, and they are pulling their hair out like oh my gosh, we're where do I put the couch? How do I get everything out? Right? Yeah, it can be scary.

Rick Ripma: 7:45

Yeah, the two weeks is great, because it's only two weeks of stress. That's true. And it's a market where you can do that. Because you know, everybody's a little slower. So razors get out there in a timely fashion. That's even closer to home alone in two weeks. And that's which is normally what holds it up as you can't. Yeah. The the problem always with a quick turnaround like that is if anything goes wrong, you know, which the vast majority of time it doesn't you got right, you know, it just doesn't. But right now, it's pretty easy.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 8:14

But if it does, it can really throw things. Yeah. Because you've planned your movers already, and you can't get things changed. You

Rick Ripma: 8:20

just added a whole bunch of extra stress. Exactly. And yes, in a market like this, it's not a problem and a big, you know, really busy market then it can be it can be a real problem. Yep. So when you when you got started to me, okay, you're, you're in, you're in school. So how did you get going? What did you do? What was what did you do to get moving?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 8:42

Well, um, a couple of things, I guess, because I was still taking classes. So that was a little challenging. And I joined an office in Greenwood, which was about a 20 minute drive from school. So I had the flexibility, you know, in between classes or whatnot to head to the office and be there for meetings and whatnot to learn. I started networking with people in college. Just right then in there, there were friends that were getting ready to graduate and they wanted to buy their first home, they already had jobs lined up so I started networking there but I also did a bunch of open houses so I didn't have my own network a huge network in the area because I'm originally from Kokomo so my family and friends are all hour and a half away. And I knew I was going to settle in the Greenwood area so I moved there and I just started doing open houses to kind of build my base of people that I knew and really if it weren't for open houses I would not have been as successful that I any new agent starting I think open houses are a great thing to do.

Rick Ripma: 9:43

Yeah, I can I come in from New Home Sales, that would be the very first thing I would do because you know, you know how to do that. And I talked to you know, a lot of agents who have become very successful from from working the open houses. But today is it a little more difficult for A new person to get an open house. I was talking to an agent earlier in the week and they were saying, you know, I was doing open houses, but now all the experience agents they want to do their open houses because the markets change.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 10:11

Yeah, no, I don't disagree with that, I would say don't as a newer agent. Don't be afraid to ask other agents from other brokerages. I mean that I've held other agents homes open, that's no issue at all. You can put your own signs out and your you can advertise yourself. But I find that it's key to put like put a note out to everybody in your office, hey, do you have a listing coming up this week, so you can plan ahead of time if the listing goes live on Thursday, plan to hold it open on Saturday or Sunday, and don't think that you just have to do open houses on Sundays. And if there's another agent doing it Sunday, from noon to two, who's to say you can't do one, Saturday 10 to 12. So I try to pay attention to how many corners how many turns like how many signs you'll have to have up to direct traffic to the listing. Balloons always helped to catch attention. Partnering with a great mortgage consultant to help advertise, it helps. But not only that, is thinking about the community and what's going on if there is a school nearby, and you know that they're having a baseball game at 10am. On Saturday morning, maybe you schedule your open house for 11 or 12. So that when people are coming out of that baseball game, they can swing by so be mindful. But really, you can look anywhere. And don't be afraid to ask other agents from other brokerages. If you can hold it open, it's a win win.

Rick Ripma: 11:33

So what I hear is, part of what I hear is, it's more than just going and sticking a sign in front of the house and saying I'm open, you have to plan it out, go look at what you're doing, and make sure that you're optimizing it.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 11:46

Absolutely. And if there are other listings in the area, partner with those agents and do kind of a mega open house where everybody's holding one at the same time. They're even put an event out on something like Facebook, just do what you can to generate more traffic, because and I would say the other thing is, don't your goal shouldn't be to have 40 groups of people through if you have too many people through you can't communicate and build a relationship with all those people. Some of the best open houses I've had, have had one group of people through. And we sat and talked for 30 minutes, and we got to know each other. And I mean, some of which I've had one client that we met in an open house. And I think they bought and sold four houses with me. So we have a friendship that will last a lifetime. It's kind of cool.

Rick Ripma: 12:32

And in real estate really is much more about relationships.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 12:36

100% Yes, because those your clients need to know like and trust you, right, that's a common thing out there. And hopefully they'll get to like you up front, and then get to know you and then over time they're going to trust you because you're going to show them that you're educated and knowledgeable know what you're doing. So yeah, that's that's important.

Rick Ripma: 12:56

We're coming up on break. Yes. So what is the best way to contact you okay,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 13:00

you're feel free to call or text me on my cell. It's 317-430-3890 that's 317-430-3890 or you can look me up online at Rubicon realtor.com. That's RUBICONREAL t o r.com.

Rick Ripma: 13:21

It's funny because some of these words are hard, like mortgage people misspell it all the time.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 13:25

Everybody says realtor or reality. And I'm like, No,

Rick Ripma: 13:29

it's real time I try, you know, because I was I was raising real adore. Right? So desperately to just say realtor and I know sometimes it slips out wrong. It's okay, it's just drives me crazy. When I do that. If you need to get a hold of ESRI, it's hard working mortgage guys.com That's hard working mortgage guys.com And after the break, we're gonna find out the question of the week with Kate and find out her answer to that. And we'll see you in a minute.

Unknown: 14:03

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

Rick Ripma: 14:11

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

Unknown: 14:20

believe honesty, kindness and hard work are how we honor each client and hardworking mortgage guys, we believe in custom tailored loans, not the one size fits all approach. Do you 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,

Rick Ripma: 14:54

we believe 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: 15:06

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: 15:20

Thanks so much for joining us. And we are back of course, I'm Rick Ripma your hard work and mortgage guy and I am with Kate Wagner Lee

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 15:28

Hello. And you're with REMAX advanced the Craftsman group at REMAX advance.

Rick Ripma: 15:33

Perfect. And we'd like to start the after the break off with our question of the week. And I think this one's right up your alley. Okay. Now it's time for questions with the gurus What was your first or most memorable car?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 15:56

Oh, I like this one. You are a car guy. I

Rick Ripma: 16:00

can tell ya. I am a little bit of a car guy.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 16:02

I don't remember what year it was. But it was a Pontiac Grand Am GT one very specific. I remember because my my dad surprised me. He told me that he was not getting me a car. When I turned 16. I said fine. I was I was sad. But whatever. went and took my driver's exam at the BMV. And I came and my aunt showed up. And I was like, Oh, hi, like, Thanks for supporting me. Okay. I was like, that's nice. So I walk outside, we're done. And she was asking me, Well, are you getting a new car? And I was like, No Dad said he's gonna wait a while make sure I keep my grades up and stuff like that. But he did have his eye on one. And I think it was a GrandAm and he was talking about it being this turquoise color. And we're walking by one right then. And so she stops me. And then I see it and recognize what's going on. And of course I started crying but it was a really great car and yeah, got myself a nice little sunroof for it got the CD player, you know, but it was a good car

Rick Ripma: 17:08

that was like you have fond memories of that.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 17:10

I do I've had three grand dams. I really liked Pontiac back in the day. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 17:15

it's funny because my when I years ago so it would be what now 40 years ago when the first job I had really real job I bartending before then and all that I have a real job and no, but I don't know why. But even when you're working in the restaurant industry, at least back then everybody I talked to was like, Oh, I can't wait till I get my real job. It's like well,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 17:39

I'm well people say that about real estate agents, too. Maybe it's because we don't have a salary. Maybe that maybe that's

Rick Ripma: 17:44

it? Yeah. Anyway, go ahead. Go. So anyway, so I I saw Pontiacs that was the first dealership I worked at was coral Pontiac Nikon key it was in Keystone Avenue. And it was a it was it was a great place. And you know, I sold I sold real I sold cars because I love cars. And that's what you know, everybody sees I love cars. I love car racing. It's funny though. I don't go to the races because I can't unlike you who likes the sun and all that I can't sit in the sun. It makes me sick. And I can't deal with the heat and all that but I love to sit and watch it you know and and I really love it. This is awful cars, but I really love drag boats.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 18:23

Okay, now you're talking to a boater here, so I totally get it. Yeah. The water. Yes, yeah. No, but if you get a chance, I will sit my husband took me down and surprise me at barber down in Birmingham. And we did the Porsche experience. Okay, that was really fun. You should try that.

Rick Ripma: 18:41

Yeah, I'm a little afraid my aggressiveness.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 18:45

They'll keep you in check. I don't know. It was it was fun. Taking those corners.

Rick Ripma: 18:50

I used to I used to race and I've had several Corvettes. That's a great place to go.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 18:57

It's a beautiful track. Yeah. Oh my god

Rick Ripma: 18:59

that was watching the I can't remember the program. It was I like car shows. And they were there. And they were showing it was Wayne Carini and he was there and he wrote his old motorcycle on the track and they showed the track but it was just it's a beautiful

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 19:13

museum there to motorcycle museum. It's amazing.

Rick Ripma: 19:16

They showed some of that. It's just the facility is phenomenal. Yes, it is. But I just you know, I can talk about cars all that well. In fact, we did one of these shows only about cars.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 19:27

Well, we can go on different tangents if you want. It's okay.

Rick Ripma: 19:32

I do I do get I will get on a tangent with cars. But I do I do love them. And as you can see with all my signs and everything. Yeah, yeah. So what is your typical day as a real estate agent? What's the typical?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 19:47

No, typical. Good. You only think typical is you know, getting my kids on the school bus which they missed the bus this morning. Of course. There you go. throws a wrench in the day already. Um Oh, I mean, of course, it's different. But I do have some daily goals, if you will, or tasks that I tried to attend to which are touching base with any of my pending properties, I will have my clients, whether they're buyers or sellers touching base with a lender, title companies, anybody like that, I will also have on my list to follow up with potential leads, or anybody that has been on the radar that they're going to buy or sell in the next 3060 days, I try to do that on a regular basis as well. Inevitably, I'm going through searches that I've set up in the system to make sure hey, are there any listings that are going to match for what my buyers are looking for, I'll typically have at least one market analysis that I'm doing, whether it's for one of my clients, or one of my team members, helping them comp out a property. So it's a lot of just checking boxes of making sure I'm staying up to date on things, but then inevitably, within an hour, I'm gonna get a phone call or a text message of somebody having a fire that needs put out, or they need guidance on something. And that's where I really enjoy taking those specific situations and working through them. So I just have that availability that if somebody needs me to talk about something, I'm there for them.

Rick Ripma: 21:14

I think that's one of the things I can see it in your face that you really like about your job is that it's it's it, there's all kinds of things going on. And you get to do a variety of

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 21:23

100% Yes, and again, different situations and what one particular client is going to need, they may need a little more hand holding, or someone else wants to see more numbers. I'm happy to jump in and take the challenge. So I love it all.

Rick Ripma: 21:37

So what would you say your superpower or superpowers

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 21:41

are? Ooh, good question. I would say boiling over the the pot of spaghetti water, I do that all the time, is a true superpower. That's all I'm always boiling over on the stove. So that's why my husband cooks. No, I would say probably also just helping clients and agents. But helping people get out of the emotional part of their brain, and helping them to try to make logical and rational decisions that are based on reasoning and not emotion. Because I find that sometimes when people hear some news right up front, it might get them angry or get them sad or get them worked up over something. Sometimes we need to eat a Snickers bar and calm down a little bit. And if they have a moment to calm down, we talk through it. And then we'll work through all of the potential pros and cons and different solutions so that they can make a good decision that they're going to be happy with 30 days from now and even three years from now. So I find that sometimes people get worked up and want to make a rash, impulsive decision. And those don't always end up very well. So I think I'm pretty good at helping people calm down and think through things before they really make a rash decision. So they can make it more mindfully

Rick Ripma: 22:59

as we had talked. It's such an emotional situation, whether you're buying or selling, to have somebody who stays out of the emotional piece is extremely important.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 23:12

And some people just need to vent. That's where the therapist and me comes out. Thank you very much. I can let them vent, hold their hand and then kind of explain other such other people that have been in similar situations. And here's how we've handled it or, you know, is losing a refrigerator? Is is that really going to matter in the next 30 days? Or three years? No, it's not. Let's let's ignore the refrigerator and move on.

Rick Ripma: 23:37

Right. Yeah, it's it's you got to focus on the goal. Yes. And then realize, you know, what the situation is and I like to with in my role is educate people. Yeah. Right. And give them the information and make sure they have the right information to make the correct decision for them.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 24:01

Yeah. So they're making an educated decision and not an emotional decision. Right. That's fantastic. Exactly. That's the way to go about it.

Rick Ripma: 24:07

Yep. So that's, and that's what it sounds like you do you educate them, you help them understand, and now they can make the right decision. Because this is a long term decision. Most people don't buy house move out tomorrow. They, they they're there for years. I've been in my house over 30 years. Yeah, it was a long term decision very,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 24:26

very much so. And you know what, even if it's not, if you end up having to sell in two years, okay, then we'll work our way through it. So money is just money. I know people get upset about that. I don't want to lose $1,000 on my house, in the grand scheme of things, take the $1,000 loss and go be where you want to be whether that's on the beach or in a different house. Yeah, I'm happy to help.

Rick Ripma: 24:49

Yeah. And yeah, and you can you you always have to make those decisions. And it's, I think when you almost in my opinion, almost always you have Put the financial piece in the backburner. Make the decision that's right for you. And then you can check it with the financial piece. That's a great way to look at it. I like that, you know, yep, that's I just think that's important. So, you know, we talked about the typical part of the job. And you're and we and we heard your, your superpowers.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 25:20

And I leaned over, that's

Rick Ripma: 25:22

my, yeah, sorry. That's the best answer we've had yet. But Ian's favorite questions, since he's not here, I get to ask it. What's your most memorable transaction?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 25:36

Oh, I like this one. Well, I've had a few I would probably say, the most memorable is a young lady who was getting out of an abusive relationship. And I helped her get through it, selling her house in the most, I would say, call me way that we could to where she was not in danger. And he didn't realize that she was going to be leaving and moving out of state. And so we worked it out together, may got the house, moved through the clutter, the prod, the pending process, got to closing. And then right after closing, she took the moving van and moved out of state and got away from him. And we're still good friends to this day. And so it was really cool to help somebody accomplish something that she was so scared of, and she couldn't talk to anybody about it. So it makes me a little emotional about it. But I mean, she's been, that was 12 years ago, I think. And she's gone to college, she has a whole new life and is happy and everything's great. So that's probably the most memorable but I mean, there's a lot of crazy I've gotten fleas a few times from houses, walked in on squatters. There's a lot of lot of fun squats. Oh, yeah. And they one of them. The guy jumped out the window. It was like negative 14 outside and he jumped out the kitchen window. And I was like, Yeah, I'm not going in now. Sorry. I'm not going in. I'll stand here on the porch

Rick Ripma: 27:03

because it hurts the show. And I would

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 27:07

say we're not interested. So

Rick Ripma: 27:09

that kind of puts a really bad spin. Right. That's your clothes Exactly. on your on your show. And I don't think that that would be I know. Unless unless it was a police officer, you were showing how EBRI

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 27:22

just turned in. I locked the door and we went straight to our car. So

Rick Ripma: 27:28

my wife loves young Sheldon. Oh, great show. Yeah. And one of the shows, he's he doesn't want to, you know, because he doesn't want the house to be sold. So he's trying to find a reason that people can't, and what he's trying to find out if there's if there anybody was ever murdered there. That Yes. He just needed to get squatters out there that deters anybody. I would think it would deter most people. There are certain things that do to tourists, which is kind of it's kind of funny that it really shouldn't.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 27:59

It shouldn't. But some it does. You're right. I mean, heck, you can find just a house with wallpaper. And that will turn people away. I'm like, Dude, you can take the wallpaper off the wall. Right? So those are some of the most fun homes to sell. Because so many people are not interested. And I can sit with the buyer and envision like, hey, let's take this down. Let's paint this wall. Change this flooring and you've got a whole new house. Right? A lot of people can't see that.

Rick Ripma: 28:24

And you're gonna do it anyway. Probably right.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 28:26

Good point. People. Yes. Make it their own anyway,

Rick Ripma: 28:29

right. So a lot of people whether, you know, they paint it, right, yes, but I know a lot of people who list their house they go and spend the time to paint it. But I don't know if that's necessary. We are running out of time on the radio. So we're gonna be switching over to the podcast side. But before we do that, what is the best way for somebody to contact you?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 28:46

I would say call or text me on my cell phone which is 317-430-3890 or you can always look me up online at Rubicon realtor.com Find me on all the social sites to Rubicon realtor, or I always go with Rubicon realtor because nobody knows how to spell my name. Kate Wagoner Lee leaves the only part that anybody can spell because Kate is with the C. Waggoner is with two G's and an O. So Rubicon realtor.com.

Rick Ripma: 29:14

But you know, that's, I still think that's a great name. So it's good. If you need to get ahold of Ian or I for any mortgage information. It's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com And we look forward to seeing you on the podcast side.

Announcer: 29:30

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. Branch NMLS. Number 33041. Rick Ripma is NMLS number 664589. Ian Arnold's NMLS number is 1995469 equal housing opportunity, some restrictions apply.

Unknown: 29:54

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 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 to 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: 31:45

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

Rick Ripma: 31:51

I'm Rick Ripma You can go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Thank you so much for joining us. If you're coming from the radio, you are in the right spot, as it says you got the right chapter. So do market. And we are talking with Kate Wagner Lee, and she is a real estate agent with REMAX advantage advanced advanced advanced advanced and that's the what's the group?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 32:14

Oh and my group. Yes. And I run the team, the Craftsman group. So when I owned my own brokerage we were craftsman Realty Group. So when we merged over with REMAX, we kept the Craftsman name

Rick Ripma: 32:25

and what are the craftsmen they mean what is

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 32:27

behind? Well, we went off of the definition, which is somebody that is skilled in a particular craft. And we also liked it because it can also reference a style of home an aesthetic style. So we just love the name craftsman. And we are all skilled in our craft. We are the Craftsman group.

Rick Ripma: 32:47

And what does your team look like? Well, it's

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 32:49

funny you say that? I asked my team yesterday, I texted them to say, hey, if I'm asked on this podcast, what How would I describe my team? What would you guys say? Hahaha. And so they replied, and I quote, easy, the most gorgeous collection of geniuses that you ever did see. They have a good sense of humor. I would agree though, they are all very knowledgeable. My my team is the best group of people that I can ask for. They're all very professional, hardworking. They strive for excellence. They're sweet, they're kind, they know how to have a good time, they all have a great sense of humor, as you can tell. So everybody has their own individual agent. But we work together as a team to support each other. So we're not a traditional real estate team where there's like the head honcho, and then we have buyer's agents and listing agents, we are all our own individual agents. We just brand together as a team, but we're there to support each other too. So and we have quite a variety, our team, we everybody comes from a variety of backgrounds. We have one that was a former teacher, we have a pharmacist, a professional basketball player, a couple from the medical field, one from the wedding industry, so and I won't even start on Hobbies, and affiliations, we all are just different. But we work so well together. We try to get together at least once a week, just to kind of brainstorm, share ideas, share each other's knowledge, experiences and things that we're going through. But most of all, I just love spending time with them. They're fantastic because awesome.

Rick Ripma: 34:26

Mentors are important. 100% And so there's I it took me a long time to understand mentors because I didn't have I didn't understand it when I was young. So I didn't really participate in that my youngest son came along and he goes by you. And all of a sudden he's he's in a business fraternity and he's beat and and he becomes his mentor mentored by people and then he becomes mentor. And it's made a tremendous difference in his life. He's it's he's flourished because of it. And he was He's talking to him about it, because everybody brings up the mentors pretty much everybody. That's an important piece. And he said, there's, you know, there's horizontal and there's vertical mentor. So you just talked about your vertical mentors, some of those right, your team, what about do you have any, you know, other others that aren't on your team that mentors? And what does that mean to you?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 35:18

Oh, my gosh, that's a that. I love that. So yes, with the horizontal mentors, I would say that those are more, you could look at those as more of an accountability partner. And yes, I have plenty of those, I find that one thing I always encourage newer agents to do is take other agents to lunch or coffee, or heck, go on a walk or something, but get to know them talk with them, you guys are going to learn from each other. And that, to me would be horizontal mentorship, I don't know the actual definition. But to me, that's what it is. And I very much encourage agents to do that. Because you'll see other perspectives, and you can help them as well as them helping you but it's also just being accountable to somebody else. Maybe you set yourself miniature goals of, hey, I'm going to make five phone calls this week, will you make sure I do that. And then you check in with the other person and see what their goals are and check in once a week. And I had an accountability partner who's that he's in the mortgage industry. When he and I started, we both went to Franklin together. And for years, we would get together once a month and go through our goals and hold each other accountable. So I would say he was a mentor for me. I was a mentor for him that I think that's very, very valuable.

Rick Ripma: 36:30

I think it's vital. Yeah. And and I know it has been for my son and everybody I talked to it's it just improves your life. It's really important. And I don't know if it's a newer thing, just because I'm you know, I don't but I don't remember that being a thing when I was younger. Yeah. So, you know, as you as you look at the future, what do you what are you most excited about? And then like for the next three, six months?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 36:58

Well, I'm headed to Cancun next week, that I'm super excited about. But I really everyday life, I feel like I have hit a good groove of balancing work versus personal, which to me, it's, I always say that real estate is a lifestyle career, meaning I'm always working, but I'm always living my life as well. So it's a nice little balance. So I'm enjoying watching my kids grow up. I'm enjoying everyday challenges in real estate. I think those those keep me going. But I will also mention that I just I began coaching for the Jared gene, Jr, Jared James organization. And so I'm excited to be an official coach and help other agents really strive to be the best that they can be and make sure they're maximizing their skills.

Rick Ripma: 37:47

So you're you're coaching any real estate agent who wants to coach Correct? Yeah, they can.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 37:52

Yes. So I do have some student coaching students that are in other states. Just giving them a different perspective, helping set their goals stay on track with their goals. I've always enjoyed sharing, I like learning. And I like sharing what I've learned. And so my team is kind of at a point where they're a very good well oiled machine. And they come to me when they have help with specific transaction situations. I'm always happy to help with that. And i My heart is in helping other people. So I Why not get into coaching? Right? Join it. So yeah, loving helping more people.

Rick Ripma: 38:25

That's awesome. Yeah. How has technology changed? Your what you do?

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 38:31

Oh, yes, it has been fantastic. in multiple ways. I will say when I started in real estate in 2003, I came from a college where we had a T three internet connection. I don't even know if that exists anymore. Now it's fiber optic stuff. But anyway, it was very fast. When I started the MLS system was a dial up system. Remember that? Holy moly. And we faxed on those carbon papers. My kids don't even know any of this stuff. So I will say smartphones, digital signatures, all of this and being able to search listings on my phone or my my iPad, my tablet has been phenomenal. And then with COVID hitting, it really helped the consumer recognize that, you know what, I don't need to physically meet with my agent to go through things which gave them so much more freedom. Again, we can meet at 10 o'clock at night, have a nice zoom chat or a phone call and go through paperwork together. And then they just e sign things. So it's really given a lot more freedom and also helped clients to be more time sensitive. So if they need to sign something quickly, they can do it while they're at work. It's no big deal. Right? So technology has been fantastic in the advancement. It's helping people create more freedom for themselves.

Rick Ripma: 39:52

Yeah, and it's one of those things where there are people who struggle with it. And it isn't necessarily innate scrip there tends to be older but not always. And and it's, it's not hard to use. Now, it's amazing how much easier it is like you talked about esign. It's not hard at all, you just click some buttons and read, it's not hard because you click a button,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 40:17

right? And you don't even have to have a software system to do it. It's all on the cloud. So that's the other thing. That's been nice. All of my transactions are on the cloud. So if I'm out on an appointment with, you know, buyer, Bob, and seller, Sally needs a copy of something, boom, I can do it in 30 seconds from my phone and send it to her. So yeah, what's your nice, awesome, absolutely. And

Rick Ripma: 40:38

it helps everybody 100%. So it's, the technology is not only improvement for you, it's a big improvement for the client.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 40:45

Yes. For Buyers. Yes, yes. And that's to me more important than my convenience. But it's been very, very helpful.

Rick Ripma: 40:52

What are two resources that you think, man, if I did not have or didn't have these two resources? I would not be where I am today.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 41:00

I Well, you mentioned mentors before, I would say my mentors, one of which is Tom Johnson. Shout out to Tom Hey, Tom. He was my first manager and really held my hand through the first. Well, 12 years of my career. He got me going. My other mentors that helped be accountability partners. My team keeps me going. And my husband of course, he's, he's in the real estate world as well. So he he helps he helps keep me going keeps me on track keeps me on my toes always, of course. And he cooks this spaghetti for me. That's so I don't have to worry about it.

Rick Ripma: 41:37

Oh, you know, that's really important. Oh, yeah.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 41:39

I would say one other thing would be smartphones, you mentioned technology. And smartphones have really just technology in general has made things so much better. I don't know where I'd be today. If we didn't have that. I would not be able to help and accommodate as many people as I have. Or I can without this right.

Rick Ripma: 41:58

Yeah, it makes a huge difference. Now, what about social media? Are you somebody who uses social media? And if so, how do you do

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 42:04

i do i do so i am on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, I have not really dabbled in Twitter, very much, LinkedIn a little bit. But really what I've loved about social media is it's helped me to be able to stay in touch with clients without having to physically take time to go and meet with them. I mean, if I, they have lives, they have families. So it's hard sometimes to get together. And this is a way that we can stay in touch and, you know, share little jokes with each other or see what's going on. Oh, you know, so and so broke their foot, okay, I send them a little, you know, little treat, or little flowers or something like that. So I find that social helps keep those relationships going. So I can stay in touch, and we just stay in touch with each other. They can see what I'm doing, I can see what they're doing without having to physically meet up because I have found that especially with COVID, and just life, some people are moving closer back to families. So now we're an hour drive from each other. So it makes it harder to get together. And it just social media keeps us in touch.

Rick Ripma: 43:11

Yeah, I think that to me, that's the biggest piece of it. I was talking to somebody and they said, they said, You know, I think high school reunions are going to start going away. Because you went to your high school reunion to see all these people you haven't seen in years. And everybody keeps in touch now.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 43:28

Absolutely. That's a good point. I bet you're right, they probably will go by the wayside. Because there's not a need for it anymore. Right.

Rick Ripma: 43:36

It's, it's, it's so bizarre, because things change so much, and things that you would have never thought I mean, high school reunions have been going on forever. It's like, yeah, that's never going to change. And then it does just like huge companies, all of a sudden, they're gone. You know, like, that's just amazing. And I think social media, I think there's some negatives to social media. And I think there's some positives to social media. And the positives are being like you said, being able to keep in touch and keeping your information out there. And it makes it easy for your sphere of influence to share your information, if they know somebody who needs your help.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 44:15

Yeah, and if something happens, and I can share knowledge with my database, and everybody that I know that will help them whether they're buying or selling a home with me or not even moving, if there's some kind of information that's going to help them I can share it to the most number of people very easily. Right so it's a big plus

Rick Ripma: 44:33

it is and I can tell you know, obviously you you have a caring personality, you care about people you want to share, you want to teach yes, you're you're and I think those things are extremely important. Plus you make sure that everything stays on an even keel, which to me is like the most important things you can have in a real estate agent. Sometimes you'll talk to some people and I If I go back, I'll say something totally different. I am so impressed with our real estate industry. Because the all of the agents I talked to are phenomenal people, you know, and they and there's, we get a bad name, our industry sometimes gets a bad name. And it's not fair. And it's it's it's not right. Are there bad actors in every career? Yes, there are. Are there people who don't see it that way. But it matters to have somebody like you, who cares about somebody that you care more about them than the than the Commission, the commission is just what happens, you know, what's going to happen if I take care of everybody and I do my job? Well, it matters.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 45:40

It does. And you're right. I think that those are the few the people that care about just the commission and a sale on a deal. That mentality to me, that's not the majority of our industry. So and yeah, everybody you've had on the podcast are all phenomenal people that have the right thing in mind. And I think that that's super important that the client is the number one priority, not I mean, it's by licensed law, it's supposed to be, but not everybody abides by that. But yes, the client goes first, not the commission. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 46:10

people don't always follow the law know that. I have noticed that.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 46:15

Exactly. I don't always very sad. So if

Rick Ripma: 46:19

you what any roadblocks that you've had, and in your in your career, your life, and then how you overcame those,

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 46:27

um, I would say, I don't know if it was a roadblock. But I will say, Oh, 809, when the market tanked, that was a tough time, I had just purchased a new home. After in, oh, six things were going well, my business was flourishing. And then things really got slow for a year or two. And that was that was tough. So it took a lot of budgeting a lot of ramen and peanut butter and jelly. And really, it was just because at that point in time, there were quite a few agents. And not many, not many buyers or sellers at that point. So it was hard. There just wasn't enough business to go around. And I'm not one I'm not super competitive, where I'm going to try to pull a client from another agent. That's just if they want to work with somebody else. I'm that's fine, right? I'm not here to steal a client. So I took a hit during those couple of years. That was That was tough. But other than I mean, I just persevered. I kept doing open houses, that was huge, picked up more, more clients and contacts and friends. And it it was a tough few years, but got through it.

Rick Ripma: 47:33

And you know, I'm glad you brought it up, because I haven't we haven't really talked about on any of the shows recently. And the news is out there saying, Oh, this was like 2008 This is like 2008 they want to talk about our market. It is not even close to the way you don't even close

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 47:51

the reasonings that the market is shifting are completely different than what it was then. Yes. I mean, you came from the building industry there. There were some builders back in the day, clearly not one that you worked for. But there were some builders that were pushing mortgages that had variable rate commissions, they weren't prepping clients for buyers for property taxes and their payments were going to change. There were a lot of people getting into homes that really honestly shouldn't have been getting into homes. And then they turned around and we're foreclosing, right. So it all just hit at the same time. That is not the market we're in right now. No,

Rick Ripma: 48:24

no. And and because of 2008 there's there was a huge shift in what was allowed in the mortgage to treat and mortgages. And but I think people also have to understand the reason that those things were going on is because the government allowed them. It wasn't. Are there bad actors? Yes, there are. And where are they putting people in? There was one we called the lie to me alone. And it was you had it gave you four payments? And you could you could make the remember this one negative and payment. Oh, yeah. And, and it was and then there was the I guess the lie to me alone was a little different. The Lie to Me alone was you just tell me what your income is. I'm gonna write it down. And if it is, seems reasonable for your job. Okay. So you're a janitor and you make $200 million. Okay, that's, that's okay. And they would just take it right. And they would qualify people who should have never, and you know, if the loan made sense for self employed borrower, it made no sense for a W two borrower. And that's when that when they switched it to that just made no sense. Yeah, but those things were loud. But today, you're talking about there weren't any buyers out there. Now we have more buyers and sellers, right? Yes. One of the that's one of the biggest differences. We have more people wanting to buy a home, it's still a seller's market, back then it was a buyers market because you couldn't sell them. The average time on market was six 810 12 months sometimes yes. Average time on market now is a month. Right? And if you really look at it, it's it's even less than that because they're including builders putting their specs up there that haven't even started yet. Right. Right and and homes that aren't ready. And then there's also homes that sit there that have already sold they're showing this inventory of homes. So plus the last 10 years because of 2008. We haven't seen the construction that we were like 4 million homes short. Oh, yes.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 50:11

Well, and with the supply chain and labor shortage, it's made it more difficult for builders. I had eight new construction transactions last year, not one of them closed on time. Because exactly that, which means they can't produce as many homes that we need. So it's created a shortage, but we'll get through it. It's it's not as bad as it was back then. And like you said, I mean, there's still buyers out there, and rates are still at a fair, fair point. So I think we're okay.

Rick Ripma: 50:40

It's a great market.

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 50:41

Yeah, it is.

Rick Ripma: 50:42

I think it's the I think it's one of the better markets to buy in, for sure. Because our rates up a little bit, yes. But it's, it's not as much of a seller's market, as was a year ago. And so you're not paying as you know, you're not having to over, you know, pay more than the list price and all that. There's a lot of reasons behind it. I won't go through it now. But there are a ton of reasons. So I just see that as a big deal. One of the things just as a brief side note, the numbers came out, and there's there were builders are predicting 1.4 million homes to be built this year. And there's 1.9 to 5 million new families that are supposed to be Wow. So still short half a million home. Yeah, yes, sure. Half a million home short, still short. So the market, that's why I want to talk about that. Because I think people need to know it's not real. We are not going through 2008. This is a totally different. And my prediction, mortgage rates are going down, just so I would agree with my my prediction, mortgage rates are going down

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 51:41

even even if anything, they never stay where they're at permanently. So you can refinance in a year to wait for him to drop, you'll be fine. As long as you can afford the payment you're in, then it's not permanent, right? You can always adjust

Rick Ripma: 51:56

or the house date, the

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 51:57

rate the rate? Yep.

Rick Ripma: 52:01

We're out of time. But somebody get a hold of you. If they have any real estate needs. They want to talk to somebody and they want or maybe they want to talk about jeeps, I don't know. We can

Cate Waggoner-Lee: 52:10

go for a ride. How do they get ahold of totally good with me the best way is my cell phone, it's 317-430-3890. That's 317-430-3890. Or you can look me up online at Rubicon realtor.com.

Rick Ripma: 52:26

And if you need to get a hold of the inner eye, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. We appreciate you joining us today. If you have any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy, sell or refinance if you just you know introduce us we'd really appreciate it you can share our show that would be fantastic. And we'd certainly appreciate you being here today. Thanks so much. Have a great fab and thank you so much.