Guru David Collins with Indy Crossroads Realty Group

Ian Arnold: 0:00

Hey, Rick, we had David Collins on today. And this was a very interesting one just about what he does and his team and the knowledge that he has. I mean, what what is one of the key points you pull out? Well,

Rick Ripma: 0:15

you know, he had a lot of knowledge that I really I really liked, how he how he looks at sales. And and how you work with people is I resonate with it, because it's the same way I look at it. So I really enjoyed listening to his, his his way of how he he does business and how he runs his company. So

Ian Arnold: 0:40

he's doing I mean, he is a guru of the stand. I mean, he has been in the business for a long time. I mean, what a lot of volume five years but it's about volume, and that's what he's built himself on. And if you are looking at possibly joining a team or even thinking about this, or as a business, this is one you definitely need to listen to. Welcome

Rick Ripma: 1:03

to India's real estate gurus, your ultimate guide to the dynamic world of real estate in Indiana, and I'm recruited by your hard work and mortgage guy and I've been in real estate and mortgages for over 24 years. And

Ian Arnold: 1:15

I'm Ian Arnold, a loan officer on brakes hard work in mortgage game and we're both with advisors Mortgage Group together will empower you with expert advice market trends is assessable stories from Guru realtors and local experts. Whether

Rick Ripma: 1:29

you're a homeowner investor or pro Join us as we navigate the thriving indie real estate

Ian Arnold: 1:34

market now get ready to unlock the doors of success one episode at a time.

Rick Ripma: 1:42

Now Dave Collins is here today Dave is a guru and has a has a large team and Dave you're I love your your I guess it's not I love your is a tagline.

David Collins: 1:53

It's my tagline my motto my slogan I guess you would call it that

Rick Ripma: 1:57

and it's I got a guy real estate I know a guy I know a guy. I know a guy real estate I should have known that. I know a guy I know a guy. So it's I know a guy and you have that registered and it's you

David Collins: 2:08

licensing patent everything I know a guy Realty I know we got real estate that's me.

Rick Ripma: 2:12

So if anybody needs real estate that you know a guy, correct need to

Ian Arnold: 2:16

sell you need to buy I know a guy. That's right. Perfect. His name. Dave.

Rick Ripma: 2:21

Dave, David Collins. Oh, wow. And Dave, tell us about before real estate. Well, I

David Collins: 2:28

started off after school, working in the restaurant business, bartending. And then just finishing up my degree, once I got my degree, I got into a few different inside sales jobs. And honestly really didn't like the whole nine to five life and working in them was always rushing home to get kids to and from practice picked up at the time when I was first doing it, the kids were younger. So it wasn't as tough. But then I found myself driving home, stopping at a gas station to change into baseball clothes to go coach my kids and just really wasn't like in that nine to five lifestyle. And a couple of different friends of mine slash mentors kept telling me you know, you should get into real estate, you'd be really good at real estate, you'd be really great at it. Thought about it thought about then finally made the decision. And I actually told my wife, I said, Give me two years in real estate. And if I'm not making the money, I was when I was making a nine to five, then I will go back to a nine to five life. And she said okay, but I already knew in the back of my mind that I wasn't going back to that nine to five life. So I just kept going and kept going. And that's been since 2019. And here I am today.

Rick Ripma: 3:35

Now you don't very well. You have how many people on your team?

David Collins: 3:39

Currently our brokerage has, including myself and my business partner. We have 12 agents underneath us. That's

Rick Ripma: 3:44

awesome. Thank you. Yeah, that's awesome. And you've done, you've done extremely well. It's always a tough thing to get going in. And you even had a little twist to get. Right, right, right as you got going. So tell us what you did and how you got going. What that twist was?

David Collins: 4:01

Well, I guess first of all, when I first started going already built up a good clientele going back to the unknown guy meeting so many people and doing different things. So as I got in the business, I already had a pretty robust pipeline of people wanting to use me Well, I got my real estate license in January 2019. And in March 2019, my wife and I decided to go skiing, I was going for the first time, had a fall and ended up breaking my leg and was out of the game, so to speak for about six months. But we're still working from home and I was still working my full time job. And then I had to switch to part time at that job. So I was able to focus a little more on real estate and getting myself back to health with physical therapy and things of that nature and gave me a lot of time to focus on and recollect and realize this is what I want to do in life. So I just put my best foot forward and just really honed in and focused on the real estate career.

Rick Ripma: 4:55

So during that time, what did you do to get the real estate off the ground because you because you could You couldn't really go anywhere that somebody driving you, right?

David Collins: 5:02

Correct. Facebook, word of mouth, just talking to people in network and constantly, you know, sending text messages to people and just knowing people, knowing a lot of people, you know, I just made it known that this is what I do now. And so they would slowly start reaching out to me, you know, I like to look at it as in the passion of somebody may have, you may have your personal general practitioner, or your own dentist or your chiropractor. You know, my goal was to become your real estate agent, whether you're looking to buy today, buy in six months, if you have a question about when should I change this out? Or when should I do this, or when's the best time to buy when's the best time to sell? I want to be your go to. So I would always reach out to people and say, you know, regardless of when you want to buy, everything's always an opportunity. Every client can always be an opportunity. If you work that opportunity. Every person in your sphere, your network, anybody you come in contact with, can eventually become a client. If you just work with them, and gradually call I look at it as it's not a one call closed deal. Real Estate. It's a very relational, transactional. Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 6:08

So I got a question. So real estate's a weird thing that just all of a sudden jump into what even what even gave you the idea that, alright, I'm gonna stop and jump in jump to real estate. I know you did it. But what was the bug? Was it a friend that did it or so I had a few

David Collins: 6:23

friends that had been in before. And even when I was barking, and they were agents, and they had told me, you'd be really good at this, you'd be revealed to us. And then a friend of mine, a friend of ours, my wife and I, they went to high school together and taught together, he started doing it on the side as a part time job. And he kept telling me to get into it. And so I always kind of had an interest for it. And then one day, I finally just decided, You know what this is for me when I started singing, and then I had another guy who I coached his son. And we became friends down in Wheatland, and he essentially pushed me over the edge, like, hey, you need to do this. And I was, I don't want to say working dead end jobs, because they weren't dead end jobs. But it was more of I felt I was selling products that weren't beneficial to the clients, I felt like some of the companies I worked for weren't really putting that best product forward. And I just had a hard time trying to sell them on that. Right. But you know, I had to sell to meet my quota. So with real estate, I know, I'm giving them peace of you know, I'm helping them I'm helping the clients, whether it's a sad occasion where they have to sell their home or the family is growing in the need to upsize, upgrade, you know, so I feel like it's the best of both worlds. You know, you're able to still stay in sales and meet so many different people. And I'm helping people along the way. Yeah. Well,

Rick Ripma: 7:37

you know, you hit on a couple of things, I really want to I want to emphasize one you said, you, you know, while you were getting started, you wanted everybody to realize, you know, you're a real estate agent. And I think that's critical. I tell new loan officers that all the time. They don't look at you as a loan officer, they look at you as whatever you were doing. So you have to change their mind. How did you how did you get that across the people? To

David Collins: 8:02

be honest, I was this is one of the many things in my life that I was very proud of when I got my license and everything. So I don't want to say I was bragging about it, but I was just letting it letting it known out there. You know, in the in the world, whether it was Myspace, Myspace that's slipping. I'm aging myself now. But Facebook, you know, just talking to friends, you know, I always was just real excited to talk to them, like, Hey, I'm a real estate agent. Now. This is what I do. You know, anybody looking to buy a house, I know a guy, you know, and then it just kind of just perpetuated and just kept taking off and taking off. And now people know me. And you know, they always come to me with a they're not me as a coach, or real estate agent I've been coaching for my oldest son is 18. I started coaching him when he was three. So I've been coaching about 15 years coaching baseball, so reaching out to the community doing a lot of given back to the community down on white land, you know, sponsoring events, whether it's white wander anywhere. I have friends throughout the city, so they'll reach out to me and hey, do you mind sponsor my kids? Absolutely. Anything for the kids? You know, and it gives me a little brand recognition, but giving back to the kids so that's just my way of putting it out there and people know what I do. And then they reach out to me with any questions or concerns.

Rick Ripma: 9:11

What do you coach? What's your coach baseball base coach,

David Collins: 9:14

I tried my hand at basketball this year. With my youngest son he's 10 It's not my best forte I didn't do that but I got along great with the kids but I'm not a basketball guy but baseball is my main love. Okay, played it myself for quite some time and then I did yes I did. And then all three of my boys played baseball now.

Rick Ripma: 9:31

What was your position? I pitched and played second base Okay, so you were good decent because I played right field that tells you know Yeah, right field

David Collins: 9:41

I played right feels good. I well, I played left out a little, like left out too sometimes. Was the

Rick Ripma: 9:46

right field is that the worst? Is that where at least in Little League, it's like the worst. The worst player gets set out.

David Collins: 9:52

That's the that's the cliche that everybody sticks with the kids in the outfield. They're the worst player on the team but at a younger age. It may be the situation because you know, balls aren't hit out there that often but as the kids get older Yeah, it's not though that's a very prominent position. You can play outfield, then you're doing something right. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 10:11

Once you get older, it's like, there isn't that there isn't a position that isn't important. Exactly.

David Collins: 10:15

Right. Every every position is volatile. And yeah, 100% it's

Rick Ripma: 10:20

actually that's a lot like life, isn't it? Like, like work? Every position in your office is important. Every single one of them? Yeah, every single one. Yeah. It's not just you as an agent, but you have to have your team there also. And so it is it's a lot like life clicking

David Collins: 10:34

on all cylinders. Yeah, absolutely.

Ian Arnold: 10:37

So let me get so you when you got in real estate be right before I know, we all have ideas of about this is what it's gonna be. But what was the reality check? What did you learn that, like the misconception, once you got into real estate?

David Collins: 10:54

Yes, the MISC conception would be I didn't realize that I'd be responsible, you know, you don't get a paycheck, you get a paycheck when a deal closes. So you have to learn, you know, my whole life and my career, professional career, you know, paid out paid weekly, or bi weekly. So the biggest thing in real estate is and I tell them, my agents, this, you know, save your money, be frugal, because you do not get a deal. Until that deal closes. I said, when that final piece of paper assigned to the title company, that's when you get paid. So do you may take a client out? Look at 20 houses, one house 100 houses, you don't get paid until the very end. So be smart with your money. And then a big reality check for me as well was taxes. Yeah, I was used to getting those taken out and then got on the estimated tax plan payment plan, and realizing oh, wow, you know, now I've got to give some of this money back. So just learning how to save that money and keep that money back. And thank God for my wife, because she handles that part of it for me, because I would be screwed without that. So

Rick Ripma: 11:52

there's a lot of people who are yeah, there's a lot of people who get in trouble, because they didn't pay their taxes. Yes.

David Collins: 11:58

Pay your taxes. Yeah, you

Ian Arnold: 12:00

are actually I've asked that question to a lot of people. You're the first one that has said, it's not about the paycheck, but about the taxes. Because most people don't realize that most real estate agents, if not all, is you do get taxed at the end of the year unless you pay it throughout. But it's not like w two or employees that typically every week, every two weeks correct,

David Collins: 12:22

the IRS will find a way to get their money. So my one bit of advice is make sure you pay your taxes but save every single receipt you have and find a good accountant. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 12:31

write as much off as you can. Absolutely. But don't do it if you're trying to buy a house.

David Collins: 12:37

That's the dilemma with 1099 employees. You know, they want to not sell as much income. But then when they try to go buy a home or a car. They're stuck because they're not. We're not showing enough income statements. So it's kind of a yeah,

Ian Arnold: 12:50

oh, trust me. We had to explain that to people I believe. And then they yell at us. Yeah. What do you mean, like? Well, you told the government, you could Oh, you only made $3 That last year? Well, guess what? You have to report to the government to buy a house. You said $3. I actually had

David Collins: 13:07

my accountant told me, she had a client one time that was 1099. And asked if they could show like $30,000 I believe, for taxes, but then they wanted to buy a home. So could they bump that up to what they were originally making that 150,000. And she said I just hung up on him. Said I'm not even addressing that. I'm not even taking that goal. Now.

Rick Ripma: 13:26

That's the the other thing you don't want to do is go and go to jail over the tax. Right? It's not worth it just hard to do real estate from from being an inmate. Exactly.

David Collins: 13:36

It's hard. It's hard to show houses.

Ian Arnold: 13:38

When you're incarcerated. You can do it in crutches I think you can find.

David Collins: 13:44

Just have to hire somebody out to go show a house. Yeah. And send one of my agents to go to the closing for me and send me that.

Rick Ripma: 13:49

We had an agent who was stationed in Iraq and sold a bunch of houses while he was stationed there. Really? Yeah. And he did that he had somebody show the houses but he was he was able to he set it up. I don't know explain how he set it all up so he could get the calls. And he'd call people even though the the timing was really different. But he he made it work. And if he

David Collins: 14:10

hired another agent or had one on the side and one on the side kind of splitting the Commission's or paying the compensating them in ways the Yeah, be able to go show those houses

Rick Ripma: 14:18

or whatever. Yeah, but he said he did really well. God.

David Collins: 14:20

I bet he did. I would use them. Yeah, just for the fact that he was overseas and serving the country. Yeah. If I was looking to buy a home I'd hire Yeah, yeah, he

Rick Ripma: 14:28

was he's he's a big agent, a good agent. So I like to go through my favorite question. That's a little early, probably. But I'm gonna go through it anyway. Because it's my favorite question. I couldn't wait to ask, what is your what would you say your superpower or superpowers are?

David Collins: 14:44

Well, to be honest, I don't have any I mean, don't people that have superpowers, in my opinion, are moms. Okay? Moms are the ones with the true superpowers. My superpowers. I guess I would be I would say just Good question. I like to be very transparent and honest and upfront with my buyers and sellers, it's a very stressful process. You can call me at nine o'clock in the morning, you can call me at one o'clock in the morning, I'm going to pick up my phone. If I'm not there, you're going to get a quick text that says, I'll call you back in five minutes. And I usually step away from what I'm doing. I've been a part of the home buying process and the selling process. It's stressful. It's stressful for all parties. So the best thing to do, in my opinion, I guess my superpower would be I'm able to put on several different hats at any time. Whether it's talking them off allege make it? And I mean that in a business sense, right? But as far as you know, what do I do about this or advising them within my powers to what to do and what not to do? You know, they're come up with many issues during a transaction, or even just the courting process of going out showing homes and things of that nature. A lot of buyers and clients are uneducated in the real estate side. So they need someone there to, I guess, essentially, you'd say kind of hold their hand, but not really hold their hand through the process. But given them that peace of mind. And that's one thing I pride myself on is the whole time is the follow up making sure they're okay. They had this things of that nature.

Rick Ripma: 16:17

Yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess another superpower. And based on our conversations and talking with you, I think one of your superpowers is your ability to make and keep friends. And I say that because it's a it's a struggle for me at times, I look back, and I've had all these friends over the years, but I've never kept in touch. But you were able to keep in touch with all those people and bring them in to your real estate career. Well, I appreciate that. And I mean, that's a huge superpower. I don't think I think that, because it's easy for you. It's just what you do. Maybe it's not easy, but it appears it is because you have that personality that you know, you just kind of can talk to anybody. That's just my guess,

David Collins: 16:58

well, thank you. I try to you know, try to treat people the way that I would want to be treated. And that's the biggest thing that I've tried to instill in my kids is, you know, treat others the golden rule. Do unto others as they would unto you. But I wholeheartedly believe in that. You're, I believe in karma, you know, what you give out, you're gonna get back. So always stay in contact. And you know, during that course, were those professional years and even the bartending years. It's not just meeting people, but you know, you build friendships. Yep, you know, I've had people I've bartended, 20 years ago, that some of my regulars back then have still called me to buy a home or sell a home, or help their kids buy a home. It's just, you know, you just continue that ongoing relationship. And that's what I tell my newer agents and anybody looking to get into the industry, you don't realize that when you get into real estate, your whole life, you've been building your pipeline, you've been meeting people. And you know, they're forming opinions of you, you're forming opinions of them. You build that trust along that course of your lifetime. They're going to want to essentially repay that favor by hiring you to help them find their home or seller, but

Rick Ripma: 18:09

they trust you. They trust you, they trust you. And that says a lot when people that you've worked with absolutely and just waited on years ago.

David Collins: 18:17

Absolutely. I feel like that's been the biggest part of the success my first year. First, actually, first couple of years, I didn't use a lead source one time. And the rest of the business was just from people I knew, or them sending a referral to me that they would call me and say, Hey, a friend of mine needs to sell their house or my cousin's looking to buy Can I send them your way as absolutely, absolutely, you know, thank you. Yeah. And you know, just just stay humble. That's the biggest key and this I think, is just just staying humble, Be humble and stay humble. So I want

Ian Arnold: 18:51

more people to work with you to weather buy, sell or anything, but they need to know a guy. So what's the best way to get in contact with you to find out this guy, the best

David Collins: 19:02

way to get a hold of me would be email would be I know a guy, real estate@gmail.com You can also find me on Facebook. I have three different pages on Facebook. I have I know a guy Realty. I have David Collins, I also have Indy Crossroads group, which I would love for you to get on there and follow and like, we are looking to grow our brokerage. We're currently at 12 agents now. So we're looking to expand those numbers and continue to grow to help people out or text me call me 317 to 819241 Well, I

Rick Ripma: 19:40

mean, I know a guy real estate is so easy. So I know a guy real estate@gmail.com For a lot of people, it's the phone number, but man that's so easy.

David Collins: 19:48

It's catchy. And yeah, it's easy to remember it's this it's

Rick Ripma: 19:51

really easy. And I thought mine hardworking mortgage guy was easy, but I think here's much enough. They're both

David Collins: 19:55

a little long to type out but they're pretty easy to remember. But yeah, they are and

Rick Ripma: 19:59

to get a hold of dinner, I go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. And they are it is a little long. Or you can give us a call at 317-672-1938 31767 to 1938.

Ian Arnold: 20:13

All right, so we're gonna take a sidestep, let's get to know you a little bit more. So if I take away your phone for 24 hours, you cannot work. What do we get you doing for fun?

David Collins: 20:23

Baseball games with my kids playing baseball coach and baseball or watching them play baseball. Or my two of my younger kids, they both wrestle play basketball, play football, my older son played football. So I'm not selling houses on the ball, diamond coach and are in the bleachers with my wife, or somewhere. A lot of times my wife and I have to split duties on the weekends because of the different ages. So we have a color coded calendar at home of who's going where, and it's okay, I've got this one. I've got this one. So if I'm not working or anything like that, I'm with my kids watching them play sports. So

Ian Arnold: 20:55

I got to ask a question. So are you the parent and the quiet parent in the stands? Or are you yelling at the your kid not saying you're yelling at refs or coaches, but

David Collins: 21:06

generally, I just find myself getting up from the bleachers and walking down to the side of the fence because I've been on both sides of the fence. Where as I'm coaching and then you have parents, you know, yelling at their kids, it's, it's already stressful on these kids. You know, they want to they want to do well, you know, their teammates, their friends up with teammates, there's friends with kids on the other team. They look up dad's talking, mom's talking, here comes grandpa, they're already nerves. You know, let the kids play the game. So I tell them, I try to tell my kids, look that's here. I'm just gonna be on the right field fence by the foul pole. Yep. You know, and then it's tough too. Because you know, my kids, when I'm coaching, they think I'm being hard on him. I said, I'm not being hard on you. I just expect more from you. And if I allow you to run amok, and that's crazy when I'm trying to coach is basically telling these other kids that they're allowed to run amok and crazy. And then it's complete chaos. And these, you know, we're here to learn and get better. And I can't do that if I'm constantly having to, you know, remind you to pay attention. No,

Ian Arnold: 22:03

I fully. I coach, my son in basketball and soccer. And I do the same type thing. But I also send an email to all the parents, I'm like, there'll be no yelling at coaches. You can yell to cheer on your kids, but no negative stuff and you cannot yell at refs.

David Collins: 22:20

Yeah, we get to the point now where we are asking them as they get older, the older age groups, we asked the parents, you know, once the kids get in the dugout, they're in the dugout, yeah, we don't want them coming out for food, getting drinks or right, getting their nose wiped or a good pat on the back saying Nice catch, Tammy. Now, just let the kids play the game. And you can have them after the game. Yeah,

Ian Arnold: 22:38

I always get parents that laugh at me because you get my kid. And once Ramona really got to know your mom doesn't love you right now. Love you in about an hour when we're done. Yes.

David Collins: 22:46

Just pay attention. I tell the kids I say, you know, when you cross these fat lines or arcs, once you put the bags in the dugouts, you're with us, you can go see mommy, after practice. And sometimes it works. And you know, it's it's fun though, seeing the parents get into, you know, get really excited, the kids getting excited. But you can see, you know what, I'm out there, I'm usually coaching third base, I'm looking right down to the batter. And you can already just see the nervousness in their eyes. You know, and then you got a lot of parents sitting right behind home plate with their, their phones out. I call it you know, it's the moms photo up because they're ready to just take all kids a little Billy coming up the plate. And I said if you could see the look in your kid's eyes right now, it's he wants to do well, but he's so they're more afraid of failure at that point in time, because everybody's watching. And I said it puts a lot of undue and unnecessary pressure on these young kids. And they're just, they're just trying to play game. They're trying to get better. Of course they want to win. Everybody wants to win, right? It's why you play the game. But so much undue pressure and unnecessary pressure on these little kids. Just let them go out there.

Rick Ripma: 23:44

And even the greatest hitters in the world only hit the ball. How many out of 10 I mean,

David Collins: 23:49

three considered a Hall of Famer for three for 10 Yeah, 30% You're pretty good. You're batting 300 You're a legend.

Rick Ripma: 23:55

It's hard. So they're gonna fail 70% of the time, minimally. And that's

David Collins: 23:59

when you know, as you get older, baseball becomes more of a mental game. And just like, you know, teach the kids about life. You know, I said, you when you learn, I don't like to use the word lose. When we're when I'm coaching sports, or even in real estate, you don't lose, you didn't lose a deal. You learn from it, you know, what can I do better? Right? What did I do wrong? You know, how do we fix that collectively as a team? Is it something I can do? Or is it something collectively as a team, and two of my youngest son is 10. My middle one is 12. And I have an 18 year old my two younger ones. They both wrestle now, which I love it, because it's an individual sport. So it's self accountability. You know, you can't you know, if you come off the mat, whether you win or lose, you can't say well, so and so didn't catch the ball. Well, if he didn't strike out, I could have won that game. Right? Well, that's what I did. You didn't lose the match, buddy. What can you do better take from that and build on it. You know, I don't demand perfection at all. You know, I want my kids to have fun and learn and build from it. But I do expect effort. When you're out there. You know, give your best because I know what you're capable of. You know what you're capable of, you know, don't take that time off. When you're out there, you're gonna have that time off when the game's over the match is over, when, when that whistle blows, just give it your best, I promise you, you'll be satisfied with the results, and you'll have no regrets. If you give it your best, while you're out there during that hour, that three minutes of wrestling match or six minutes of this basketball court or first ending, you know, I promise you leave it all out there, you're gonna have no regrets. Yep. And I try to tell that to my agents, anybody I come in contact with, you know, give it your best and nobody you don't, you don't need to be perfect. Who's perfect right? There, life is probably boring. Get there perfect. Right? Then you have no good story to tell everybody about that you messed up on or you're not gonna believe this happened to me one time, if you're perfect. Just like, Oh, here's my life.

Rick Ripma: 25:45

The only people that are perfect. As far as I can tell that don't fail that never try. Exactly, you have to do something. And when you do something, especially when you do something for the first time, you're likely not to do it. Well. You just have to keep trying and trying and keep working at it. And like you said, you get to figure out what you did wrong and get better at it. Right? 100% goes for sports goes for business.

David Collins: 26:05

And you know, there's a The old saying is like, I don't care. I think it was Rocky. But it was I don't care how many times you fall down. Sometimes you get up. But it's I honestly that's powerful. Yeah. Because, you know, the most successful people in the world came from failures, right? I mean, think about it, you gotta you have to try different things. I was in sales for six years, didn't like this particular industry didn't like this industry. Not saying I was failing at it. But in a sense, it was failing at it because it wasn't the right fit for me. So that was a failure, right? But you just keep going just keep getting up. Keep getting up and learn from that and build from that.

Ian Arnold: 26:41

So is your motto also, you keep playing heart you 100% Isn't what you can give them to the last signature

David Collins: 26:50

truck to Yes, that's

Ian Arnold: 26:51

a good way to look at it. You don't get that you don't get the whistle anymore. But you get that last signature. Right? That's a great but

David Collins: 26:56

even but even then for agents, you give 100% Even after that second, yes. If you want the follow up to make sure that everything's good. But that's a great analogy. I never looked at it that way. So thank you for that. But 100% I'm more patent that so you can't use it. I'll call you if I need to borrow.

Rick Ripma: 27:13

He already knows somebody helped me done before you ever get. That's

Ian Arnold: 27:16

probably true. I'm too lazy. I was watching a

Rick Ripma: 27:20

speech, not really speech interview of of Kobe Bryant. And I'm not really a sports guy. But he was talking about how he, when he was little. He was on the team. He didn't score a point the first year he played. And he said he took away from that which what most people take away from that I must be terrible, all that he took away from it. I gotta be I gotta get better at shooting. And so he said for six months. All he did is practice shooting. He said the next year. He said I scored some but I didn't score a lot. But he was a young, you know, he's a younger than everybody else. And by the third year, he was dominating that that league, and

David Collins: 27:55

then became a bog? No, not really. I love comedy. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 27:58

I don't know, because I didn't watch. I know he was good. Piggybacking

David Collins: 28:01

on that. I've heard some players talking about that. And they said, got to the point where Kobe wouldn't pass you the ball because he didn't trust you. You know, I've saw some interviews where I forget who it was. But one of the players on the Lakers was like, I got got this o'clock in the morning. And Kobe was lacing the shoes up? Yeah, he was already done. Yeah. And then, you know, why don't you give me the ball. He's like, you're not ready for the ball. I don't trust you in these big situations. I trust myself in these big situations. You know, everybody looked at him as always a ball hockey selfish. He didn't have that. And again, going back to the team, you know, didn't have that trust. He's a leader, that same right, as a captain. He didn't have a lot of that trust, and a lot of this players, you know, he maybe saw some of the work ethic, things of that not knocking those players or how they do but I do believe that that's part of the reason why he was driven to make himself better. Yeah. And that's how he went about it. Yeah, he's like, when you're on my level, and you're ready, and I can trust you. I'll give you the

Rick Ripma: 28:53

ball. Yeah, those top guys like that. Their work ethic is second to none. Yeah, it's incredible what they do.

David Collins: 29:00

I wish I had that type of work ethic. I say I do. But I sometimes you know, especially in this business, you find yourself kind of trailing off and business gets slow, you find yourself getting complacent in what you're doing. So you're constantly having to, you know, tell yourself, Hey, get out there and do some, yeah, find somebody to do this. And sometimes you got to create your own luck in this industry. Yeah, you know, the more you're out there talking to people, more people are going to come to you and say, I need this or just having a brief conversation. You never know about walking by and saying hello to somebody, it strikes a conversation. And then you find out that their daughter's moving in from moving in town from Colorado or wherever. You're like, hey, well, here's my card. I know a guy, right, you know, buying a house, I know a guy. And then they usually kind of they kind of laugh, like, they're gonna laugh. And I said, No, seriously, I know a guy called me. I'll help her. Awesome, you know, just those little small little things like that. Just always be talking and kind of self promoting in a sense, I guess you would call it right. Not where you're super egotistical or anything but just you know, self promoting and it's a good I always tell like my kids and everybody you know, there's a difference in being cocky and being confident, right? Because if you're in real estate, be confident in that be confident in the fact that this is what I do. This is what I'm good at, you know, you're a professional, your clients are looking at you for advice, they're trusting you, through this whole process. Be confident. And don't get me wrong. There are some cocky agents out there that, you know, but buyers don't like that. But they do like the confidence when you know, okay, I'm going to get the I'm gonna fight for you on this deal. We're going to make sure this is done. I've talked to the lender, I've talked to the inspector, I've talked to the list agent, whoever this whatever the situation may be, when you exude that confidence. They like that they need that. It's kind of going back to if you're going to the doctor, and you're like, Well, I have a temperature. I feel more. You're trusting that doctor to get your temperature down. Right, right. Same situation. They're nervous in this process. So you're be there be that hand, that's, you know, let me do what I can help you. They trust you that you're doing everything in your power to help them get to that next step in their transaction.

Rick Ripma: 31:03

Well, one of the things you said is a problem that I've had, many agents have said, and that is, they don't want to tell everybody what they do. Yes, they're nervous about that. No

David Collins: 31:14

need to be nervous. So quick career. It's honestly I think it's something to be proud of, you know, you'll the internet's kind of steered people in many different directions nowadays. And so you'll say you'll see some saying, oh, you know, like, I've seen memes. It's like, Oh, you went from a hostess, to a waitress to a bartender to a real estate agent. I was like, well, that's funny. I was never a hostess. So I was like, That means wrong, you know, joking around. But a lot of people kind of looked down on like, oh, well, anybody can get a real estate license. Well, that's not necessarily the case. It's it's difficult to get into. And it's difficult to sustain. Because a couple years ago, during the during COVID, and when the rates were super low, everybody wanted to get into real estate, right? It's easy money. I can go sell houses like ghost houses will happen. They got complacent, thinking everybody's just going to come knocking on their door need to sell a house. Well, that change rate started climbing a little bit. They realize it's not that easy. So now that we're starting to see that decline in agents, right, you know, when I did phone sales, I worked for a internet online recruitment company. I'm not going to give them any shout outs, but it was outbound calls and inbound calls. And I told myself, I said that phone's not gonna ring. I said, if I'm gonna make money, I have to pick up that phone, right and make the money for me, right? It's no different in real estate, you know, everybody got excited, like, Oh, my God, everybody's buying houses. Everybody's selling this is this is easy money. It's a piece of cake. But once that fizzles away, and it slows down and gets back to reality, so Oh, my gosh, what do I do? It's been three months since I've had a transaction. It's been four months, since I've had a transaction. What do I do? You know, so kind of going back to what I was saying earlier, save that money. It's nice when you get a, you know, $10,000, commission check or a $5,000, commission check or even like a$25,000, commission, check. Be smart with it, you know, save for a rainy day, because you never know, like, just talking to people in the industry being in it for only four years. Talk to people during when it crashed. Things of that nature. They're like, I don't know how I survived. But how I did survive was always put money back. Everybody always tells you just put money back. You don't have to go spend it all right, now. Put it back, because you're going to have slow times. And I honestly think that it's kind of slow now. But I, I have a feeling that when the rates, that first number becomes a five, I think it's gonna get a little hectic, I think people are I think people are getting cabin fever. Now, tired of seeing that 876 As the first number. I think when it hits five, I think a lot of these agents phones are going to be going off. Hey, we're thinking about buying now. Thinking about selling or mortgage lenders probably good for you guys, because they were looking to refi you know, just but then, you know, the fear of uncertainty. Yeah. And so that's my, I guess it'd be my advice, you know, when if you get into it, and you start having a successful year, save some of that money, because you're going to have a down year, not saying that you're a bad agent. It's just you know, the economy is going to dictate the market, right? So rates are high and people aren't in the home prices are higher, people are going to buy so make sure that you're still able to maintain that lifestyle and you know, take care of your family take care of your needs, and think it'd be successful.

Ian Arnold: 34:22

I think one big misconception that they have, realtors have or people have against the don't understand Realtors job mostly is and even ours, as lenders is our job is not the paperwork. Our job is not the house, its people, its people. It's your job is basically go out there and find new people and finding new people because that's how you get your leads. It's all

David Collins: 34:48

you can buy. You can go get online leads do this. You know people have their different ways of target marketing, whether it's farming neighborhoods, sending out mailers or doing As are things like that, but the best way to market yourself is just be out there. Right? You know, even if it's, I keep a stack of business cards with me wherever I go. And a lot of times what I'll do is like, if I go into the gas station to get a Diet Mountain Dew, and I go up to pay, I'll leave a card set right there. I haven't had any luck from it, but you never know. Right? You know, just constantly letting people know where you're at, basically, you know, kids baseball games, sporting event, dance, whatever your kids are into talking to people, right? Just let them know, I'm not saying going, Hey, I'm a real estate agent. I don't want it. They don't care. When you talk to him like that. But if you're just having a conversation, like, well, this is what I do. You know, I'm in real estate with you and anything, here's my card, call me.

Rick Ripma: 35:36

Most people want to knock talk about real estate. They do. They do people

David Collins: 35:39

you know, they love to talk about it. You know, if they enjoy what they're doing, they'll they'll talk your ear off sometimes. Sometimes I can do it. I've talked to people, they're like, Dave, shut up. And I'm like, sorry, I just you know, I get excited about something. I just, yeah, keep going. So my internal voice is like Dave, dial it back a little bit. But I'm working on that. Yeah,

Ian Arnold: 35:58

well, here, I don't want you to have to feel like you got to stress to call people and just put your name out there. Let's just do this. I'm gonna ask you. What's the best way somebody get in touch with you? If somebody's looking to buy sell, or just have conversation about real estate?

David Collins: 36:12

You can call text, email me Call me at 317-281-9241 or you can email me three one set. I'm sorry, I know a guy real. estate@gmail.com So

Rick Ripma: 36:26

a guy real estate@gmail.com gmail.com?

Ian Arnold: 36:29

No. 317 in front of that people.

David Collins: 36:30

No, no, no. 317 front of that just I know a guy real estate@gmail.com

Rick Ripma: 36:35

and to get a hold of Ian or I got a HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com where you give us a call at 317-672-1938. It's 31767 to 1938. All

Ian Arnold: 36:48

right, so now we get into what we like to do the question of the week, so I'm kind of curious on this one. What was your first car

David Collins: 36:57

1986 Pontiac 6000

Rick Ripma: 37:00

No, that's that's a pretty good car. I sold those

David Collins: 37:04

at three hubcaps. None of them matched. The front driver side was completely banged in. But it

Ian Arnold: 37:11

was so you bought your car from brick? Basically. Yeah.

David Collins: 37:15

It's actually my mom's car. My mom and I shared the car. We didn't have a lot growing up. So my mom and I split that car and she'd let me take it whenever. She wasn't using it. So that was but that was my first I think it was an 86 It was a 1986 not in 8619 86. Yes. Yeah. I was driving it in 94. Yeah, like the 94 Those

Rick Ripma: 37:34

were good cars. So I I sold those cars. I was in car sales during that. 86 Okay. And but they were a good car. They they weren't a you know, they weren't fancy necessarily. But they were a great car. My dad had one punch my friends ended up.

David Collins: 37:52

I got from point A to point B and yeah,

Rick Ripma: 37:54

that's what it did. It was nice size. Yeah, it

David Collins: 37:57

was good size. Yeah. This was one I had was a two door. But it was still big enough to you know, you lift the seats up and your buddies. Yeah, I'm in the back. And so

Rick Ripma: 38:04

what what's what's been your favorite car you've ever had?

David Collins: 38:10

Probably the one I have now. What does that that 2019 Lexus ES 350 Oh,

Ian Arnold: 38:16

I love that. It's not there. So comfort to ride. He's a

Rick Ripma: 38:19

Toyota guy. So beautiful.

David Collins: 38:21

And I've always since I was in high school, I've always told myself I said one day I'm gonna get a Lexus. In my previous car before this one was a Lexus. And I had that for about 200,000 miles and then finally decided okay, I'm gonna get a new one. And you

Rick Ripma: 38:35

before it wears out. You want to get rid of it? Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 38:38

Yeah. Toyota's it's the funniest thing ever is. You get tired them before they ever think about calling it quits?

David Collins: 38:45

Yeah. It's, she's been good to me.

Rick Ripma: 38:49

Yeah. Now they're great cars. I had a GS for 30 years ago, I guess the only Lexus I've had? Well, I'm not I'm not positive

Ian Arnold: 38:58

as you don't know what a good car is? Yes. So I do

Rick Ripma: 39:01

know exactly what a good car is. I've had one. Well, go ahead. No, you go ahead. Alright,

Ian Arnold: 39:06

so you do have a team? So I'm always kind of curious is when you're hiring somebody? What what type of characteristics do you look for in somebody's personality?

David Collins: 39:16

You know, I look forward, you know, how are you? Because again, you know, you're going out as the face of the company, right? So when we're bringing on my business partner and I are looking to recruit new agents, you know, are you a good fit with the team? You know, how's your personality? You know, are you we like to use Oh, he likes to use more term when I do a fiduciary, you know, we work for your client. You know, I just want someone that's good to interact with that also gets along well, with others, you're gonna have conflicts here and there. But the thing about real estate now a lot of it's not a big office setting, right? So it's not as if all 12 agents are sitting in a room together from nine to five and then the bickering starts, but when we know we do get together or on our group text or whatever, you know, our meetings You know, being cordial, getting along, having fun having laughs, sharing success stories as big, you know, sharing your failures is another big thing. And then also, teamwork as far as there are times that I may have been, you know, coaching a game. And I asked one of my agents, you know, can somebody sell this house for me? Yep. What's the address? You know, they won't show the house and then I compensate them for that? Or would anybody you know, new agent, would you like to hold an open house, you know, to help them get going, but just working toward the same goal, right. And the same goal is not to make the brokerage a ton of money, we're not in it with the brokerage to make a ton of money. We're in it to save money, in a sense, you know, we've spent a lot of money paying other brokerages, we're like, let's offset some of that, let's bring agents on affordable, where they're doing all the heavy lifting, right? We're not doing much we're there, we're there, making sure that paper works in line, everything's good. We're staying within the code of ethics, training, things of that nature, right? We don't need 50 25% of your paycheck. That's your money. You know, you spent the time the gas, the photography, time off, you know, time away from kids and things like that. That's your money, right? I don't need 50% of that. I don't want 50% of that. I don't want 25% of that. You know, we have an upscale, when you're a brand new agent, we have a tear, but once you get to a certain threshold, then we just drop that down to a set Commission, which is very, very reasonable. And but I'm a firm believer, and you know, if you're the one out there and making the money, why do I need it? It's I didn't I earned it in the Senate, I helped you earn it maybe through through different things. But why do I need your money? Right? Or not? That sounds kind of bad. Like, why do I need your money. That sounded like awful, like I have a bunch of money. That's not That's not at all what I meant. What I meant was, I'm not going to I don't want to take your hard earned money. Yeah, if you're out there doing all the heavy lifting,

Rick Ripma: 41:50

that's when somebody's new, it takes, it takes a lot more effort from you to get them up and running. And my opinion, as I'm willing to pay that, because because I'm paying for my education to a point but I'm able to earn money. But after I get going, you it sounds like you're really good at that they can, they can, it just makes it much more affordable for you

David Collins: 42:13

not to go away, not to go and not to cut you off, I'm sorry, but not to go into full detail about it on the first three transactions. If you're a brand new agent, we have it's a 5050 split 50% goes to the agent 25% goes to the brokerage 25% goes to our mentor. So if we assigned a mentor, if I assigned em to you on your first deal, he would get 25% of your commission, the company would get 20 Don't

Rick Ripma: 42:35

encourage him, I know

David Collins: 42:37

try to recruit right now. But what would happen is and then the brokerage gets 25% Because my partner and I were both on these calls with you, right? Helping you write the deals, making sure that everything is in line making sure everything's good to go. And we feel after that third transaction, you're feeling pretty good about you know, you got more comfort, and you're comfortable in writing, closing these deals or writing offers not saying closing deals writing offers, because we have seasoned agents that will still call us and say hey, how do I do this? Absolutely, you know, you know, jump on a call or stop by, we're gonna get through this together, right, we're gonna help it out. And then so that's the 5050 split, but then when we cut it down, then it goes to 7525 until you hit 3.5 million as a total in your career map per year, as a total integrator, once you hit 3.5 million, then it's a flat$700 per transaction. So you could have a million dollar listing in your past the three and a half million threshold, you owe $700. And that's part of it is storage, you know, technology fee, storage fee, etc. Right?

Rick Ripma: 43:40

Yeah, there's cost to it. Sure. Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 43:41

I think one thing that's really nice about it is because we do have some of these, we have the show called Rising gurus. And it's you hear them when they come in, they're like, oh, because I always like to ask, well, what is one thing you learned? Because we all make mistakes. And for instance, there's one that she they allowed the people to stay a few days, like a week after it after the closing to, I guess, close on the other house and something Yeah. And so the real estate goes, so when should my customers receive their $500? Check? And she's like, Wait, hold on, she didn't realize that they put in the in the know, gosh, that it's this charge if they're not if they're not out there. But that's what when you're going through your paperwork, and you're going through it with some of these newer agents, that stuff you guys can absolutely. So that that is you watching out for their back. Yeah, they're paying a little bit but guess what? They're watching out for you.

David Collins: 44:37

Sure. And not only that, but then you know, then you can negotiate that and then if it's a new agent, you can train them on how to talk to that agent and say can we get What's it cost for post possession if we need five days post possession, how do we do this? Not where it's just hidden. Like all sudden your clients owe 500 bucks, you know, read that, you know, walk them through it and show them okay, this right here if they're not out by this date, the agreed upon date They're gonna pay this month. But then that's also when you can train them on how to negotiate back with the agents, they look, we need five days post possession. And that's another thing that we train them on. During the steps of the offer, you know, I've had agents reached out to me like, What are your What are your clients looking for? Before they even write an offer? And I'm kind of one of those, that's if I know the agent, or even if I don't know the agent, I said, Okay, what's it gonna take to make this work? Don't give me the dollar amount. But what's it gonna take to make this work? You know, give me some highs and lows and the offer that is appealing to your seller? What works for your seller do they need? And I'll ask them straight up, I'll say, do they need post possession? Yeah, they would love an extra three days to get everything moved out. So I was I'm telling my buyers, you know, they're looking to, you know, this looks good, but they're gonna need three days. And they're like, oh, that's fine. They're like, we got to finish some stuff up, and we're gonna clean it up. You know, it's usually not a big deal. Right? If but again, it goes back to what the communication, right and being transparent and honest, that way, there's no surprises, right? And I've had a few beginning where there were some surprises. And to make it right. I took care of it on my end, you know, I was like, it wasn't no fault of the client. It was, you know, user error. I'm going to remedy the situation. But it's important, especially when you're brand new agent, it's important to have, whether it's one set of eyes or two set of eyes, right? Looking through that. And you're not you're not questioning them, calling them out like you did this wrong. You know, what's this? Do you know? What do you understand? Do you understand this? Before you submit it? And you know, have you talked to your client about it, not that you don't have to have a two hour conversation with your client, and go line The line on the offer, right. But you want to know the highs and lows of this offer. So your client is 100% on board with what they are submitting. And the seller and the sellers agent are 100% on board with what they're receiving that way, there's no lost in translation. And so that's kind of where we come in, and like, hey, I'll look that over for you. You know, send it over to me before you submit it, send it to me. I'll double check it. And then we can send it out for even even before signatures. That way. You don't have to erase the signatures and then send it back to the client. Just send it to me. Let me take a look at it. And then you know, we'll jump on a call. And yep, this looks good. Is this what they wanted to do? Yep, they are buyers good with this? Yep, yep, yep. Okay, send it to them to sign and then shoot it over to the list agent. And

Ian Arnold: 47:14

so a little bit ago, you were talking about the way you guys do, you'll do a tax or do a calls and you'll tell good things. But there's one thing you did say that I thought and I wanted to kind of curious on this. You also talk about things that go wrong, the bad things. So why would somebody want to talk about their failures?

David Collins: 47:33

To learn from it? I mean, I think 100% You have to, if you only celebrate your successes, you're not going to be paid for when something bad happens, right? So I've you know, I've had, gosh, my was my second deal. As an agent. I was I had a house listed. And I also it was a me and me. So I had the buyer had her in contact with the lender and everything. The day of closing lender calls me he's like, You're not gonna believe this. She quit her job, the bills dead? And just like, oh, gosh, I was like, How do I was like, How do I explain this to my salary? It was also a friend of mine. I'm like, How do I explain this to them? Like, my stomach dropped? And you know, but you learn from and he's like, you know, had she told me this, we could have pulled over earlier. But you know, you'll learn from that. And then so now I tell my clients, I said, don't buy anything nice. Don't buy anything expensive. Don't quit your job. The only time I'll tell somebody if they're buying a house to quit their job or buy something big is if they use another agent. Not congratulations on like, you should go out and buy yourself a new truck. You know, but other than that, you know, but I learned from that it was tough because I had to tell a good friend of mine. Sorry. This still isn't happening. Are you kidding me? Like he was in the truck on the way to the title company. That's when we found out like it was literally minutes before you're moving? Yes. And I said I'm sorry. And he's like, it is what it is. And I hung up and and later you know, we talked and got through all of that. But it was it was a hard learning experience. So I always now make sure like that's a big thing. Like you learn from that you educate on tell them to follow exactly what their lender tells them to do. Correct. I don't advise on the lending side of the mortgage side. That's not my specialty. Right? I give you a list of lenders you choose the lender you want to choose. But I don't tell you do this. Don't do this. Don't do this. You know, but not do tell them. I'm quit your job. Yeah, don't quit your job. Don't buy anything expensive until it's closed. It was like if you want to get the house key and then go turn around and put it on a brand new car keychain. Have at it. I'll buy you a keychain but do not do that in the middle of it. So yes, that's that's why I like to talk about failures or horror stories, whatever you want to call them in the industry. They're good. Yes, you that's the only way I feel that not the only way but till you get better. You get better by repetition, things like that. But you get better when you learn from it. You know, okay, now I know not to do this, right? Because if you have a bad transaction, what's gonna happen it's no different than some of these website reviews right? You can have 30 good reviews on online. People focus on what that one negative review, don't they? Yep. And it takes it, it's hard to get that removed and it's like a tarnish. It's same with real estate, you have one bad experience with a client, you're gonna have 30 great experiences, but then that one client may be so upset with you that they're telling everybody that whatever you do, don't use this guy. He took us through the wringer. You know, so it's good to know those and get those out and talk about because then it humbles you to like, you know, maybe you're not the best agent, maybe you're not the greatest at this, you know, like people, but it shows you again to your human, right, you know, like, we're no different. Like, we're all the same, right? We put our pants on one leg at a time. No, no different than anybody else. And no matter what profession, it's just how you I think it's how you approach day to day with people and how you represent yourself. Yep. Rick.

Ian Arnold: 50:48

Rick does both legs at the same time. Oh, you know, I don't know how he does.

David Collins: 50:52

That's pretty special.

Rick Ripma: 50:53

It is special. You know, that's why I work out.

David Collins: 50:56

Keep in sight so you can get both.

Rick Ripma: 50:59

You gotta be able to jump really high. Do that. Yes. Yeah. And not land on your head.

Ian Arnold: 51:05

All right. So I want somebody with as knowledgeable as you are. And the team that you have let people build come to you and help you out. Now. I asked all customers do not take him skiing. He probably will not go with

David Collins: 51:22

I will not go skiing. Don't ask. All right. But

Ian Arnold: 51:25

what is the best way they can find the guy?

David Collins: 51:29

Different ways so I know a guy real estate@gmail.com nd Crossroads rg.com or text or call at 317-281-9241 What was the number again? 317-281-9241

Rick Ripma: 51:48

I could remember that. I know a guy real estate I can I can remember that. And to get a hold of enter I got a HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or call us at 317-672-1938 It's 317-672-1938. And please follow us for more indies real estate gurus.

Ian Arnold: 52:09

Reminder if you have any friends family or coworkers looking to buy sell refinance, let us know we're more than happy to help you. David, thank you for joining us on our show. Thank

David Collins: 52:16

you for having me. I had a great time It's first time doing this though the nerve you could probably tell on the voice the nerves are a little there but I had a fantastic time. Good being here and thank you for everything. Appreciate it

Ian Arnold: 52:27

next time let us know you get three shots of whiskey referee Come on, that'll be even better.

Rick Ripma: 52:33

Number three springs 041 MLS NUMBER SIX which NMLS number is 19959 People housing opportunity some restrictions apply