Guru Jennifer Blandford with Carpenter Realtors

Announcer: 0:01

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

Rick Ripma: 0:24

Hey, everyone, before we get started, I just wanted to remind you for the most up to date information on mortgages in these real estate market go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That'sHardWorkingMortgageGuys.com I broke grip of the hard worker mortgage guy and I've had the honor of working with over 5200 mortgage borrowers helping each one find their best mortgage options. As a certified mortgage planner. I know my team and I could guide you through the process and help you every step of the way.

Ian Arnold: 0:52

And I'm Ian Arnold part heart Rick's hard working mortgage team and I've worked in the financial financial industry for 15 years helping people purchase what they want, and helping them work to build their overall wealth and build up their credit.

Rick Ripma: 1:06

On today's show, we're very excited to be talking with real estate guru Jennifer Blanford. With carpenter real tours. Jennifer's career is full of stories stories of sold, each new client represents a new chapter in her career, each with its own character and plot. Stories of history when households downsize stories of opportunity when families relocate stories of salvation when the need was financial relief, stories of joy when families expanded stories of dreams realized with a first purchase. It is the endings to those stories that drives Jennifer's commitment to her real estate career. It's the twists and the turns of the tail that expands her knowledge. It's her fierce commitment to representing and protecting her clients that generate the referrals. And it's her ability to recognize the story and weave the perfect ending that sets Jennifer apart. And is these qualities that have led Jennifer to become one of the Indies real estate gurus. Jennifer, thank you so much for joining us today.

Jennifer Blandford: 2:10

Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks, Rick.

Rick Ripma: 2:12

We do appreciate it. And what would be the best way for someone to contact you? If they have any real estate needs?

Jennifer Blandford: 2:19

Well, always my cell phone number 31784726953178472695. Yes. All right.

Rick Ripma: 2:30

I always find it helps to repeat it so people can hear it. I kind of entered. I did kind of I did I do. There's Jennifer, I gotta tell you she is a huge producing real estate agent. She is She is one of she is a guru for sure. And I think you'll really enjoy hearing some of her stories. First. You know, how did you end up in real estate?

Jennifer Blandford: 2:58

Well, I want to start by saying I'm second generation. My mother had a brilliant 50 year career in real estate. She just retired a couple years ago. Yes. So I literally grew up in it. Some of my first memories were riding around in the back of her car sitting on top of MLS books, you know, while she went to appointments and showings, and I can remember running in and getting water samples with her. And my very first job was at 14 years old in her real estate office, scheduling showings and managing keys that was before lockboxes. But of course, I didn't want to follow in the family business. And so I went to school, I studied journalism. And when I got out of school, I I went to work for about 10 years in corporate marketing and advertising that was great and carried all of that knowledge into my real estate business. But after about 10 years in the corporate world, and you know, 30 years of my mother saying you'd be great in real estate, you'd be great in real estate. I took her advice, went and got my license in the evenings. And once that process was completed, my husband and I sold our house and moved to St. Simons Island, Georgia cold turkey. And that's where I started my real estate career back in 2002. Wow. So

Rick Ripma: 4:17

did you grow up here in India?

Jennifer Blandford: 4:18

I did. I'm from Brownsburg,

Rick Ripma: 4:19

did you go to college?

Jennifer Blandford: 4:21

I went to college. I went to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. Okay. Yeah, most people would know of Jerry Falwell school. Oh, really? Okay. Yeah. All right.

Rick Ripma: 4:29

Perfect. And so you didn't actually go back exactly there. But you kind of went back to where you went to school that you went to the East Coast?

Jennifer Blandford: 4:37

Well, yes. After I finished college, my husband and I stayed. He had been in school in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and I moved to Winston Salem, North Carolina. That's where I spent 10 years. corporate marketing. Yes. Okay. Yeah, no, no, no, no, I started my real estate career in St. Simons Island, Georgia, because we just said hey, Let's move to the island cold turkey. So the house with jobs and boom. Went to an island where I did not know one single person.

Rick Ripma: 5:08

You have got

Ian Arnold: 5:11

a lot of guns. So what made you come back to nd

Jennifer Blandford: 5:15

divorce? Yeah, yeah, got divorced. And it's all good. It's all good. I just decided I was tired of spending all of my vacations in Indiana. And so if I was going to start over in that area of my life, I was coming home. Yeah,

Ian Arnold: 5:31

it's tough when you move away from family, like, even with, I grew up in a couple different states. And so I wouldn't mind moving to Florida, especially this time of year. But my wife has always lived here in Indiana. And it's even tough being two hours away from her mom and dad. So I can definitely see where your family draws. Especially I would like don't doesn't happen for everybody. But usually, the women, they're closer to the parents and stuff, then usually men can just up and go, but that's just the way I've always seen it.

Rick Ripma: 6:02

Yeah. So how about your family? What is your family look like? And do they support your business?

Jennifer Blandford: 6:09

Yes, absolutely. I have one brother. He's three years younger than me. He also lives here in Indiana down on the south side. Edinburg, actually. And that's it. It's just us too. I have a large extended family. My mother ended up raising five of her nieces and nephews. Oh, wow. And that was another reason I decided to come home. I came home about a year after they came to live with her. And so you know, for all of these years, I've helped her with them. They're grown now. The last one is 21. But that they are like, especially the younger one. They're like brothers and sisters.

Rick Ripma: 6:53

Well, your mom sounds like a real special person. She's amazing. That's that's what she chooses to do that is that that takes a special person. Yeah, that's awesome. And and she spent 50 years in real estate. I believe it's about 50. That's yeah, that's amazing. And then you came and now you're, you started somewhere else you came and now you're you've been in Indiana doing real estate for?

Jennifer Blandford: 7:16

Yes. So 2005. Okay, April 2005, is when I came home and started over completely. I had been gone for 16 years. Everybody I knew here still was in real estate because my mother had hired them all. I had to start over completely.

Rick Ripma: 7:37

Now that wasn't difficult was it? What did you do to get started? Sorry, I,

Jennifer Blandford: 7:41

I did what do you what all new Realtors should do to get started talk to expireds talk to fizz Bo's started farming. I went back through our company's training program and and got familiar with, you know, the Indianapolis market, how it works, because you know, it varies from one state to the next, I joined things I got to know people got involved in community service. And, you know, just figured out a way to go find new people to talk with.

Ian Arnold: 8:07

So if a new realtor was starting up, what is one thing you learn that you should have done? Or that you shouldn't have done? When you first started?

Jennifer Blandford: 8:18

What I should or should not have done that

Rick Ripma: 8:20

you did do that work really? Well? Yeah.

Jennifer Blandford: 8:22

What has worked really well for me in both markets has been database management. Just the people that you know, stay in front of them, talk to them, have your data, your database really clean and easy and up to date I have in front of you all the time. Don't lose track of leads, follow up, follow up, follow up. I think that's probably one of the biggest mistakes that agents make is they do not follow up. Sometimes it takes clients years to make a decision. And I'm not saying chase them every day and be annoying, but stay in contact, stay in front of them when they're ready, they'll

Rick Ripma: 8:57

be ready. Right? You know, it's, it's why I advertise on the radio is you never know when they're going to be ready. And if you advertised a month, you know, if you did it like a lot of people do it, you advertise for a little while, then you stop and then you start those people that are ready when when you stop they don't remember you. And it's that's what you're saying you have to keep in touch with in front of them. And you know, in today's world, it's not that difficult to keep in front of somebody. But I don't know about you, but I find the very best way. And the way most people try to avoid is the phone. And it's not that you'd want to do every you know, every buddy but we we call once every quarter. And we find that's like a good amount of time. And it's actually not difficult once you've done it a little while. Is that how did you I'm sure you call it because you didn't. How else would you get expired listings if you don't call you call them? Yes, for sure. And that's a cold call. Yeah, I just love. We can tell.

Jennifer Blandford: 10:05

No, but you know what I actually believe I can help them, I can help them. I built my career in both markets, Georgia and here by helping them sell homes that other agents couldn't. And there's a whole process to that. But I mean, I believe I can help them, right. And so when you believe that it's not so hard to get on the phone, but I work every day at getting better about calling my clients, I love my clients, I love to talk to them. I get busy with the transactions. And so it's really hard to sit down and say, hi, today, I'm going to call 10. People just check in. And I'm really that's a mission for this year, more of it. I want to know, did they have a baby? Did they get a new job? You know, I want to know that I love that what projects have you done at the house? Just kind of, you know, small talk really, but just staying engaged and in touch,

Rick Ripma: 10:59

and they want that.

Jennifer Blandford: 11:00

I hope they want that I you know, I don't call and be like, Oh, no, no. I'll add that in. Most of the time they bring it up, they go, hey, you know what my sister wants to move, or I just said that yesterday, or not yesterday, but Tuesday, hey, you know, I know somebody, I have clients that will text me there's a Fizbo sign in the neighborhood, you know, in the next block those kinds of things. They know that I work by referral. And they want to help me most of the times.

Rick Ripma: 11:31

Yeah, and it's important. The reason I like to really concentrate on this number one, I knew that that's something that you did. And I know, I knew that that was something that was important to you this year that you were really putting a focus on that. And it's what we do. And if there's a if there's agents out there that are listening, that that need to improve their business, the number one way you can do it is pick up the phone and start calling your contacts. You know, that is that is the very number one way it's how you built your business. You You called people and you start to contact. We like to say, if the phone's not ringing, pick it up. Right?

Jennifer Blandford: 12:11

Yes, yes. Yes. You know, there's a national statistic in this industry that your database 10% of your database will deliver a transaction every year. So you think about it, you have 500 people in your database, if you're talking to them like you should and stay in front of them, that should deliver 50 transactions annually. When you look at that math, it's like how many people can I talk to you today?

Rick Ripma: 12:35

Right? Yeah, and it's not, you're not, you're not being that what I call the multi level marketing person who after a while, you don't want to talk to him anymore, even though they're great friends, because they won't stop. It's just like you said, you just call up you're finding out about their lives, they find out a little bit about you, you, if they don't bring it up, you probably just give something like we do. You know, if you have any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy, sell, or refinance, we just start a group text with us. Introduce us, that'd be great. You know, is that something you? You do for us? Yes. And it's just that it's not intrusive. And it's just that they, they want to help because they like you. They had a great experience, you did a phenomenal job. And they want to help they don't want their friends to have a bad experience. That's

Jennifer Blandford: 13:20

what it is. They don't want their friends to have a bad experience. And so you know, I'm grateful that I've earned that. I want to be I know everybody says that I want to be a realtor for life. That's not a tagline that I ever use. But that's the truth. I have clients where I've helped multiple generations, cousins, nieces and nephews, best friends. I want to be that resource. I want them to call me and ask me about their tax assessment. You know, who's a good plumber, you know, who can do insulation in my attic, I want that. I want that. It's funny this year, after years and years and years and years of stories of sold brand, I've changed my brand and I'm in the process of rolling it out to just call Jennifer because I want to I'm not gonna want to be like the Angie's List. But yeah, I do. I know all the good contractors, right? I don't want you to make a bad decision with that plumber that's going to charge you five times. You know, those kinds of things. So all that's getting rebranded now just call Jennifer let's

Rick Ripma: 14:20

call Jennifer and probably your website and all that.

Jennifer Blandford: 14:23

Yeah, just call Jennifer Blanford get set up. Yeah, yeah, I wish I could have found a one 800 Number, but there's nothing available.

Rick Ripma: 14:31

And so if somebody is is looking at real estate buying selling, have any questions on real estate, what's the best way to get a hold of your cell phone and that number

Jennifer Blandford: 14:41

317-847-2695

Rick Ripma: 14:46

And that's 317-847-2695 All right, perfect. And if you need to get a hold of the Ian or I, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com And after the break, we're going to find out where Gonna ask Jennifer the question of the week, find out her answer.

Unknown: 15:05

Advisors, mortgage brokers licensed by Indiana Department of Financial Institutions equal housing opportunity. NMLS 33041, Rick Ripma and MLS 664589.

Rick Ripma: 15:14

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.

Unknown: 15:22

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

Ian Arnold: 15:27

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

Jennifer Blandford: 15:32

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

Unknown: 15:38

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: 15:56

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

Announcer: 16:09

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: 16:22

Thank you so much for joining us today. Today and coming back. We appreciate it. I'm Rick Ripma, your hard work and mortgage guy and I'm

Ian Arnold: 16:29

Leonardo and today we we have a guru special with us today from carpenter realtor. And so if they're looking to get a hold of you, how would

Jennifer Blandford: 16:41

they definitely cell phone? It's always with me.

Ian Arnold: 16:45

What's that number?

Jennifer Blandford: 16:45

317-847-2695.

Ian Arnold: 16:49

Okay, now it's going to be the hardest question we'll ask you. It's time for question of the week. Okay.

Unknown: 16:55

Now it's time for questions with the gurus.

Ian Arnold: 17:04

Question of the week is sponsored by advisors Mortgage Group where we fit your mortgage to fit your needs. Contact us today to get your free mortgage plan. Alright, so what was your first car?

Jennifer Blandford: 17:17

In 1983, Renaud Alliance? Oh, it was a tin can on wheels. It was the most ugly color of beige. But it got me where I needed to go. I actually only had it for three months, because I accidentally totaled it,

Rick Ripma: 17:34

you accidentally totaled it. Never good. No, she wanted

Ian Arnold: 17:38

a different car, let's be honest. But so we were talking and you were talking about what you go through. And I think you hit on a very good point is, when you're making your cold calls, let's be honest, no vast majority people who do have to do calls where you don't know somebody, none of us like it. But you do, as I've heard several times is if you want to grow your business, you need to step out of your comfort zone. And by doing that, that is phenomenal. Because we see a lot of people that are too scared or to pick up that phone and just start calling just because they're afraid of that know, when they never know when they'll get a yes.

Rick Ripma: 18:22

It's amazing. But I was curious if if someone was out there and they're looking to find an agent, they're they're interviewing agents are looking to find a good realtor, what are the characteristics or traits they should look for?

Jennifer Blandford: 18:41

Well, other than the obvious, you know, someone with experience and an excellent marketing plan, I think they need an agent who will listen to them, who will literally hear what their need is, what their timeline is, what their primary goal is. And who will get to work, you know, without the ego, just here. For instance, last spring was crazy, you know, that was crazy. And in that scenario, it was really important when sitting down with clients to understand, Okay, does this house have to be sold? How are we going to work on that? What do you want? What are you do you understand the market conditions what let me hear what you are prepared to enter the market with in those kinds of things. How do we time it up so you are not homeless? And how do we structure this to make this easy for you? You know, what do we do with your car collection? You know, and whatever it is, you know, your your horses, you know, how do we make this all work? That is so important. That that is so important.

Rick Ripma: 19:57

Yeah, it was a very unique market. that last couple of years, and it's changed a little bit. But it was, it's always important that you have somebody who is experienced, or at least has management that is there to help them guide you through that. Because you've been in the business, basically, you've been in the business your whole life, because this is what your mom did. Right? Yeah. So you've seen so many markets, that you know what to do, and probably almost every situation, and, and then you have new people that are there in your office with you, right? And they have you as a resource. So, if, if it's always better to get the person like you, but if they can't get the guru, or they, you know, they want if you're if you're going to go with somebody who doesn't have that experience, you better they better have a great team behind.

Jennifer Blandford: 20:55

Well, I think the team is really important. I mean, we all have to start somewhere, we all have a first transaction, you know. And to be honest, every single day in this business, there's something new that you haven't seen before, there's no one's going to know every single answer 100% of the time. But when you have had some experience workers and problems, you at least know where to go to find the answers who to talk to. And yes, I it. New agents do definitely need a backup that they can call I mean, the agents in our office will text me all the time, or you know, call me, you know, I've got this scenario, what do I do? And I'm happy to help. Super happy to help. I think it's a great resource for all the clients of, you know, Carpenter, realtors, teams, Zionsville.

Rick Ripma: 21:45

Yeah, I just think there's so many great people. What impresses me about the Guru's in the industry, at least every single one we've had on you included, you actually, it's not only about you, okay, it's a fact, it's not about you, I think that most well, you know, I can tell by what you, you think about your customer, you think about the other people, you're there to help. And you know, that will take care of itself, you just take care of people, you just help. And you have the experience, which is obvious when somebody talks to you, and you're a huge producer, because you've done it a long time, you know what you're doing. And you're, you have this great ability, because of I'm guessing, partly school, you you're a writer, and you understand marketing and advertising. And how important is that in selling real estate?

Jennifer Blandford: 22:37

Well, it's crucial, I think it's crucial. You have to kind of be able to determine who the most likely buyer for a property is, and then prepare that property to appeal to that particular buyer. One of the most favorite games that I play with every listing with myself is who's going to buy this house, and I try to guess, who's going to be the most likely buyer, you know, if a house is distressed, it's going to be an investor most likely, you know, if it can't get through financing conventional find it's going to be an investor. So you've got to price it to appeal to them. If it's a four bedroom and Carmel, it's most likely going to be bought by a family. So you, you, you know, you make it appeal to them. If it's a very high end house. You don't put that on the market in any kind of distressed condition because people who buy high end houses work a lot, and they don't want to do you know, a lot of renovations. So you just I love to figure out who is the most likely buyer and then make sure that house presents the way it needs to to them.

Rick Ripma: 23:40

It's interesting because I sold new homes for a long time. And I remember the decorator, the decorator was actually out of I think Arizona, and she came in because she was decorating a model. But she'd come through the other models she had decorated and see how they were doing split them up a little bit. But I remember she came in and she was telling me about the people who live in the house. There was nobody living in the house, it was a model but in her mind, she did exactly what you're saying. She every model was decorated to a certain person that she saw living in the house, which is how she saw in the neighborhood. Right. And that's it's a brilliant way to do it. Personally, I'm not that creative. So I'd have never thought of that. But I think it's great. And you obviously with your you're obviously good at seeing beyond what what's there and kind of casting down the road. I like to think so. Yeah. It's amazing. And so how about, you know, I know, I know writing you at your your writing is phenomenal. And what about your marketing when somebody has a house their listing? Is there anything you know is that I think marketing has to be important, but what is important about the marketing of that house?

Jennifer Blandford: 24:54

Well we know that sellers get their best price, best terms most convenience by the best exposure to the pool of buyers in the market at that time. So as a company, Carpenter has a comprehensive multimedia marketing system that I don't have to worry about. I write the copy, I submit it and they roll it. So I mean, even from a television show, and comprehensive direct mail, newsprint, you know, high end things go into the IBJ social media boost platform, I mean, just everywhere that buyers are looking, we make sure that our properties are there. But it does start with the listing agent. And the listing agent needs to ensure that the house is presented the way it will show its best and I mean, professional photography video. certain properties need to have aerials. Actually, most of the need to have aerials. Nowadays, I've found people want to know what the roof looks like, you know, just those kinds of things. And then it needs to be staged, it needs to smell good. It needs to be presented in the absolute best possible light. Now, I'm not saying go in and renovate it, unless you're an investor. And that's what you do. But make sure it looks good. Remove fear factors, you know, that old discoloration on the ceiling from when the toilet upstairs leaked 10 years ago. Hit that with some bleach and water, get rid of it. It scares buyers. I'll walk through and do all those Fear Factor. Give them all that fear factor mitigation advice to all of my sellers.

Rick Ripma: 26:46

Yeah, cuz it doesn't look good to have the when you see that on the ceiling. You wonder what's going on?

Jennifer Blandford: 26:51

Absolutely. Absolutely, exactly. It's all kinds of things like that.

Ian Arnold: 26:55

I will tell you this right now that aerial shots, I love them. I love that people use the drones and everything. And the main reason for me is I've always I'm a big yard, I got two young kids, I wanted a big yard. So when they when they would take the wide angle of view that backyard sometimes would look very small or look very big and you get there. And it's like two inches by two inches. And you're like, Are you kidding me? This is the backyard

Jennifer Blandford: 27:20

Oh, I'm so agree. There's nothing that will be more of a buzzkill for your showing if your photography is not accurate. If you're it's just pointless to use wide angle lenses and make those bedrooms look bigger than they are. All you're going to do is go through the hassle and inconvenience. And then the buyer is going to be disappointed. You don't want to disappoint you want the reality to meet the expectation that drew them out there to look at that house. I don't like fishing angle. I don't like any of that. I want reality. And I love the aerials as well, because it shows what's around it. You know, when I'm looking for a home, I want to know what's around it. I want to know if there's a junkyard in the back, you know, over the neighbor's yard or so yes, I want to know those things before I even bother to go out. I use them when I'm working on putting showings together or making suggestions for my clients. I'll go and do Google Earth and all of that, because I don't want to waste my time. And then them you know, rule it out after we've spent an hour there because there's a train track in the backyard or whatever.

Ian Arnold: 28:20

So how important is that first meeting? If somebody's trying to sell their home? Like do you usually just sit down and have a conversation? Do you walk through the house with them and say, hey, look, I might need you might need to do this. Or you might want to do that to up the value?

Jennifer Blandford: 28:37

Well, that's crucial. Of course, I walk through the house, I need to know what I have to work with. One of the very first questions I'll always ask is what is your goal, speed or money, and they're not always the same. If it's money, then we need to make the house appropriate for the money that you want. As long as they're reasonable. And if it's speed, then we need to make the price appropriate for the timeline that you want. That's goes back to listening again, I want to hear what their goal is.

Rick Ripma: 29:08

So again, how would somebody what's what's the phone number? I know what's your phone numbers? It's the best one to get a hold of Yeah, what is that number

Jennifer Blandford: 29:14

cell phone 317-847-2695

Announcer: 29:19

referred to if you need to get a hold of ESRI, it's hard working mortgage guys.com That's hardworking mortgage guys.com And we're at the end of the radio show. So please join us on the podcast 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 have Brent NMLS number 33041. Rick Ripma is NMLS number 664589. Ian Arnold's NMLS number is 1995469 equal housing opportunity some restrictions apply.

Unknown: 29:58

Well first off thank you for joining us, TN You know, 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: 31:49

ranch NMLS number 33041 recruitment in MLS number six, six will finally nine equal housing opportunity, some restrictions apply. I'm Rick Ripma You can go to hard work your mortgage guys.com.

Ian Arnold: 32:02

Starting right now, that's phenomenal. Look how fast that switched over. Alright, so I do have a really good question. What is your wait, what do you consider one of your most memorable deals that you had? I mean, it could be a hot I mean, most people I mean, Rick and I always with first time homebuyers it's always that person that after they're done that you see tears coming down their face and you thinking you did something wrong, and we go over there and talk to them. They're like, No, I just never thought I could purchase a home. And I'm the first one in my family and I mean that about I'm not an emotional person but that starts to make me once teary eyed.

Jennifer Blandford: 32:39

I I love those stories. I absolutely love working with first time buyers, I will protect them and it is my goal to make a match but it's always my goal to make a good match for all my buyers. I think my most memorable transaction seriously 7535 Perrier drive in Normandy farms in Indianapolis traitors Point area right off 71st street it was at the height of the Great Recession. I can't remember the exact year but I want to say probably 2008 nine right around in there. This was the took three years it was a short sale. I it's just the wildest craziest story. The sellers got divorced in the process, got remarried, moved to California Bank of America and Wells Fargo had the first and second mortgages. The first offer that I got would have cleared Bank of America and shorted Wells Fargo just like $10,000. In the end, Wells Fargo said we're not being shorted if Doa is not being shorted and Doa said we're the first lien holder, we're not being shorted. Fast forward. Three years later, both mortgages were sold to investors. And the guy who bought the second he would call me I mean he was just like a New Yorker with that out you know, that accent and that attitude and that talking really fast that nothing against New Yorkers level. But I mean, he was the stereotype he would call when he I gotta get that paid off when he got up got out, you know, and he you could hear kids splashing in a pool behind him and he's holding the title right? I sold that house six different times. And they fell through for so many reasons, all related to the first and the second. This was back in the day when none of us knew really how to do short sales and the banks didn't know how to do short sales. In the end, a tree fell on the roof. A wall of the pool collapsed. The basement flooded the house filled with mold, and we went from selling it. I never gave up. We went from selling at what would have I think the first initial offer was like 390. We ended up selling it for 225 or something like that. But we got it done. We got it done. And the funniest thing This was back in the age of the flip phone phones with the texting one of the sellers had me came to California and he would text me for an update. And I would text him back. You know, VOA, VOA done it Bank of America right VOA. And this was three years of this. So after closing, a box arrives at my office, and I opened it up and it is this gorgeous purple feather boa. Like the kind you put around your neck. And I call him I'm like, What is this? And I'll say, I'm known for purple. I have a weird purple girl like this obsession with the color purple. But he's like, every time you texted me about Bank of America, you said VOA, and all I could think of was Ebola. I have so many memorable stories, but that particular transaction was just hysterical. There's other details I could go into, but I won't on the air. I will say that that listing attracted so much activity from my office, you know, sign calls buyers calling in, we probably sold $10 million off of that house. So just memorable. Yes, that totally memorable.

Rick Ripma: 36:20

Three years, three years. It all worked out.

Jennifer Blandford: 36:24

And it was all because of the banks. Yes, that was the problem. That's what happened back then. Back then it was a nightmare.

Rick Ripma: 36:30

Anytime I have a we I was in financing and we'd have a have a loan come in. So you buy a house and it's a it's a foreclosure, or it's a short sale. And it's like, you realize this probably is not closing next month, right? Because they're never gonna figure this out in time. And it would take I mean, many times I just gave up. But yeah, you stuck with it?

Jennifer Blandford: 36:51

Well, this was at the very, very beginning, and they didn't know what to do. And they didn't know what to do, you know, you would sit on hold for hours with the short sale specialist and loss mitigation. Anyway, it's funny.

Rick Ripma: 37:05

So what would you what are your superpowers? I think I have a good idea from what you've already told us. But what would you say? And when I say superpowers, I'm talking about my wife. This came from my wife, who always was she would say, oh, you know, Beth, she's, she's, she's a She's famous for her chicken stew, or whatever it is. Okay. And so I thought, well, she wasn't really famous. It was just what everybody knew her for that knew her and, and so and, and real estate or life what? What would what would you consider your superpowers? Like, here's, I'll make a guess. One. From your last story. Your you you don't give up?

Jennifer Blandford: 37:49

Oh, yeah, that's definitely true.

Rick Ripma: 37:52

Yeah, you don't give up. Number two, I'm guessing. Based on what I've, you're writing is a huge superpower. And being a writer makes a big difference when you're marketing a house. And that, I'm guessing is a pretty big superpower.

Jennifer Blandford: 38:09

Well, I would think so, you know, I try to write all of my ad copy for all of my properties, which is really stand out. Right. You know, it irks me when I see properties advertised, you know, four bedroom, nice two bath. Come see. I mean, there's literally properties in the MLS right described in that manner. That's, that's not how I Right yeah. I think you're right, you hit it on the hit the nail on the head, it's not something I had ever thought about. Going back to the comment that I won't give up. I won't give up because I know they needed to be sold. I know they need it, they wouldn't have hired me if it didn't need to be sold. And like in that situation, those people did not want to do a foreclosure they needed that house to be sold and so I just wouldn't give up till I got it done right. Relentless I guess got it done

Rick Ripma: 39:09

many times. Sold a whole bunch until finally contracts

Jennifer Blandford: 39:13

on it many times.

Rick Ripma: 39:15

So I mean, that's But to me, that was an obvious like one of your superpowers is and I think it's a vital for people when they when they're buying or selling, that they have an agent like that. The other thing that I notice is, as you're I think you're very caring and kind. So you care about your customers and that makes it because of your experience. You also know a lot of agents and I have many agents who tell me listen when we get offers and especially when they got a bunch of offers and you may have done this too. We look at the offers and it makes a difference who the listing or who the offer the that buyer's agent is I what I usually haven't say As you know, we look at one if there's two similar offers, and one of them is somebody we know is just going to be a real difficult to work with will take the other offer, you are

Jennifer Blandford: 40:10

100%, correct? Yes. And Indianapolis is humongous market? I mean, I think we have around 7500 agents, I do not profess to know every single agent

Ian Arnold: 40:19

Oh, come on.

Jennifer Blandford: 40:20

I know a lot on the north side, I know a lot of them. But I can tell who's going to be good to work with that is the truth. You know, last spring, when you were getting 17 to 40 offers on a house, I didn't know every one of those agents. But you better believe I took note of who actually phoned me. But you know, on the when they've left the showing on their way to go write an offer and ask me the questions that would make a difference, the ones who would call and say I have sent you an offer, I have copied in the mortgage broker in case you have any questions, that is a good tight agent with a good representation of their client. I don't know how many offers I've received that hit my spam box didn't even know they were there. That is poor representation of a client. And if the terms are the same, I'm not picking spam guy, right? I mean, it's not up to me to pick it, you know. But all all features need to be presented to the client when you're presenting multiple offers. And it is a great measure of confidence, I think when I can say this agent has put a cover letter together and defined the details that make their offer stand out, they have sent an airtight pre approval letter with an introduction to the lender, they have been excellent at communication. These other offers, were presented like this,

Ian Arnold: 41:43

it's very similar to when you're job hunting, and you're looking at your resume, your resume and that and what you're talking how they put that sheet together to go hand in hand. I mean, if you want to stand out, you make it look good. It's legible. It's nicely written nicely written stuff like that. So I know exactly what you're talking about.

Rick Ripma: 42:06

I did too. And I think it's I think it's critical. It always surprises me. When I don't get a call from the listing agent asking me about my pre approval. Now, you're you I know that when people you've been around in the industry for a long time, you have a great reputation. So people, people, even if you don't know somebody, they know who you are. And you probably know who they are. If they're if they're a producing agent, right? Right, you're gonna know the people who they do one or two a year, you may never run into them, but people are producing, you're gonna know pretty much that, you know, the top, what is it the top 20% Sell 80% of the real estate, you probably know the top 20% Probably either you know them or you know of them and you and you have and you know, a good reputation follows them. So does a bad rep. Yes, he does.

Jennifer Blandford: 42:58

Oh, yes, it does.

Rick Ripma: 43:00

And and I think you know, everybody who answers that question when they when they talk about it. They're like, well, it's not my my decision. And it's not but it but it is your decision, it is your responsibility to make sure that the customer, the seller or buyer, whoever it is, understands what they're working with, because that will make a difference through the process. Yes, it does. You get an inspection back and you get somebody who's not nice. It can be a real issue. I agree. And so your your what you're doing is protecting your people, which is

Jennifer Blandford: 43:35

that's kind of what you do. That's That's what I was hired to do. Yes,

Rick Ripma: 43:39

yeah. And it's who you are. And you and you know how to do that. So it's I think that's really, really important. So what are common reasons for new real estate agents or, you know, beginning to fail? What are the things they they what, you know, there's so many come in and go out of the business, what is the causes that?

Jennifer Blandford: 44:01

Oh, I think not digging in and getting engaged. This is not an easy business. I've gotten to the point, as a manager, where we just don't even hire part timers anymore. It's too hard. And part timers do not get engaged the way they need to in the beginning. It's one thing when you've become experienced and you start to slow down. It is another when you say I'm going to work a full time job and sell a couple houses a year. That is not give me the opportunity to train like we need to and I don't mean to disparage anyone's business practices at all. It's just I think you have got to just dive in and I mean, go to the office every day be around the seasoned experienced agents hear what they're talking about. Don't try to get started working at home, you're not going to I also think the biggest thing is they fear they, they hear what we're saying. But they don't want to do it. They can't overcome it. And I think the third thing is they don't go looking for advice and wisdom. I was simple things, you know, come and ask me how to put that deal together so that you can win in multiple offers, I have a lot of advice I would give you, but they don't. So they just write an offer and they get beat again, you know, and all kinds of experience like that. You just you have to go to the source and look for guidance and ask what you don't know, you know.

Rick Ripma: 45:29

And my opinion, is, it's their responsibility to ask for the guidance, because you don't know where they need it. You probably do help them without them asking, but I had a loan officer years ago, who came in he was inexperienced, I tell him upfront, listen, you got to come to me. I'm busy. I'm, I don't know, you know, you need to come to me. He stayed a while and he laughed. And the reason he laughed was You never asked me you never. You never asked me what I needed. Yeah. Well, you know, what, if you don't have enough gumption to ask your manager or your your your mentor, whoever it is, how are you going to ever do business?

Jennifer Blandford: 46:07

That's correct. Yes. That that's what we see all the time in the business.

Rick Ripma: 46:12

Yeah, I think part time is, it's a tough way to go. My my niece is a real estate agent in North Carolina. We did, I did a show with her. And she and she came into real estate. She was a teacher at the time. And she said it was the biggest mistake she made she she taught. And she got into real estate. But she got so busy so quickly, she had to give up teaching.

Jennifer Blandford: 46:33

Well, that was a good decision.

Rick Ripma: 46:36

But it was, but she said that she wished she had just stayed just gone right into real estate. And I've had other people tell me the same thing. But it's sometimes it's hard to just give up that. But it's if you're not committed, it's hard to work. It's hard to work full time. And then do something part time that you have the freedom to do or not do. Does that make sense? In other words, I've seen people who they'll quit, they'll want to be a loan officers, they'll come in, they're gonna be alone. So they take the tasks that do everything they're supposed to do. And then when they don't make it because well, so they don't, they never show up. They don't come in. And then they say, Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna go work at Menards. You know? Well, if you because Menards, you gotta go in. You know, so they go in, but because of what it is, after a little while, to your point, they don't come in, they don't learn from any the experiences in the office. Correct. And there's so much you can learn. And also, as you as you said earlier, you have to call people. Right, you. And I think I think part of the problem I see is they don't work. That's correct. If you work, you're probably going to figure it out. It's correct, right? If

Jennifer Blandford: 47:48

you're willing to work, then you're going to learn from your mistakes. And you're just going to keep going, there's there's just a drive that has to be there. And if that drive, that drive that that gets people to come to the office, to do what we teach them to do to go and look for guidance when they need it. That drive is just something we cannot give, you know the same. You can take a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I mean, we have a gigantic lake in our company come and drink from it. And we still see people who don't. And and you see it all over the industry. Yeah. And in every industry,

Rick Ripma: 48:22

in every industry it work is It's amazing, isn't it? If you work, you can, you can usually succeed at it. I just I just find that's the biggest thing. And like when you were I can tell by the way you answered the question about calling when you got into the industry. You started and then when you moved to Indiana and started again, restarted, you went and you called people. Yeah. And you didn't want to call people I

Jennifer Blandford: 48:49

didn't I do not today.

Rick Ripma: 48:51

Do you do and that's that. That's my point. Most people, not everybody, but most people are afraid to pick up the phone and call people that is correct. But once you start picking up the phone and calling people it gets easier.

Jennifer Blandford: 49:07

I don't know if it does or not depends on who you're calling.

Ian Arnold: 49:10

I will say this though, what does help is being in the office while doing this? Absolutely. You're sitting in your office you got two other people next to you and there you hear them bringing bring bring and just calling people left and right hanging up calling people getting rejected. Guess what? When you get rejected, guess what's gonna happen? You're gonna be like, well, he just got rejected too. So that's okay. And you gotta keep calling because they're calling to when you're at home and you don't have any of that. Guess what? You're like.

Jennifer Blandford: 49:38

I'm gonna go do laundry. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 49:42

That is why I come into the office because I wouldn't be doing laundry but there's so many other things I can find to do. I'm getting better because I work on the weekends and I generally work out of my house now. But it is a lot easier to find something else to do, even if that's something else is sitting down. than watching a TV program or you know, there's a football game on and, or whatever. So it is important that you come into the office.

Jennifer Blandford: 50:08

Yeah, it is. I also find though, once I actually sit down and get on the phone, I have fun. I mean great conversations, I love to reconnect. I, I just love to hear about the changes in people's lives and, and it's not so awkward anymore. You know, every time it seems like I don't want to bother them. You know, here's the thing, somebody said it was rude wise, and I soaked it in. If they don't want to talk to you, they won't answer. So, okay, so I leave some voicemails, it's not convenient, they don't talk to me, whatever. But the people who do want to talk to you, they pick up and it's so fun. So what I'll often do is call clients past clients, you know, sphere of influence, and then I will on that momentum, I'll call some expired since and for sale by owners and do some circle calling. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 50:53

And you probably have a process and and what is the worst thing that's ever happened to you when you call the expired? Listing? The very worst thing

Jennifer Blandford: 51:02

string of obscenities, your realtors. Where are you when I was trying to sell my house?

Rick Ripma: 51:08

And then we're then what? You hung up? And you moved on? Right? Exactly

Jennifer Blandford: 51:11

right.

Rick Ripma: 51:11

It's not a big that's a it's not a big deal. You. Yeah, they do that. But sometimes those people who just let them get it out, you might even get them as a client.

Jennifer Blandford: 51:20

Absolutely. If you want, you never know until you do it. I'll tell you a quick story when I was in Georgia and a rookie and I didn't know anybody. I was calling for sale or expired. And I happened to get a builder on the phone. And down there. They didn't have big national production builders, they were just independent builders. And we just had a great conversation, he agreed to meet with me. And he gave me that listing. And over the years, I handled all of his, he did specs, all of his specs. For all the years that I was in Georgia, we had a great relationship, he ended up referring me to one of his friends who was a developer who ended up building a neighborhood. And I was hired to market the lots. So I aligned with my builder friends, I had many, many referrals and introductions from Wayne to other spec builders. And I put together packages. You know, like a national builder like here, you can pick from for builders, here's all their floor plans, here's all their prices now which light lot would you like, it was up mazing. And that was hard to leave when I left your job. But I My point was you just never know who's going to be on the other end of that phone and what they need,

Rick Ripma: 52:39

right? So you just pick up the phone and call and most people are very nice. Most are when I when I find when somebody doesn't want to talk to me. And I can tell. And they'll just say, Well, you know what, I'm really busy right now, I'll call you back or you know, call me back later. And then they never ever answer the phone again. Yeah. But that's okay. It is, you know, it consistency tends to get through. But that's I just I just think it's interesting. What about what roadblocks have you run into? And how have you overcome the these road roadblocks that you that you run into when you're listing or or taking a buyer out? What kind of a roadblock? Well, it can be anything I think a lot of roadblocks tend to be issues with appraisal, action appraisal, you know, those kinds of things. Or maybe it could be it could just be in your you know, sometimes it's just getting over the roadblock, if you have to call people that you've done that. But

Jennifer Blandford: 53:37

I think transactional roadblocks and you know, appraisals and inspections. You just present them it is what it is. I didn't create this problem. No, I'm not the one who clogged your sewer line. I'm not the one who made your furnace stop working yesterday. It is what it is you want to sell a house it has to be addressed. Now, how can I get over the hurdle? I work with some of the most cost efficient, reliable contractors in the market. And I will align you with them and we will get that sewer cleaned out for less than it should be. But I mean, it is what it is. You can't see that as a roadblock. It's just it's just part of the process. What was it? Oh, just getting over the phone and just accountability? Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm an accountability group in our company, we get on Zoom, and we just call for two hours, you know, three days a week and some are not muted. I muted because I it's too distracting. But it's countability you just do it, just do it. And we kind of report back what our progress was, what appointments we said those kind of things. And that's super inspiring and encouraging. As far as with buyers, roadblocks, that setting expectations, you know, right now the biggest roadblock that I have is there's not enough inventory out there. I can't I'm having a hard time finding matches for the buyers that are really active and engaged and wanting to do something

Rick Ripma: 54:59

that we're Finding that to do that we got a bunch of pre approvals out in the can't find houses, right?

Jennifer Blandford: 55:04

And I, I gotta send a message out to the sellers out there, the market is still very, very strong for sellers, we are probably at a sweet spot where you will capture the highest possible price. Despite the interest rates, the interest rates are not bad. They are historically average buyers are coming back around from their little shell shock, and they still need to buy homes. And we need you to sell your houses. You can do it now. Probably better than you might in a year or two years as the markets continue to stabilize. We're still at peak sales price. We've seen no declines yet.

Ian Arnold: 55:46

And rates can always change. Sure. So don't don't ever get hung up on a rate

Jennifer Blandford: 55:51

right marry the house date the rate you can always refi

Ian Arnold: 55:55

us all the time.

Rick Ripma: 55:58

But it is true. And it's it's what we've been trying to get out to people this is a great time. It's still a seller's market. It may not be as strong as it was a seller's market was still a seller's market, you look at the numbers. And there's a lack of inventory which means if there's a lack of inventories more buyers out than sellers you're in a good in a good situation as as a as a seller, but it's also a good situation right now for a buyer because the the inventory, there's there's a little more inventory than there wasn't there aren't quite as many people so you aren't fighting with as many people over over a house.

Jennifer Blandford: 56:34

That's what I meant. It's the sweet spot is a sweet spot for sellers right now. And it's a sweet spot for buyers. Finally, they don't have to compete with 35 other offers. Yes.

Rick Ripma: 56:44

That's I think that's that's huge. I've actually negotiated

Jennifer Blandford: 56:47

normal, normal terms. You know, they don't have to put their firstborn up. They could have an inspection, they can have an inspection and appraisal, you know, they negotiate the price a little bit. I wrote an offer last week with closing cost assistance. Yeah. That's

Rick Ripma: 57:07

awesome, isn't it? Yeah. It's actually it's very nice, because now it's more fair to both sides. Transaction. Exactly.

Jennifer Blandford: 57:14

Everybody would say last spring, do you gotta love this? No, I actually did not love it. I did like the the number of transactions I was able to put together. But when you actually care about your buyers, and the terms that they're getting, I mean, I wrote some offers where I was like, oh, okay, sure. Are you in this house?

Rick Ripma: 57:35

Yeah, because you care about your people. And it was it was a this was a much better time. We are running out of time. If somebody needed to get a hold of, you know, what's your phone number? What phone number would they contact you out Jennifer

Jennifer Blandford: 57:45

317-847-2695

Rick Ripma: 57:49

and to contact Ian or I , it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com .

Ian Arnold: 57:55

And if you did miss any of that, all of our contact information will be listed in the description below. And if you know any friends, family or coworkers that are looking to buy, sell or refinance, please contact any of us and we'll be more than happy to help you.

Rick Ripma: 58:09

Thanks so much for joining us. Have a great day.