Guru Jill Collins With RE/MAX

Announcer: 0:01

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

Rick Ripma: 0:21

Hey, everyone, before we get started, I just wanted to remind you, for the most up to date information on mortgages, and in these real estate market, go to hard working mortgage guys.com That's hard working mortgage guys.com. I'm recruitment, the hard work and mortgage guide, I've had the honor of working with over 5200 mortgage borrowers helping them find the best mortgage option for them. As a certified mortgage planner. I know my team and I can help you work through anything that needs to be worked through help build your credit, do whatever we need to do to help you get to the closing table. And I have Ian

Ian Arnold: 1:00

and I'm Ian Arnold part of Rick's hardworking mortgage team. I've worked in the financial industry for over 15 years helping people purchase what they want and helping them work on building their overall wealth or even their credit score. Today though, we have a brilliant Gru with us, Jill Collins. So I was going to try to type something up, but then I saw the review of hers. And I think that's just states everything. And so here it is, Jill was excellent. We had a realtor before her, and he wasn't of any help and made a maid looking for a home more stressful than we we expected as if we weren't stressed enough. Then we were redirected to Jill. And she was phenomenal. She was outgoing, knew what she was doing and was helpful when we weren't so stressed anymore. She worked with us on our crazy schedule. Most Realtors won't meet on Sundays, and she met with us multiple Sundays to ensure we found our first home for our family. I couldn't recommend anyone better than Jill, you will not be disappointed within a within the year we plan on putting our first home on the market. And we will be buying a new one. And it will be with Jill. Thank you for helping find our first home in our future second. Welcome Joe Collins. Thank you. So yeah, that is phenomenal.

Rick Ripma: 2:27

Good. That was three exclamation points. That was three exclamation points. You know, and it will be with Jill. That's right. That's right. That's awesome. Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 2:41

So is it common that most people don't show homes on Sundays?

Jill Collins: 2:47

Um, yeah, actually, there's quite a few agents out there. Even some agencies as far as like the entire brokerage. They don't like deadlines on Sundays. They will Yeah, do what they can to steer clear from it. But at the end of the day, I have people apologizing like, Oh, I'm so sorry for taking up your Sunday. Well, my job is to work around their schedule, because they have jobs. That's how they have to buy a house. And that means that I break up my Sunday into different increments for time of family and clients. That's what I do.

Ian Arnold: 3:17

Yeah. And we do the same. We have to do the same thing. Because what normally happens is Jill shown a house and then she got Alright, so do you have your pre approval letter? Oh, no. All right click click a e and I need a pre approval letter. So my wife and we understand and I was in a car industry for the longest time. Imagine working eight o'clock in the morning till eight o'clock at night on a Saturday. That's tough. Now if I can say, Hey, honey, I need to step out for a couple hours do a couple things. That's different. And that's the same thing that realtors have to do. I mean, when we're all at work nine to five, you guys are a little slower from five to 10. And then on weekends, you guys are a lot busier.

Jill Collins: 3:55

Oh yeah. Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 3:57

So what made you jump into being a realtor?

Jill Collins: 3:59

Oh, to be honest, it started when I was see, I think I was 20 No, I think I was 21 I was actually a nursing like my pre requisites for nursing. And, you know, I've family that's there in the nursing field. And I was like, Well, you know, I could do this. And I've got strong stomach. Really bad idea as to why and to get into nursing, but I was like, I could do it. And I was actually thinking about purchasing my second home at this point. And I called up my realtor and I said, Hey, Debbie, I really don't think I want to do the nursing thing. Like I'm gonna have to start with third shift. And we know I can't do that like, and I thought, you know, at the end of the day, she's gonna discourage me to get into the real estate field because a she's going to lose a client but be I'm going to be considered competition. And when she said, Oh my gosh, you would be really good at it because you know the ins and outs of a house. You should do it. I was like, Okay, here we are. So I was actually her encouragement and from that point forward. That's that that was almost 11 years ago.

Ian Arnold: 5:05

Yeah, it is very interesting when you, most people, when they were like, Oh, maybe I should be the realtor or whatnot. Everybody thinks there's gonna be like, Oh, no, don't do that. Because they're thinking competition. They're gonna, but it's not that way. No Realtors welcome people open arms and is like, hey, look, this is how I started. This is what I should do. Yeah. So it is very weird in a type of competitive I mean, you're competing, competing, but you're not competing. Yeah. And that Realtors want to help out and mentor. Yeah, so who was one of your mentors?

Jill Collins: 5:38

Debbie was Sipowicz. Yeah, she in fact, she holds the name as my REMAX mom. So she was my realtor and everything she did through the process was exactly how I wanted to model what I was gonna do in my real estate career.

Rick Ripma: 5:56

That's awesome. And if somebody wanted to get a hold of you, and they haven't any any real estate needs, what is the best way to get a hold of you?

Jill Collins: 6:04

My cell phone call or text, which is 175860121.

Rick Ripma: 6:10

Yep. So that's 31758601 to one. That's right. That's a good number to call. So so she is your mentor. She was your real estate agent. She She gave you the advice to get into the business. And then and now you now you work with her?

Jill Collins: 6:28

Yes. Is that correct? She is is still one of the agents in the brokerage that I work for awesome.

Rick Ripma: 6:32

Yeah. Is she still a mentor? Yeah.

Jill Collins: 6:35

Oh, yeah. Um, yeah, I would say definitely. My broker Sue Mize. And then I, I call him my roomie. But office may, Lance Holland. He's, he's the one that is nonstop. I'm bouncing if I have to type an email, and I'm like, What is that one word? What is it? Or just, you know, if I don't know how to advise a client, like, what would you do? So usually I do the opposite, though.

Rick Ripma: 7:02

Whenever he says you do the opposite. A lot of

Ian Arnold: 7:04

times, yeah. Yeah. That is a huge importance. And people don't realize of being at work. And being in the office is you have those people. Hey, I ran into this. How would you handle this situation? Oh, yeah. And Rick and I are big adamant. In the office type of people, we understand life goes happened. So for instance, I had a snow day yesterday. But so it was one of those things that but being the office, you get to hear objections, how to overcome them and stuff like that,

Jill Collins: 7:35

Oh, yeah. scenarios, there's never one scenario, that's the same, I mean, between how the client is going to handle a reaction to, you know, the house itself, nothing in this industry is the same from a day to day basis.

Rick Ripma: 7:48

And, and so, you have you have your mentors, and then, as business goes, you know, what would you consider is your superpower? And meaning, you know, what I mean by superpower,

Jill Collins: 8:02

maybe done? Well,

Rick Ripma: 8:05

a lot of times I get this look like I don't know what you mean. So there's, I can ask it, as, you know, what are you known for? Or I'll tell you, it kind of came from my wife will say, Oh, they're there. They're known or they're famous for this. And usually, it'd be something like, Oh, my aunt Mary, She's famous for her cherry pie. Right? To not really famous for a cherry pie. I always used to laugh because it's like, she's not really famous for it, but in the family or in the inner group, She's famous for it. So and I find there are things that you know, when you're as as good at your job as you are when you're as as as effective as you are. There are you have superpowers, sometimes you don't actually even know what they are. So sometimes we actually find out that, oh, here's their superpower. They didn't even know it. So do you know, do you have an idea?

Jill Collins: 8:59

Um, yeah, I would say it's a it's a combo of a couple things. One of mine, I would say it's just a matter of I actually, I, I cater to my clients, whether it be you know, you meet someone and you, you realize, okay, well, they're really laid back. I'm making them nervous by being dressed up and fancy. So I make sure that I make my clients feel comfortable. So if they want to wear sweatpants to a house, guess what, I'm going to wear my gym clothes, it's going to make them feel like I'm on their level, and they can actually talk to me. But along with that, I would say just honestly, like, I actually have had clients asked me if I was trying to talk them out of buying a house and I'm like, no, no, not in general. Just this one. You learn like I had this one. This family was starting out and they had twins and they were looking at this house and neither one of them made the realization that the garage was not only on another level of the house from the kitchen, but it was at the other end of the house and I'm thinking What are you gonna do with these twins when you've got groceries and their babies? And you? I mean, think about hauling everything from that garage to this kitchen and they, they were like, Oh my gosh, that would be awful. And like, I'm not I mean, I love the house. I think there are things that fit you but I think there's gonna be things that down the road you're gonna regret. And so I'm you know, as much as I wanted to sell them that house, what I knew it wasn't the house for him. I love honesty. That's

Rick Ripma: 10:24

why it's important to have somebody who has the experience because you have to think about that. You have to there's so many things that that you as a buyer, especially a first time homebuyer, but doesn't have to be even even when I'm doing something, sometimes I have a list of things I think are important. When I get into the deal. I forget what I had is important. And then you end up with the wrong thing. If you have somebody there go no, no, no, no, no. Remember, you said, or, you know, you got to think about you, you have to walk across your house, I used to sell new homes. And that was a that was a huge negative on a plan if you had to go in the if the if the garage door was was on the other side of the house.

Jill Collins: 11:07

Yeah, yeah. But I would say another part of that is, I'm on house number 11. Right now. So I, I would say one of the reasons that I'm I think twice about what my clients are looking for, or advise them on things. I mean, I've been through so many houses of my own. So I take myself out of the realtor, you know, shoes, and I put myself in those buyer and seller's shoes on a regular basis. So when someone's nervous about something, or they're questioning something, I'm like, Well, you know, I did have this house one time. And you're right, that was not a good fit. So I think just my overall experiences in my homeownership has helped me guide my clients.

Ian Arnold: 11:47

So having bought in 11 homes. So you walk into work and just be like, Oh, I really like this home, honey, it's time to move.

Jill Collins: 11:58

So that's actually only happened twice. The other ones it was just a matter of so I would do what I would call like a slow flip. I you know, buy a house. I never bought a house that is exactly the way I would want it. I look for something that I want to change. So no matter what I'm making it my own. And then at the end of the day, I turn around and sell it maybe make a little bit but it's just an experience for me to get my hands dirty and learn something new. That's awesome.

Ian Arnold: 12:28

Yeah, I mean, yeah, my wife hates move and so for me to have a loving homes. I've since we get married, not go to

Rick Ripma: 12:36

a loving home. So now I gotta ask. So what do you what's your family? Like what? Like, you have kids?

Jill Collins: 12:44

I just me, me and my dog and cat get easier.

Ian Arnold: 12:48

So when she says honey, she's talking to the dog and the cat.

Jill Collins: 12:51

Time for a new place.

Ian Arnold: 12:53

You want a bigger yard?

Rick Ripma: 12:54

If they're like my wife's cats, they're saying no,

Jill Collins: 12:58

she she is resilient. She's this is actually so for the cat. We're on house number three. Okay, yeah. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 13:05

they get used to it. It's amazing how they walk in and they sniff around. They walk around the whole house and they sniff and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, it's my wife has four cats.

Jill Collins: 13:13

Okay, so

Rick Ripma: 13:14

just the one I'm very familiar with. She loves animals. And sounds like you do too.

Jill Collins: 13:21

I do. I do love animals.

Rick Ripma: 13:23

So you so it's still 11 houses. I can't get it out of my head.

Jill Collins: 13:26

So I've only lived in 10 of them. One of them strictly was a flip. Okay.

Rick Ripma: 13:31

Yeah, that's a lot better. Just just to give you an example. Okay, I've lived in my house since 1990. Oh, okay. Okay, so I've owned other houses. Yeah, but I never lived in any other houses. I lived in my house. So that's why it's like 11 houses. Wow.

Jill Collins: 13:50

But I mean, if you think about it, it helps me. So when I had those clients who are like, well, if I sell my house, where do I go? And so I actually have to and it's, let me tell you what, there's been times that I've had to like pull myself back in and be like, listen, we've got to be professional about this because I'll get to that point where I'm like, wait, if I agree on this, where am I gonna go? So I put myself in those panic situations. So I know how to advise my clients because like, I have to jump from house to house I don't want to be homeless, right? Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 14:21

so what I hear is she says, Okay, you buy this house so you aren't gonna be if you sell your house you aren't gonna be homeless because I'll rent your my house. I'll be homeless

Ian Arnold: 14:30

whenever it works and how it goes

Jill Collins: 14:32

I actually the house I'm in right now I'm actually finishing the upstairs part which will be a two bedroom apartment so I My goal is to be able to give them that transition space that's awesome well inventory right now so low that you know, don't want to lose the chance to sell their house but also, I don't want my clients to be homeless.

Rick Ripma: 14:51

In what area do you work in? What's

Jill Collins: 14:52

your, my niche? My niche is probably Hancock and Henry County. Okay. Yeah, but obviously I've done Hamilton, Madison, Marian.

Rick Ripma: 15:02

So you do the whole area, but that's where you that's your, your main niche. Yeah, you but that's the thing with a when you get somebody who, who is really good at what they do, they, they, you know, the same me these areas aren't that different. Right. Right. So you know, the areas, and I'm guessing everybody knows you real estate wise and all that. Yeah. So I would think that would be, you know, not a hard transition. And you really want somebody who's good and I know some people they just like the, the review and read the wherever they go, they're using you. Right? And you're not gonna say no, because you want to take care of them. That's right. Well, we're coming up on break. So before we get to the break, how would somebody get a hold of you, Jill, if they needed, real estate needed, had any

Jill Collins: 15:51

color text and the number 317586012131758601 to

Rick Ripma: 15:59

one just want to make sure I heard it right. I have a bad memory and I'm going to E and I'm really old. And if you didn't get a hold of Ian or I its It's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. After the break, we're going to ask the question of the week. See you that. Advisors, mortgage brokers licensed by Indiana Department of Financial Institution equal housing opportunity. NMLS 33041 Rick Ripma NMLS 6649 Hi, I'm Rick Ripma. With the hard work and mortgage guys and advisors Mortgage Group, where we believe delivering the best mortgage for you is why we exist and it's how we all succeed. We

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Ian Arnold: 16:41

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

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We believe in always presenting you with all your options. So you get the loan you want the way you want it. We believe in continually monitoring the rules, rates and market trends. So you don't have to we believe in working hard to meet your closing date so that your entire plan isn't upended. We believe in offering the same quick online process that the bookstore mortgage companies brag about whether you're refinancing or buying your first home, we

Rick Ripma: 17:11

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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

Ian Arnold: 17:36

alright, so welcome back from the break and we are here with Joe Collins. It's been phenomenal for the first part of this show. So thank you for again for coming. Thank you. Alright, so now it's time for question of the week. Now it's time for questions with the gurus. The question of the week is sponsored by advisors Mortgage Group where we fit your mortgage to fit your needs. Contact us today get your free mortgage plan. So what was your first car?

Jill Collins: 18:10

My first car was a 1989 Acura Legend.

Rick Ripma: 18:16

Oh, that's a good one.

Ian Arnold: 18:18

Yes, what color?

Jill Collins: 18:20

It was like a forest green.

Ian Arnold: 18:22

Okay. That's your first one to have like a more of a dull color. A lot of people have always had their first car has been bright colors like red or orange or neon green. It's weird. But I don't know, a parents are like, hey, I want this person be seen or

Jill Collins: 18:40

no, it was really cheap. It was a five speed. And it was my first time learning that worst part had two broken motor mounts. Oh, that's not good. No. I mean, it made learning really? Yes. So you don't know if it's shaking because it's the motor mounts or because you're about to kill it. The challenge will

Ian Arnold: 18:59

be shifted. Yes. Hey, the good news is if you still had that car, that's an anti theft deterrent nowadays.

Jill Collins: 19:07

Oh, yes, absolutely. Someone would get in and be like, nope, not today, we're going to try a different one.

Rick Ripma: 19:11

It's funny to see those people who get in and they've never they have no idea how to drive manual transit transmission. And it's like they have they don't know what to do. It's, I laugh when I see those videos. And it's some of the things that people try and they're trying to figure out it's it's very, I think entertaining. That's a great I still think that's a great car. My first car that I got when I started driving in to your point was yellow. It was an AMC Gremlin. Oh, okay. I don't know if you can get you know, I say this. I don't know if you get a worst car. But for some reason, and I love cars, and I go to tons of car auctions and car shows. And when I see a gremlin there's just something about it because it's what I drove that I still had You know, we liked that first car? Most people, not everybody. Okay.

Jill Collins: 20:05

I did not fall in love with that one. No, probably

Rick Ripma: 20:08

the motor mouse. Yeah.

Jill Collins: 20:10

Probably. Right.

Rick Ripma: 20:12

You do anything you can't race? Yes, exactly. You can't win.

Ian Arnold: 20:21

All right, so get back on the side note. All right. So what do you think your favorite part of being a realtor is?

Jill Collins: 20:29

Oh, um, let's see, besides looking at all the houses,

Ian Arnold: 20:35

thinking about your next purchase yet, you know,

Jill Collins: 20:37

there's that side note right there. I would say it's probably just getting to know my clients I have, my sphere of friends is, I mean, we're gonna say it's quadrupled in the time that I've been in real estate. And it's, I mean, you really do make those clients friends, I mean, no matter what your hand holding them through the one of the most important parts of their life. And I think not only when you do that, they appreciate you, but you just you gain a level of respect for each other.

Rick Ripma: 21:10

And how do you stay in touch with them? Like after, after everything's said and done, the house is closed? How do you stay in touch with because I know that they become their friends. So

Jill Collins: 21:21

yeah, I'm between let's see Facebook, but then there's, you know, I tried to do lunch dates on a regular basis. Little notes, I'll send them like little notes in the mail. Usually, it's once we get to a certain level of friendship, you know, we learned that I know so many people in common with him. So it's, it's a matter of like, hey, let's get together with like, a whole bunch of us kind of thing.

Rick Ripma: 21:45

So that's, that's awesome. Yeah, it's there's always different people get together in certain ways. But then sometimes there's little things that somebody does, because it works in their personality, because some things don't work. And each is everybody's personality. So I always find it for me, I have to change things to work for my personality. And I think that's, I think what you do, I don't know if I've heard it that way before. So I think that's a that's a good a good way. So, in your opinion, if somebody's shopping for a real estate agent, whether it's listing or they want to they need a buyer's agent, what should they look for in that agent?

Jill Collins: 22:22

Oh, um, it's gonna I think it honestly comes down to that, their personality. They need to also make sure they find an agent who can kind of give them their space if it's needed. I mean, I've got clients who they call me and they tell me what they need to say. And they don't want to have a long conversation on the phone. You just have to be able to read them. But it's someone who can mesh with mesh with their, their schedule for one, but also their personality. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 22:53

this is I don't know why it popped in my head. But I have three boys. And like what you said, My middle son, his conversation is yes, yes. No, yes. Okay. Goodbye. That's the conversation. Yeah. And that's what he likes. And that's what he's comfortable. He's been that way his entire life. My youngest. I mean, it's a it's a 4045 minute conversation, which is wonderful. But both of them are great. You just you talk to him, you're happy. But that's there. You have to know. Yeah, cuz you, you want to you talk to that one for 45 minutes when he wants to be off the phone in five minutes, because he's really kind of, he's annoyed

Jill Collins: 23:33

and you've just wasted his time. Right? Yeah. So

Rick Ripma: 23:35

she understood.

Ian Arnold: 23:36

Yes. So I live out word over in Hancock County. So how does that county and that area market different is different than like the Indy or Marion County or Hamilton?

Jill Collins: 23:52

Um, I do believe that when it comes to Hancock County, we still though it has grown substantially in the last, you know, five years. I mean, it's double the size as far as population, but I would say we still have that down home feeling of neighborly, you know, it's even though it's a bigger community. It's tight knit.

Ian Arnold: 24:15

Yes, I fully agree with you. And that Myers was the best thing we ever did over there. Oh,

Jill Collins: 24:20

yes. It was such a good idea.

Ian Arnold: 24:24

Everybody just listening to this right now is going Yes. We agree. So, what is one big reason why you see a lot of newer real estate agents fall off the wagon basically and leave the industry.

Jill Collins: 24:42

Oh, that's a hard one. I would say. Maybe one they don't realize that it it's a tough it is a tough market and a tough job to be in. But mentally you really have to mentally prepare. So I have the sign in my office that I says that I am a shoot. You know, it's I'm, I'm a, I'm a therapist full time and realtor 75% of the time. So when my clients get upset, or you know, they need to vent about, it could be the littlest thing, maybe the buyers ask them to fix some outlets in the house, and they are just furious about it. Well guess who they're gonna call and vent to. And they're just, you know, sometimes agents, they don't know how to just disassociate their clients anger or upset comments, to the fact that it's, you know, you're just there to listen and guide them not take it personally. And I think a lot of them, it's, it can be mentally draining.

Rick Ripma: 25:46

Because they aren't yelled at, you know, they're just, it's a, it's such an emotional process. It is that I, I always say that, you know, the one of the things that you need, as a real estate agent, we talked about how you find one, one of the things you need is an agent, who is is on your side is there for you. But is not emotionally involved. That's a business transaction. And they don't get emotionally involved, because the buyer is very emotionally involved. The seller is very emotionally involved. And they need somebody who is who is watching out for them, but is not emotionally involved, involved so that they can help them really see the big picture. I mean, yeah, I mean, if you're focusing on as you said, you know, it's outlets that need to be fixed. But, you know, let's say they're selling the house, they have to fix the outlets, but when they sell their house, they can go move and be with their grandkids in Kansas City. They got to remember that, really, it's a $300 fix, right? Yes, but they forget that they don't they need somebody like you who can make sure they remember, and they see it so that they can calm down. And it's okay. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But it's, it's it's their house. And they, and I know, you walk through your house, and you don't see your own house, as it really is,

Jill Collins: 27:10

right? No, no, you don't. In fact, that's one of my biggest tips when I have a seller and they're like, What should we do to the house? Like to get it ready? Well, I can give them a huge list, I can tell them, you know, this is what I would do. But the one thing I make my clients do, I put a lockbox on that front door, and I make them access the house as though they're looking at it was an agent there, you know, not coming through the garage, though their groceries down things like that literally walk through and pretend like you're about to spend $300,000 on this house? Would you spend it if it looked like this? And what would you change? Like, what would you nitpick? As a buyer if you were about to buy your own house? And you'd be surprised on a walk in like, oh, I don't know why I've had that on that wall this whole time? Because they never see it that way.

Rick Ripma: 27:57

You don't see your own house that way? No, you don't see it through, you certainly does see it through new eyes, right. And it takes somebody like you to kind of point it out. And if even then I bet if they don't see it, you still kind of guide them to see it

Jill Collins: 28:10

Yes. In the softest way possible.

Rick Ripma: 28:16

But you want them to see it because you want them to understand that it's important to sell your house. It's important. And it's that's that is the key Some. Some times I think there are people who will tell you to do things that aren't necessarily in your best interest to do. But when you get somebody who's got the experience and the knowledge and has done all the business that you've done, when you tell them something you're telling them from a point of what it's actually going to take it is it is what you see in the industry. And it's coming to the point it seems like you You know better than I that people want a house that's basically they walk in they close on Friday, they have a party on Sunday. Hmm,

Jill Collins: 28:57

yeah, move in. Ready right now is almost exactly what everyone's looking for. I mean, you still get the random people like me who want to make my own changes. But for the most part, it is very difficult if it needs the smallest amount of things for a buyer to come in and think, Well, I'm not going to pay this price if I still have to do something to it when I move in. So yes, the standard right now is moving ready. I don't want to touch a thing besides bring my stuff in. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 29:25

It's amazing to me how it's come to that because it didn't used to be that way. And it is that way now and that's just what people want. I want it done and ready. Yes. What are two resources that that you think man if I didn't have these resources? I would not be here today.

Jill Collins: 29:41

Oh, that's a that's a hard one. Resource Okay, so are we saying resources as in

Ian Arnold: 29:52

either person or let's say? Technology or something?

Jill Collins: 29:59

Oh, okay. So technology definitely is the biggest one, being able to do so much from my phone. As far as scheduling. Let's say we're scheduling showing houses. There's always that client who you scheduled two houses you get to them. And the first one they're like, Well, so is it possible to go ahead and add a couple more today. And before you know, you'd have to go to the office, pull up the listing sheet, figure out who you're supposed to call, whether it be the the agent, a showing service, so on and so forth. Nowadays, you can literally just go to an app and schedule a showing. So the ease of technology. And then I would say other than that, my, my close sphere. My mentors, being able to call up my, you know, my REMAX mom and say, Hey, Debbie, what would you do in this situation? So, being able to have those people who talk to you,

Rick Ripma: 30:55

sorry, but we're running out of time on the radio side, and we hope to see you on the podcast side.

Announcer: 31:08

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

Unknown: 31:33

Well, first off, thank you for joining us, Danielle. I appreciate it. And I just was curious, how did you come to find out about Rick Ripma and advisors mortgage? Well, I was looking for a mortgage for myself for a brand new home that I was building. And I wasn't sure the direction to go, I didn't have anybody in mind. So I kind of just spoke to whoever I could speak to, I got their number. And everything seemed to be exactly what I was looking for. So I went with them. The thing I liked the most about Rick and his advisors mortgage is that I could go and upload things online. And I didn't have to always be on the phone with them or sending them documents or trying to look for certain things that I needed to get the process going. Which was really great for me, I had a processor named Mark Coleman, who really helped me out in making sure I had everything I needed. Because I I didn't know the first thing about having a mortgage. So it was awesome to have so much help. I think probably what I've benefited from the most is really just the understanding that sometimes I would get busy. And maybe I forgot to upload a document or I forgot to do a certain part of the process in a timely manner. And they would get right back with me. And it wasn't like a, hey, we really need this right now. It was always Hey, just wanted to make sure you still remember that we need this. Well, you don't get that too much. In this day and age, it seems like most people are either, you know, very demanding of something they need from you. And they need it right now. And, and I agree. I've seen that and 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: 33:25

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

Rick Ripma: 33:31

I'm Rick Ripma You can go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com

Ian Arnold: 33:34

Well, that was quick. Now we're on the podcast side. Look at that real fast. All right, so what do you enjoy doing when you're not selling real estate and I guess fixing your home?

Jill Collins: 33:45

Oh, um, I would say probably spending time with all my my close friends and all their kids just coming together as we've got probably four families that we do, we try to at least schedule a huge outing, we'll say every every other week and just being with them as is great.

Rick Ripma: 34:05

That's very important to have the family and friends around. We do it all the time and it makes your life it gives you something. I mean, I love my job. I can tell you love what you do. Yes, but when you're not at work, you need something else and it's nice to have that that support system.

Jill Collins: 34:23

Oh yeah, yeah, definitely.

Ian Arnold: 34:25

Alright, so I know do you have you had any other mentors besides your your REMAX mom?

Jill Collins: 34:34

Um, I would say my one of my other huge mentors would be my dad. Though he's never really been in the real estate field. He's who I learned all of my handyman skills and remodeling skills. And I think that's one of the biggest things when it comes to a client. When we do look at houses. I can say, well, you know, you could do this to this house and I'm not I just spouting things off, like, I know physically Yes. Or let's say I have a client who felt like this, this wall needs to come out. Well, I can tell you right now, it's not going to be cheap. It's a load bearing wall. So being able to have that knowledge behind me, really helps a lot. And that comes from my dad.

Rick Ripma: 35:18

That's awesome. Dads are really important.

Ian Arnold: 35:20

They are yes, they are. We both knew we would agree with

Rick Ripma: 35:24

you on that. That's important. And you know, it's it's interesting. So you have when you when you buy a house and you and you rehab it, you're you're doing a lot of the work. Yes, yourself. Okay. Because I think that's extremely important. I think that gives you the knowledge, like you said, to be able to walk through a house, knowing that, hey, that that was load bearing. I remodeled my downstairs couple years ago, and I had contractors and they go I'm not sure that's load bearing. I said, I spent 11 years in new home construction. Okay. And new home sales was a new homes all the time. I said, well, the center walls right there. All right. The unless this is a weird house, they're running this this way. There's no way that's there's no way oh, you know, we just we got to look, we just aren't sure. It wasn't a load load bearing wall right. Now. The other one in the center of the house? guarantee it's a load bearing. Yeah. Yeah. No, I didn't know because it had been I was in New homes. But you can actually, if you want take out a load bearing wall and put enough support into the home. Yeah. Which that was something I never I did not realize you could do, but you can

Jill Collins: 36:34

you can it is very costly. Yeah. Well,

Rick Ripma: 36:37

remodeling, all in all is very costly. It is, yeah, what I found, whatever, whatever they tell you, we just we did our upstairs last year. And it's like it, it came out a third higher than what we were originally quoted. Because I've got an older house. It's 100 years old. And you know, nothing, nothing. The floors aren't straight and all that. It doesn't hurt it structurally. Right. But when you tear everything out, you got to went from carpet, the hard floors. Man, is that different? Oh, yeah,

Jill Collins: 37:12

it definitely is. Transition when you have a house at all. I mean, you're, instead of cutting a straight edge to put a piece of trim in, you've got to adjust for the fact that there's a slant in the floor. Voices measuring, everything is a little bit more challenging. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 37:30

it's a lot more challenging. And I think it also, you know, as you said, it helps a lot. When you're walking through a house, and you're with somebody, it must be very comforting for them. For you to be able to look at that house and say, Well, okay, look at this. And also you can say, that's not a big deal, because it's an old house. It's not, there's just things that happen. It's just the way it's gonna be

Jill Collins: 37:55

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I had. So one of the most common things I have found is, so those new laminate floorings that kind of click together. The biggest problem people have with those is, let's say they install them in the wintertime. And I just actually finished the kitchen floor upstairs in that apartment with this type of flooring. And I know for a fact that right now, nothing is swollen, and you know, it's a humidities down. Come summertime, if I don't leave enough gap, those things are going to swell. And they're going to give you kind of like that little like bubble on the floor. I can't see it. When you step on it, it feels like it drops a little first thing a buyer is going to do is think the floors falling in and it's the worst house. It's got structural problems. And you know, for me, when we go through houses like that, I can say no, they just put the floor in too tight, easy fix, we just got to trim off the edge. But for most buyers, they panic, and they don't know how to fix something like that when it's so minor,

Rick Ripma: 38:52

right? Yeah, when I, I was when I first started my career as a new home or car sales. Alright. And you demo a car, and you'd hear something rattling. And you know, the people driving the car test drive into can hear the rattle. So and they think the car is falling apart. A brand new car. So you take them to the back, you open the truck, and there is the front license plate bracket with a screw that's rolling around. Yep, you know, but it's the same thing. They think, oh my gosh, this car is terrible. It's nothing. But you need somebody who can show you it's nothing because they would walk away from that house if they had somebody who didn't know that. And it's important that you're there to guide them through that. And it sounds like you also can guide them through. If somebody wanted to buy a house and rehab it. You'd be a perfect person for them to work. Yeah, you have great knowledge in that.

Jill Collins: 39:44

Now I will say my my struggle does come with if they ask me how to do something and they want to hire someone. I usually can't tell them what it's gonna cost if they hire it because I do my own work right. But I can tell them material wise but it will cost

Rick Ripma: 39:59

them Yeah, and, and, and, you know, what I found is even the contractor can't tell you what it's gonna cost, ya know, takes them a lot, right? Well, if you're remodeling, I actually get it. I'm not upset with my contractor they were, they were wonderful. But it's one of those things where when you do certain things, you find things you didn't know about. Tear things out

Jill Collins: 40:23

always surprises, right?

Ian Arnold: 40:25

Look how often we see that on TV, or the remote doing a house or whatnot. And here it goes. What Your total is gonna be 20 grand. All right, and then get in there and well, no, it looks like that bathtub was leaking. So now you're up to 30 grand. Oh, yeah. Well, you see it all the time. So that's not uncommon.

Jill Collins: 40:41

It's not no. And the older the house, unfortunately, the more surprises you find.

Rick Ripma: 40:46

Yeah, so you you can help with with knowing what to do. Now? How would they get a hold of you if they wanted to buy real estate or sell real estate?

Jill Collins: 40:57

From my cell phone call or text number? 317-586-0121? Yep, so

Rick Ripma: 41:03

317? Remember, I can't remember 317-586-0121 That's it. If you need to get a hold of ESRI. It's hard working mortgage guys.com I said that so much. I remember it. Working mortgage guys.com. That's how you get a hold of us. What is your team look like?

Jill Collins: 41:20

team team?

Rick Ripma: 41:21

Is it just you? It's just me. But then you have your mentor. So I know those are team. So when you do everything I do? That's awesome. Yeah. Yep.

Jill Collins: 41:30

And you got to put on the the buyer agent hat and the seller agent.

Rick Ripma: 41:34

Okay. So that would that would mean to me that you have to be phenomenal at time management? For the most part. Yeah. How do you do that? Do time block? What do you what do you do?

Jill Collins: 41:46

Um, so I have actually learned the best way for me, I use my Google Calendar. But I have it set that 30 minutes prior to any appointment, it sends me a little ding Hey, you have an appointment? 30 minutes. So if I'm still in an appointment, I can wrap it up.

Ian Arnold: 42:02

Yeah, okay. I do the same thing mindset for 10. But I'm not jumping from house to house like, yeah, so at least here I get, like 10 minute notice, oh, man, I forgot. I gotta call that person or something like that. So it's kind of nice. Alright, let me get mentally set. Let me but yeah, Google reminder that

Jill Collins: 42:18

it helps a lot.

Rick Ripma: 42:20

For sure. Well, you can't the reason I asked is because you most people couldn't do the volume you do. And do all that you're doing without being good at time management it and everybody does it differently. So it's I was just curious, because I think it's really important. And it says a lot about you that you're obviously organized and your your your, your experience, you know what to do, you're organized, you have a process. So that's important.

Jill Collins: 42:49

I think the other factors is knowing the clients as well. So, you know, when you book an appointment to look at a house, typically your timeframe is either a 30 minute block or a 60 minute block. Well, I have those clients who take 60 minutes in every single house. But I also have those clients who if they walk in within 510 minutes, we know it's not the one and we move on. So it also comes down to which clients do I need to book certain days for so I can allow them that time and not make them feel rushed during appointments? Yeah, that makes

Rick Ripma: 43:19

sense. Because I my wife and I are the ladder. In and out in and out. Yep. I mean, unless we like, you know, unless it was the one maybe but then we want to come back but I can for everything we do. We we walk in, and it's just like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Yes. Yep. And you pick out the three or four you like and then you pick out you know, whatever it happens to be. Yeah. And our decorator loved that. Because it was like, it was so easy. Here's the floors. We liked that one. Which one do you like that one? We both liked the same one. That's the one we went with. Yeah. But then there's other people, they can't do that?

Jill Collins: 43:54

Well, I mean, at least you and your wife can agree that can be the biggest challenge. Having a husband and wife who want literally opposite in the house. It's um, it becomes quite a challenge, especially when one of them doesn't want to, like verbalize it. So I just stare at him. And I'm like, Okay, now what do you think? I'm not sure. And I'm like, Are you waiting to bounce this off your wife before she rips your throat out in front of me?

Ian Arnold: 44:17

Do I need to leave the house for a little bit? Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 44:20

I've been married a long time. And I can give some advice to those guys out there that that that's happening. Just do what your wife wants, thank you. You can find it all you want. You can but it's not going to change. You're going to end up doing what your wife wants. So just go ahead. I learned long ago if it's if that's really what my wife wants, that's what we're doing. And truthfully, most of the things I'm not good at anyway, she should be the one making the decision. So I just let her decide.

Jill Collins: 44:50

Well, you also have to remember if you let her if you when she lets you in, you're not living that down. No, I know. She's gonna remind you that you want And she still hates it.

Ian Arnold: 45:02

Marriage counseling in these schools.

Jill Collins: 45:05

That's right. She's run into

Ian Arnold: 45:09

that. Luckily, my wife and I usually have the same vision sort of deal. So it's kind of nice. But there are a couple of things. But look, I'm gonna pick my battles. And I'm not if she wants certain things on the floor. Do I really care? Right? No. Yeah, I mean, that's one thing she gets on me. I wanted hardwood floors to the house, because I'm from Florida. I'm used to wearing my shoes all the time. And that's just who I am. You don't walk outside barefoot, because you'll get what they call stickers and your foot. And yeah, so you wear sandals, shoes, or whatnot. So that's my biggest thing. My wife gets on. And she was like, yeah, we'll go hardwood floors, because yeah, you'll dirty up there. Because I'm just used to wearing shoes. Yeah.

Jill Collins: 45:47

Hey, think about it this way, though. If you've got hardwood floors, do you use rugs? It's way easier to fancy up a room or change your decor? Because you don't want replacing all the flooring. Just get a new rug.

Ian Arnold: 45:57

Look at this. Look at this. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 45:59

yeah, little savings dip. Right. That's awesome. That's it. It's funny. We have no carpet in our house anymore. Yeah, we got rid of everything. And the amazing thing is, the house smells better. It's much cleaner. It's just It's phenomenal. Way less

Jill Collins: 46:16

dust. Yes. Wait, don't realize you can vacuum every single day and your floors can be clean. But every time you vacuum, you're just causing dust in the air.

Rick Ripma: 46:24

And what we noticed is, or what we think is is like, what were we not seeing with the carpet because you see everything on a hard floor. Right? So we got hard? Yes, you see it? So you can clean it? And it's not? It's not a lot, but you see it? Well, that's the same thing. Was there with carpet? No, that's right. And so, I mean, I'm very happy with the hard hard floors. And and of course, that was probably my wife picking it out. But she gives me some some I can say what I like and then we do what she likes.

Jill Collins: 46:57

Elisha heard your opinion, right. And normally, our

Ian Arnold: 46:59

opinions are the same on that. So it actually works and Rick's defense how long you've been married

Rick Ripma: 47:04

37 years. So it's worked. It's work. It's been a long time. Nice. Yeah. And I just I just find it interesting to hear all this. Now, we, I think we talked about mostly, in the past, what have been some of the roadblocks that you've had, that you've had to overcome? And then kind of how did you overcome them?

Jill Collins: 47:28

Oh, I would say, to be honest, a lot of the roadblocks come from other agents. And I hate to say that we do work as a tight knit industry. But there are times when you you don't mesh with another agent. And it, it's hard to say if they're making the transaction difficult or if their client is, but at the end of the day, you again have to put on that thinking hat and and remember what the end goal is to get it closed and make sure everyone's happy. So sometimes you just got to buck up and say, okay, you know, what, if that's how you and your client want to do this, we're going to navigate through it.

Ian Arnold: 48:06

Yeah, I mean, the other thing that I always think about because usually on every house, there's two realtors that are involved. So you don't know if that person is brand new, and it's only or only sells one or two homes a year. So they don't know what they're fully going through where you're doing hundreds in a year and so it's one of those things that it's just keeps you alright, so Alright, I need this form I need this form Come on, and they're busy of their second job or something like that.

Jill Collins: 48:33

I actually do a little bit of like research with my with the other agent, I usually try to like look up what their past sales were in the last year to kind of see what they're used to working with and how many they've done that way. I don't I don't want to be that one that makes them sound like they don't know what they're doing if they do and they just don't communicate well. So I kind of do a little homework before I jump into that deep discussion with another agent.

Rick Ripma: 49:01

I've had agents tell us that you know when you get when we're in a multiple offer scenario, if you get two offers in that are very similar and you have one that you've had an agent who you have problems with it's really it's not that you pick out which offer you're going to accept but the seller needs to know or the whoever it is needs to know what the situation is because it will affect them if you have somebody you get you you're selling your house you have you have an offer and you know this agent is going to nitpick everything because that's that's what they've done. You're gonna make sure they know that so they pick the offer that's going to be best for them. Now here's likely is not that person

Jill Collins: 49:43

right and I that unfortunately we all do that as agents but if I am stuck with two offers and they net micellar same thing and doesn't matter at the end of the day, cost wise at that time. If it's better or worse. I'm if they're gonna come out the same With that, that net, and it comes down to, is this transaction going to be smooth? Or is it going to be a challenge? I'm going to I'm obviously not going to say bad things about the other agent. But I'm gonna say, this one might go a little bit smoother, you know, this agent is known to be a little bit laid back and, and communicate the right things to their client, instead of causing chaos and in a transaction,

Rick Ripma: 50:22

yeah. And as a as a person that if I were selling my house, I would rather know that and I would rather, I mean, I don't know how much I would give up. But it would be, it would be at least $1,000. Because I know from being around that it's going to cost me more than that. If I have an agent that's difficult to work with, and it may never go through because they're difficult to work with. So that's, so it's important to know that. And I think that's why it's important to have. And everybody we talked to everybody we've had on the show, they're all gurus, and all of them say exactly the same thing. They do the same thing. They that that is important to them, because they know it's going to be better for everybody. If you pick the offer where you have somebody you can work with, as long as it's reasonable. I mean, if it's $30,000 different, or you know, then of course not but you know, you deal with it, but even a little different. If all of a sudden there's an inspection issue. And now you have to deal with this with somebody who's difficult to deal with and somebody who's not.

Jill Collins: 51:29

Oh, yeah, it makes a difference. It can make or break a transaction for sure. Yes.

Rick Ripma: 51:33

And that can cost a lot of money to the seller, if they they take their house off the market, and then it doesn't go through because it gets a stigma. Yeah, and some minor inspection issue sometimes. Yeah. Well, we are coming up at the end of the show. So if somebody wanted to get a hold of you, what is the best and I'm gonna just ask it this way, what is the best phone number for them to get a hold of you?

Jill Collins: 51:54

That's number 317-586-0121.

Rick Ripma: 51:59

And to get a hold of Ian or I, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com, That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com.

Ian Arnold: 52:05

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: 52:12

And all our information will be in the description down below. Unless they're listening in the car, then I'll have to go to it. Yes, but go to hardworking mortgage guys.com And you can contact us from there. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. Have a great day.