Guru Rob Klepper with Benchmark Realty Group Indy

Rick Ripma: 0:00

Welcome to Indy's Real Estate Gurus recording today from the advisors Mortgage Group studios right here in downtown Carmel. And I'm recruitment your hard work and mortgage guy. I've been in real estate and mortgages for over 34 years I've helped over 5200 folks finance their homes. My team and I believe in custom tailored loans, not a one size fits all approach. We believe there is a right mortgage for you and we believe we are the team to deliver it.

Ian Arnold: 0:25

And I mean, Arnaud part of Rick's hard working mortgage team, I've been in the financial industry for 15 years helping people build their credit and or even go ahead and increase your credit so they can get better interest rates and everything. I've also my whole passion is helping you succeed and grow in your overall wealth and make sure you have a wealthy future.

Rick Ripma: 0:47

And for the most up to date information on the end housing market or mortgages, please go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 317-672-1938. That's 317-672-1938.

Ian Arnold: 1:04

All right, Rick. Here we have a stud in our in our midst today. What realtor do we have that decided to sit down and bang down our door to come

Rick Ripma: 1:15

in? Okay, but you're not going to ask me How to Pronounce somebody's name or you think you knew this

Ian Arnold: 1:19

one. Rob. See, it's not that hard.

Rick Ripma: 1:23

I did that. And are clever.

Ian Arnold: 1:29

Yep. Right.

Rob Klepper: 1:30

Yes, that is correct.

Rick Ripma: 1:32

That's the first one I've gotten. That's perfect.

Ian Arnold: 1:34

Oh, you got Smith. Right once. Yeah, maybe.

Rick Ripma: 1:37

And you're with benchmark Realty Group. Indy.

Rob Klepper: 1:40

I am. I am. Thank you so much for having me today.

Rick Ripma: 1:42

Oh, you're welcome. Is that out of Brownsburg?

Rob Klepper: 1:44

It's actually out in Noblesville. Okay. Charlie Brown is my managing broker. I've been working with him for about three years now. I've known him since the early 2000s. So he's a great guy and really helped me out a lot. And it's been it's been great so far.

Ian Arnold: 1:58

You don't have a Lucy in the office. Do you?

Rob Klepper: 2:00

I don't think so. No, no, Lucy NO minus. Yeah, there's no there's no, you know, will be or any. Blue. Blue. Blankets. No footballs. Yeah, yeah. None

Rick Ripma: 2:12

of that, because we're missing a whole market. Right.

Rob Klepper: 2:16

You know what they could be? Yeah. Who

Rick Ripma: 2:18

wouldn't want Charlie Brown is a real estate agent.

Rob Klepper: 2:20

That's, you know, I don't know, I think everybody should want Charlie Brown. Yeah, as a real estate agent. Now. He's been really great. He's been in this in this area for 25 plus years grew up here on the east side. And like I said, I've known him since early 2000s. And he was he's 100%. The reason that I got in, got into real estate about three and a half, four years ago now. So it's been it's been great to this point. So

Ian Arnold: 2:45

I know you have an interesting story. So let's do this. What do you do before real estate

Rob Klepper: 2:50

before real estate. I am have been announcing races. I started in 2002, announcing racism originally from the West Coast, got into announcing sprint car midget races, and then got into television in 2006. So on paper, I'm a motorsports television broadcaster by trade. My brother raced midgets and sprint cars in the mid to late 90s. And that's what originally got us out here to Indiana. Because obviously, you know, at 500 this state's all about short track grassroots racing. And that's what originally got us back here. So I got into announcing and have been doing that. Yeah, for over 20 years and continue to do that. Throughout the year, a lot of short track stuff, but had the opportunity to do a lot of TV from everything from from midgets and sprint cars to like the Arca Menards series and cover a lot of different motorsports. So it's been fun.

Rick Ripma: 3:44

It's awesome. I went to your website. And I mean, that's really, I mean, what you do, obviously, I'm into cars, and I'm into racing. So what you do is really exciting. I think it's just an awesome thing. It was at some great store. It's been

Rob Klepper: 3:57

a lot of fun. I mean, I kind of fell into it. The way it started. For me my degree is in broadcasting. I never thought I would go into announcing races or really even a motorsports we didn't grew up around racing. You know, stick and ball sports is what we played back in the 80s dating myself late 70s in the 80s but didn't really grow up around motorsports at all. So I kind of fell into it. I was at a racetrack in California, and the announcer for that particular racetrack. Hadn't didn't show up that night. And my dad was that guy in the little town. We grew up in California that announced all my high school football games. He was the guy that you call to come emcee a banquet or whatever. Just get Ronnie have Ronnie do it, Ronnie will do it. So I was at a track with my dad and the promoter came down said Hey, Ronnie, will you announce tonight? My guy's not here. And he looked at me and said no, but Rob will do it. I said what would you say? And so I ended up announcing i And the guy goes, well, you're way better than the guy that we normally have. I'm like, Well, I don't I don't know what bar or that guy. I said, because, you know, I'm two hours into this gig. And I got the job. He hired me. I think it was 150 bucks a night, which I thought was all the money in the world, right and, and then I got another track out there that hired me on on Saturday nights. And then just kind of, you know, snowballed whatever, and gotta get back here and move back to the knee again. And, and here we are 20 some odd years later.

Rick Ripma: 5:22

Well, I'll tell you, just listening to it, you could tell you really know what you're doing. You're very, I mean, it's just an awesome you do an awesome job.

Rob Klepper: 5:30

Well, thank you. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, you know, like, my dad used to tell me, Well, you got the gift of gab, and you got the that BS, you know, going for you. And I guess I inherited that from him. He's, he's got a little bit more of a booming voice than I do. But it's, you know, motorsports is fast. And I've always joked, in fact, we went to the Indy in the Indians game just yesterday, and the PA announcer comes across, you know, next up centerfielder number one, so and so and I'm like, well, that's not that hard. I could probably do that, you know, motorsports happens so fast, right? You gotta be on top of your game. So I love it. I mean, it's it, I always say just gives me something to talk about, you know, is all the racing. But that's kind of been been my life since 2002. And then, and then fast forward, you know, for like, three or four years ago, and then then real estate came in,

Rick Ripma: 6:20

and you're still doing the announcing. But how does the announcing how does that life before help you in your real estate career?

Rob Klepper: 6:27

You know, I think it I think it, it just allows you to talk to people. You know, a lot of times I think, you know, what's one of the hardest things to do is public speaking, right? Right. So I've pretty much been doing that for the last 20 years. So meeting a client for the first time or speaking to a lender for the first time. I don't really get that nerve racking, I'm afraid to ask questions, or I'm afraid to to answer, hey, I don't really know. But I'll find that out. And I think just being able to interact with with clients, when you're showing a home, I think is probably refreshing to them, to try and be a little bit more of a conversationalist. More maybe, I don't know, down to earth, you know, not so uptight about things just kind of be like, Hey, man, this this house is cool. You guys should buy it. And if not, that's cool, we'll go check out another one. But I so I think it helps, you know, maybe maybe I'm biased towards myself, but I think it helps, you know, it has helped me and in going into real estate, Charlie told me he goes, you know, you have that outgoing personality. And he goes, that's a lot of it. When you get into into real estate dealing with with lenders and clients, and appraisers, and inspectors and all these different people and all these different situations. So it's a, it's it's been a big learning curve for me. I mean, I in motorsports, I feel like I'm pretty smart in the races that I announced in the series that I cover. So when I started in real estate, not knowing things was was very difficult for me, I kind of like I mean, everybody wants to be the smartest guy in the room. Right? Right. So for racing, I am at least closer to the top of that list. And in real estate at first I was if I didn't know the answer to something, I was just kind of like, Oh man, what am I gonna do? This guy's not gonna work with me. I don't know what that means. You know, what does it appraiser do? I don't know, you know, appraisal house, I guess. So. So it's been a big learning curve. But obviously, like anything else, the more you do it, the better you get at it.

Ian Arnold: 8:20

So what made you do this switch? I know, you're still doing both, but what made you jump into real estate.

Rob Klepper: 8:26

So in motorsports, in probably about 2015 2016, we started to see a downward tick in the availability of motorsports gigs in TV, especially, I did a lot of work for and continue to do some for Lucas Oil studios. They own a network called mag TV, that they shoot a lot of stuff and air a lot of stuff on still. And I started to see kind of a little tick that said, we're not covering the race the short course off road anymore, okay. Oh, we're not doing the pavement modifieds we're not covering those are the super late models aren't aren't coming back next year. And then they start calculating all those shows in your head and the money and I, you know, um, I feel like I should maybe start looking at other avenues. So it kind of sounds weird to say, Oh, I needed a fall back, right. You got into real estate because I needed something in case this fall fell apart. And there was a little bit of that, but at the same time, you know, something that if my TV career completely died, I could become a full time real estate broker. I could of course go to work at Crewe, carwash and make some extra money. But that's not going to turn into a career. Right, you know, so to speak, especially with little kids on the way at that point. Now we had some at that point. So with everything in motorsports television kind of starting to die down and the live streaming, becoming more popular. budgets for Live streams are lower. Not as much money out there. Do you want to fly all over the country and get paid a quarter of the amount that you did before? Not really, you know, I'm getting older, I'm getting lazier. So it started to kind of die out a little bit. And that's kind of how it started. I like I said, I called Charlie and I said, Hey, man, you know, what? Talk me through this? How would this work? Do I even have a shot to pass the test? Like, what what are we looking at here, and he was very supportive. And like I said, without Without him, I probably wouldn't be doing it right now. He has made made it very, very easy for me to kind of come in. And I don't want to say do what I want, when I want, you know, but just the transition has been really good. And he's always there, you know, I can, I can line them up and ask him anything I want, and he's been great.

Rick Ripma: 10:52

Well, you have to have some flexibility, because you're traveling still, yes.

Rob Klepper: 10:55

And that's where, you know, a lot of the real estate was was I haven't had to go to an office for a lot of years, you know, and when you don't have to do that, that's very different, right, get up and go to work every day. It's just kind of how my my quote unquote, career has worked out. So with real estate, you don't necessarily have to do that. You can kind of set your own schedule, you know, it is based a lot on clients, and when they want to show homes or when closings are set, and when you want to meet the inspector out there, you know, and that kind of thing, but you know, I can still get up and get my kids on the bus, I can still be there. When they get off the bus most of the time, I can still go to soccer and flag football and baseball and all that stuff. So it's really worked out. And then I can if I if I have a closing, and I get a call to go announce a raise somewhere that I that I don't want to pass up on. I can say, Hey, Charlie, you helped me out on the closing, you know, we're, we're adjusted to hey, you know, call the agent say, Hey, is it possible we move this thing to the day before day after that kind of thing? And it's, it was very surprising to me how flexible? A lot of what we do is, you know, so it really has worked out to be able to do both. Yeah, that's

Rick Ripma: 12:01

awesome. So when you're when you're, you get into real estate, you're still have your your TV career. How did you get real estate? How did you get off the ground? Because you're doing really well, for somebody who's really, you do it most? It sounds like not maybe not total full time, but kind of full time? Yeah. How did you get going? Well, it's

Rob Klepper: 12:21

funny, because you know, I've only known the COVID pandemic real estate market, which as we all know, went bonkers. In 2020, I got my license in the beginning of 2020. Okay, and then the pandemic hit. And I didn't really know what was going to happen with all the motorsports that I was planning on doing. If they were going to get rescheduled, or canceled, they didn't allow fans in how that was going to all work. Everything ended up working out okay that year. So I kind of delayed really getting into real estate till about two thirds of the way through through 2020. And it was very, like I said before, it was very, I don't want to say scary, but it was, you know, you're going to show someone they're going to have multiple offers before they even list the house, you know, like they're going to be pre approved to 100 million, they're going to offer 300 million, and you're not going to get it you go. Why did you say? What am I doing? So the idea of, you know, no houses on the market, essentially 17 offers within five minutes. And if you don't have appraisal gaps and people offering above list, and insane amount of cash on top to try and sweeten the offer. And I don't know if we should inspect this one because that guy may want you know, and all these little tricks. That was all I knew really up until really the end of last year. So it just was making those connections with the client saying, Listen, if you really want it, this is what we got to do. And it just so happened that it worked out a lot in the end of 2020, mainly 2021. And then last year, you know, the first I would say first few quarters, two thirds of the year was was pretty good. And then it started to taper off a little bit. And then we're in kind of what we're in now. But it worked out really good from the start. We you know, we have a handful of lenders that were that were feeding us leads coming from the west coast, and everybody in motorsports that wants to be an Indiana or people that I know that don't want to be in California anymore for whatever particular reason. We're looking to come this way. Okay, so that helped me out as well. Because just connections right the word of mouth. Oh, I got a buddy. That's a buddy that knows someone that wants to move to Indiana you haven't give me a call. Right? So that that was some of it as well kind of the word of mouth thing. And that was one thing that I didn't really understand it first and Charlie told me he's like, Listen, you know, more people in motorsports, like you're coming into real estate, with a good base of people that you know, where most people All right, you know have three 400 DPI I don't you know, I mean, like I just had a bigger pool that I could put out there and more people would see my Facebook post and say, Oh yeah, if I'm gonna move to Indy, you know, maybe I'll I'll call clippers. So that that paid off for me as well. And and hopefully we'll continue to keep saying you gotta move. Gotta move.

Ian Arnold: 15:18

So, Rob, if a racing fan definitely wants to talk to racing, Wilder buying a home? How would they reach you? Well, the best

Rob Klepper: 15:25

way to reach me, you can email me for sure you can give me a call. But when we're looking at a house, and someone mentions, of course, never mentioned that I do TV or announce races unless they're coming from that world. But like you said, earlier, I think being able to connect with that client or say like, you know, so what do you move into Indy for? Well, I'm a big, big race fan. I've always wanted to go the Indy 500. And then I go I got a few stories for. So that's been really cool. But yeah, Rob Klepper at my home. indy.com is my email address. They can call me at 317-313-6594 always love to talk racing motorsports anybody wants to move to the Hoosier State because of the greatest spectacle in racing, as you can see the the photos and models behind you, Rick, it's I can certainly help him out. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 16:19

well, I love racing. So if you need to get a hold of Ian or I, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call 317-672-1938. That's 31767 to 1938.

Ian Arnold: 16:32

And after the break, we'll find out what is Rob superpower.

Rick Ripma: 16:37

Thanks for listening to in these real estate gurus. The guru's we interview share valuable insights they reveal their strengths, personalities and how they'll work for you. While we were while we were hard working mortgage guys security, your best mortgage real estate gurus work hard to they avoid problems the amateurs don't see. They listen, they find unrealized opportunities. If you're buying or selling a home, a real estate guru is a valuable asset. If you're even thinking of buying or selling a home, keep listening, and definitely call one of India's real estate gurus.

Ian Arnold: 17:08

Right. Welcome back from the break. And Rob is still here. So glad he didn't run out on we may have

Rick Ripma: 17:15

made a race and he was like you guys have ever done. Yeah.

Ian Arnold: 17:21

All right. Before we get into what is your superpower? First we'll do question of the week and I'll like this one for you. So the question week is sponsored by Rick and I the hard working mortgage guys, where we value communication between you your real estate agent tried to make sure that you're up to date through the whole entire process. There is no blackout times. Come on. Nobody likes that. So to contact Rick or I go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com All right. What was your first car?

Rob Klepper: 17:52

My first car was a 1985 Ford f150 i You know, I grew up in central California. On a ranch my dad farmed about 4000 acres. And everything from cotton to alfalfa, which is big and Central Valley raisins. We had a lot of grapes, almonds, Black Eyed Peas he tried corn one year that didn't work out. But so grew up on a ranch and we need your dad's a farm where you get a truck so I gotta I gotta have one.

Ian Arnold: 18:21

So that's a great vehicle. So no rust

Rob Klepper: 18:24

no rust Yeah, no no a lot of catalytic converters out there. You know people are going for right now but ya know, rust. That that's one thing that moving back here. I hadn't didn't understand like, is there any rust on your truck? We know why wouldn't have rust on it? Well, because all the salt in the snow and the salt. And then it's the underbelly. What are you talking about? Like I didn't know you're like out there. We have earthquakes. So you don't want to be in a basement here. That's what everybody does when the tornado comes. runs to the basement. So it's just a just a different different part of the country.

Rick Ripma: 18:57

Well, California, it's it's such a different place. But it's what always amazes me is when I talk to somebody from California, especially in the mortgage business. The the ideas that they have, they think totally different. And I met with one and he's like, Well, yeah, I have a I don't remember what you call it, but it's basically a promoter. You know that that's what he had in his mortgage business. He hired some guy that's a promoter. Wow. And there's like, Who would think of that? California would think of that right? It worked really well. Yeah, I thought that's a great idea. Guess what I couldn't find an Indiana but I just think that's a interesting that 4000 acres that's a that's a lot. That's a lot and

Rob Klepper: 19:44

we'll have that. No, we don't and and he leased a lot of a lot of that they have since my parents moved back back here because both our boys live here in Indy, but about 10 years ago, they moved back here, but they leased a lot of that ground. I always joke that man if he owned all that ground I would probably be a farmer, you know, why not? But yeah, so grew up, you know, baling hay and, and, and driving tractor and changing water and picking grapes and, and, and and all that stuff. So a lot of people don't believe me when I when I say that I've done all that, you know, but yeah, wouldn't wouldn't change it for anything I wish I wish I had 4000 acres for my kids to go bale hay on and learn that deal. You know, you learned how to work hard. Yeah. And it's, you know, I mean, it's things are a little different these days. You know, my kids are small nine and seven. But I you know, every time I go out to cut the grass, I'm like, Yeah, next year, buddy. Next year.

Ian Arnold: 20:41

Every year, yeah,

Rob Klepper: 20:42

yeah. So, I mean, it was great. You know, central California. Not the most aesthetic pleasing part of the state. There in the valley, just south of Fresno. But yeah, I mean, you could drive five minutes in and your buddy would give you a crate of grapes or a creative goat. You want apricot you guys apricot, apricot. I don't care what you said how you call it. Just go get me some you know, they're right there. So you had all that or I'm eco walk out my back door. 20 feet, and there was 20 acres of vineyard. Wow. So cut cut. Thompson seedless grapes off, bring them in the house, wash them off, boom, there you are. Wow. You know, so you don't really have that. Unless you're you know, you're into beans and corn off the stock? I guess back here. He can't really do that in Indiana too much.

Rick Ripma: 21:27

What do you do you find yourself not liking the grapes and things you buy at the store? Because yes, I believe Fred.

Rob Klepper: 21:34

Absolutely. I argue with my wife all the time about she'll say I think this is gonna be a good watermelon. I don't know about that. Or, you know, we buy a lot of grapes. We eat a lot of grapes. And so I'm always like, Okay, we'll find out right now eat one and go. And we'll see. We'll give them to the boys. They'll eat anything. Yeah. Anything.

Rick Ripma: 21:55

So what would you say your superpower superpowers are?

Rob Klepper: 21:59

When it comes to real estate? Just in general? Whichever, why I can't fly or anything like that. I think I think we touched on it before. For me. I think it's just my ability to talk to people. You know, as we would say, you know, shoot, shoot that shoot the stuff with people, you know, because I think a lot of people don't want to be, you know, that used car salesman mentality of coming up and trying to sell him a home and what do you you know, what's your budget, and we're gonna go see in the VA, and just talk to him, you know, and and and explain to him about the business and what you're in for in that in that particular moment. But, but just talk to him like a person, you know, and not sell them something. I think sometimes they're more receptive to, you know, Hey, man, I think this is a good house, you want to go check it out? It's got this checks off this on your, you know, on your list. If you like it great. If not, you know, it's fine to just let me know, kind of a thing. And I think people are a little more receptive, receptive to that. I don't know if that's a superpower. My wife would say that maybe I talk too much from time to time. But I think I think people are receptive to you know, that, that human interaction, if you will, yeah.

Rick Ripma: 23:11

I don't think we get it enough. You know, I think there's a lot of times, you know, people text and the email and have that human connection. Yeah. And I think that makes a huge difference.

Rob Klepper: 23:20

I think so too. And I think we're all guilty of that, you know, it's a lot easier to go here, check out this address, tell me what you think rather than call someone up, it's a lot easier. We want to do stuff instantly. And if you're multitasking, or you have a lot going on, you know, a text is or an email is is just as just as easy gets the job done, so to speak. But I think I think people enjoy the ability to be able to talk to a person I mean, how many times have we call the credit card agency or the cable company? And you know, hit number one, if you ever get a real person and you just sit there keep hitting zero, because you want them to send you to an actual agent to talk to to find out what the heck's going on. So I think for me, that's, and that's probably, I mean, a lot of the agents that I've worked with, they're all really good at that, you know, speaking part, and I was very nervous when I first started to talk to another agent, because at first I thought, like, okay, we're, you know, we're battling. But I soon found out that we're in this together, right? You know what I mean? Like, you're representing the seller, and I'm representing the buyer or vice versa. But we're a team, we need to make this make this transaction happen in the best way for each of our clients. So I was apprehensive to ask a question or say, hey, you know, my buyer wants wants to know this. And you know what, she can yell at me because I'm asking this question, and it's not like that. So the communication is, to me is it's invaluable.

Ian Arnold: 24:50

Yeah, I think that that's, you might not think a superpower. But when you're walking into somebody's home and you're talking to them, trying to basically get their permission to sell their home or whatnot, or even to go help find the one, to break down their barriers by just having a simple conversation. And it can start off about the weather or whatnot, just there, slowly break them down. Because it's not like it's a bad thing. But people put guards up, they're a little leery. And then as you slowly just talking with them, I think that's a huge thing.

Rob Klepper: 25:21

So and, you know, in motorsports, or really any kind of sports, when you're when you're interviewing drivers, a lot of the times you know what drivers have the personality for the interview, you know, what drivers are very reserved. So before you start the interview, like you said, you kind of just mix it up with him a little bit, get him to loosen up a little bit, because I want you to be more animated when we get to the, to the interview, you know, so you'll, you'll ask him some weird things, or goofy stuff to get him to kind of, you know, calm down,

Rick Ripma: 25:50

I want you to tick them off before you pick them up.

Rob Klepper: 25:53

What the heck were you doing there? You know, now, if they're already mad, then there's not much you can do. You know, but But you know, walking into a house and seeing produce stuff all over, I guess this guy's a Purdue fan, you know, and maybe bringing up something about Purdue because obviously, he's passionate about that. Right, you know, and that maybe that will get him to open up. You know, I found out very quickly that you're either Purdue or your IU. You don't see both of those items in the house at once. Like, how's the one or the other house divided? For sure. In this state? But yeah, stuff like that, I think always helps. The last thing you want to kind of do is sell them on why they should hire you. You know, I mean, you want to get to know him a little bit. Right? I think I think that works out.

Ian Arnold: 26:35

Now I know we're coming up on the end of the radio part. So what's the best way somebody get a hold of you?

Rob Klepper: 26:39

Best way to get a hold of me, typically is just give me a call. Like I said, 317-313-6594 you can call me there. Obviously, email works as well. It's just my name, Rob Klepper. Our OB Kle PPE are at my home indy.com You can obviously go to my home mini.com For more information on on benchmark Realty Group. But yeah, that's that's the best way to get a hold of me. And usually answer pretty quick. Like, I've had a couple agents, which, you know, you don't really think about it, save like, Oh, I really like how you respond quick. And then I would have some agents that I email or that I'm working with that don't respond. And I'm like, Oh, well, maybe, maybe it is nice to try and get that as soon as you can. Now you got a lot of stuff going on. Obviously, it's it's tough sometimes. But you know, I try and respond as quick as I can. Because usually, when someone texts you or email you, they have a question or concern. They want an answer, right? Oh, so I'm not going to wait three days to get back to you. I want to get back to you as quick as I can. And I think that kind of goes towards what we were talking about before, you know, just that interaction I hate that guy gets back pretty, whether he knows anything or not, I don't know. But he responds. You know, either way. So

Rick Ripma: 27:50

I think it needs to happen that way. They have to be quick and to get a hold of the Ian or I it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 317-672-1938. That's 31767 to 1938.

Ian Arnold: 28:03

And that's you did a great job there.

Rick Ripma: 28:05

I wrote it. I wrote it over there on

Ian Arnold: 28:07

the Oh, yeah. Makes it nice to be here. All right. And if you're listening on the radio, go ahead to indies, real estate gurus podcast on any, any basically any platform, and you can find us and finish listening because you need to hear the rest of this. Alright, hey, welcome back. And if you chose this from the podcast side, you chose the right chapters. Congratulations. All right. Great news is Rob is still here. So I like to ask this question. What do you think is your most memorable deal?

Rob Klepper: 28:42

My most memorable deal? Maybe my first deal. And that I had a lot of assistance on that. It was right around the beginning of 2021. Young, young couple, a, an older couple that had just a tragic story that had recently happened to them. And we're looking to, you know, get out of one place because of what had happened to them to get somewhere to start fresh. Had some grandkids that they were that they were dealing with. And and so it was it was just a nice, it was a neat story. And it was glad that it all kind of came together. And I think, you know, I was thinking about this on the way here. Oftentimes, I mean, I'm assuming I have been doing it too long. But you know, we can treat someone buying a home as a transaction. And I write the purchase agreement. They accept the purchase agreement. I send everything to you guys. You start the process on the lending side. You know, the title company starts their deal, and then it's a whole bunch of emails and phone calls and texts. And then we go to closing there's the key is and that's it. Right? And, and that's fine, because that's the business, right? You're doing multiple things at the same time, you, you know, but I think trying to trying to put the effort into every single one and realize that they are buying a home, and that's a big deal. Yes. Especially if it's their first, I closed on one earlier, just about a month ago now out in Greenfield from a friend of mine, and it was his first home and, and they just they were so excited, you know, to closings, closing still on schedule, we got it, we got it. Did they hand us the keys, they know, they're gonna slide them across the table. It's yours. You know, like, they were so excited. And sometimes I think you forget that, you know that it is a big deal. So that that first one, I haven't had one like that. And that so that I think that was that was pretty memorable. Yeah, I

Rick Ripma: 30:58

think that's tough, because you have to, you have to remember how exciting it is for them. And, and then on the other side, you have to keep it down the path very professional. Right, you know, so you do have its, you're kind of playing two roles there. And also through the process, there's always things that come up that you have to really, you know, guide them through,

Rob Klepper: 31:20

right, yeah. Because they, you know, and I think a lot of times you assume people know, what's crowded, you know, and they don't, some of them do that have done this before, you know, but first time homebuyers, they don't know, that title has to do XYZ, right, that the lender is going to ask you for this, because he needs to know how come you got that to get to here? Because you use that to do this, you know, and they're gonna What does that matter? It's in my account, well, it matters how it got there, you know, or whatever. So they they don't know what's coming. So just, I like to when I first meet clients for the first time, I like to have my wife calls, did you have the scary talk with them? And the scary talk is what it takes to get the ball rolling. Right. So earnest money, some people don't think they need to submit earnest money if they're first time homebuyers, or what an inspection costs, what appraisal costs, before you even get to the chance of making your down payment, and your closing costs. And all of that, that that kind of out of pocket. Okay, man, you got to have you're going to start with about two grand before we even get into this, or whatever the case is. And some clients are like, whoa, okay. Yeah. And some are like, Yes, no problem. Yeah, no, I got it, you know what I mean? But again, keeping them informed so that they know what's what's coming down the pipe? Because if they don't, and they're like, Well, I didn't know that I had to pay for this upfront, like, you didn't, like, in my mind, I just assume everybody knows that. Right? You know, but you, you kind of have to walk them through

Ian Arnold: 32:56

it. I like to I used to train a lot of people, and I used to use your TV remote. As an example. Everybody knows how to use a TV remote. But you go to your friend's house and use their TV remote. Oh, how do I turn the TV on? What do I do what I mean, it's a TV remote. But it's it's second nature to you. But But if you have a TV guy that installs TVs all the time, he'll come in there, right. But again, that's one of the things when you've done it when you do it countless times is different than somebody might only buy one to four homes in their whole entire lifetime. Yeah. So they're not used to where the first transaction might have went smoothly. Oh, now this one comes up the appraisal. Oh, look, it needs new windows or, or there's a busted pipe? Or what do we do now?

Rob Klepper: 33:40

Right? Yeah, and that's, that's what's fun, I guess to a point not busted pipes, but that every every transaction is different. You know? I mean, you want them to go perfectly smooth every single time do they? Absolutely not. But it seems like there's always something new that comes up. And, and I may not know to ask that because it's never come up before and now it came up. Now. That's something I always ask about, you know, like, Hey, what is the pipe? Are the pipes busted? You know, things like that. So that's what's ever changing. And, to me intriguing, you know, you know, in motorsports, it's, it's a bunch of dudes going in a circle, you know, with one guy that that's gonna win. It's essentially the same thing a lot. Even though the players are different, the race is different. So the track is different. But I haven't had one deal even close to another deal so far in in my little short career. And I think that's

Rick Ripma: 34:37

kind of cool. Yep. And I think that's kind of normal. I would

Rob Klepper: 34:40

have to agree. I couldn't imagine that someone goes Oh, yeah, but you know, so closed on 15 homes this year and they're all identical all cash, all cash, no issues. You're like, what? Like a sponge jolly like

Rick Ripma: 34:53

I don't know. I don't know. I've never heard of anybody like that. Let's work with like an investor and they just just keep start throwing money and then Yeah, because of inspections and everything else. Yeah, we, unless you're waiving inspections and doing that there's going to be things that come up that have to be taken care of. And that's like you said, that's what makes it interesting. Yeah.

Rob Klepper: 35:11

I think I've been again, like, watching an inspector do their job. To me. It's fascinating. When they're walking around with that flashlight, and they go, oh, yeah, you see that right there? And like, What? What? They move on? Yeah, what, what just happened? What are you doing? You know, are they jumped down in that crawlspace? And they're yelling at you, you know, like, what's going on? That's fascinating to me. I wish I knew all this before I bought my first house, you know, I mean, it's just knowledge that and I always tell clients, like, you need to be an inspection, if you can, you got to be there. Because it's your house, and they're going to tell you things that you're going to remember. And that that 50 page report is basically a blueprint of what you need to do to get your home to the level you want it to be at. Right, I'll be it. You know, tightening up a little screw that's loose on whatever. But so it's important. And again, everyone's different. And you learn something different. You know, I you know, I never thought of that. I never thought I'm gonna have you ever seen that before? I've never seen that before. But I'll probably see it again next time. Right? You know. So it's just constant education. To me, whether it's the inspector, you know, appraisal process, the mortgage process, I have very little knowledge of what you guys did when I started, you know, I got pre approved. Cool. And then they look at my bank statements, and then, okay, you're good. That's not exactly how it works. So that's just a constant, you know, education as well. So it's, it's, it's great.

Rick Ripma: 36:41

Yeah. And, like mortgage changes all the time. You got rules, and then the rules change. And I'm sure you have James. Yeah. rates change. Yeah.

Rob Klepper: 36:49

All these different options for different people. How do you want to do it? Whether you're going, you know, conventional FHA? Oh, you're you're a veteran. Okay, well, you're this option, right? While you're out in the middle of nowhere, there's this option, right, you know, and buying buying points and buying it down, and all these different things. And it's, it's really insane when you don't know much about that world, and then kind of get tossed into it goes back to me, in the beginning, like, I don't, please don't ask me about buying down points. I don't really. I know, I remember that from the test. But I don't know if I can answer it. You know, I can Google it really quick. But no, it's the more you do it. Like I said, the better you get, and the more you learn, and it's great.

Rick Ripma: 37:30

Yeah, and nobody's ever gonna have all the answers. That's the reality. You know, even as long as I've been in the business, there's still time something will come up. And it's like, well, I'm not 100%. Sure. Yeah. And partly because the rules change all the time. Yeah. You know, so you think you know, but I learned long ago, you can't depend on what you did before. Right? Because the rule may have changed.

Rob Klepper: 37:50

Yeah, it's, it's every time I talk to my accountant during tax season, yeah, you know, because I've been a contractor really my whole adult life. So I'm 1099. And I'm, you know, and on my racing side, I'm Incorporated. So I'm trying to write off as much stuff as I can, and pay quarterly taxes and all this and then you hear all Yeah, they changed the bump up up above that, that. Really, right. So I you know, and it's just ever, ever changing. Laws are changing. And I guess it's similar to what you guys do I mean, things, one county versus another county, one state versus another state, right? Everything's different.

Rick Ripma: 38:25

And that's why you have a CPA or somebody taking care of your taxes, because you need an expert. Yes. Why? That's why I think people really need a real estate agent when they're buying a house. And no matter what the markets, like, it makes a huge difference to have a Gru agent on your side.

Rob Klepper: 38:40

Yeah. And and like I said before, when you're when you're dealing with the listing agent, if you're working with a buyer, having having both of those that you can say, Hey, I got a quote, my buyer has a question about this, they can give you the answer you can and you can get it back to the buyer. But you are a middleman to a certain point, but you're facilitating the transaction, keeping everybody happy, making sure there's no hiccups, you know, and I tried to do that as best I can ever every single time. That's I guess that's the idea.

Rick Ripma: 39:11

So as you look at your business, is there anything you're looking at and thinking I need to improve this or change this in the next, you know, six months a year?

Rob Klepper: 39:21

Amount of clients? That'd be the first thing. That's for all of us. Yeah, you know, I, since every one is different for me, and there may be times where, you know, I go a couple weeks and I don't do anything. We just went to spring training out in Arizona and I had have three clients right now. I'd say pseudo actively looking for homes. And I said, Hey, I'm going to be out in Arizona, you know, for spring training for spring break with with my boys. And you know, if you need anything, you know, let me know and we'll facilitate that. But for me, I just I Just want to try and absorb as much as I can. Every time I'm on the phone with, with Rick, every time I'm on the phone with Ian, every time I'm on the phone with Charlie, Hey, man, I got a silly question. Because I was nervous. I was selling questions. This one's pretty silly. I don't know if we're into the stupid. But it's pretty silly, you know? And it may be something that just I something small that I just, it's how come? I don't know what why is why is this? And it'll tell me. That's it. So I've learned that there are no real silly questions, at least in this business you because you need to know right? The the your clients need to know the answers. You can't you can't I can. I hate to say it I call a race. I can throw some BS at you so fast. You You don't know what I'm talking about half the time, right? When people are guys are racing around the Camaro up on the cushion. He's throwing a screaming and yelling and it's exciting, and you're not paying attention and blah, blah, blah. And I may say something that makes absolutely no sense. I know it makes no sense. But you may not know that it makes no sense. i You can't do that in this business. You You got to be straight with people. And you have to know what you're talking about. Because it's it's like we said before, it's a big deal. And so I don't ever want to mess up. I don't want to ever say something that's incorrect. I mean, if I don't know the answer, go, let me get back to you on that one. Right. I'll circle back on that if we've watched any White House briefings in the last few years. But because I think that's that's key, you know,

Rick Ripma: 41:28

I know, I know, from experience that the best thing you can do if you don't know the answer is do do that. Yeah. You don't answer a question. You don't know the answer to it. And I

Rob Klepper: 41:37

have to assume 99% of the agents out there. Do the same thing. Right, right. And once you're in it 2530 years, you probably have a lot more answers to questions that I may have, you know, three, four years into it. But it's just it's ever changing. And like you said, something pops up the law changes in your world. Oh, that means from now on? The answer to that question is not this for the last 10 years. Now it's this and that's a struggle. And that's a struggle. Yeah, you know, so you have to know that. Yep. You can just go down. It's gonna ask me about

Rick Ripma: 42:09

that. Now, what about mentors? It sounds like Charlie's a big mentor. How important have mentors been in your career?

Rob Klepper: 42:16

You know, it's for me, it's he, you know, he owns his own shop. He's a managing broker we've had, we have about three agents that he works with. But for me, it's been all Charlie Brown. He's, he's been great. Like I said, I wouldn't have gotten into real estate without him. He has pointed me in all the right directions. He's been great to work with, I've known him forever. So we can we can cut up to each other. It's not necessarily, you know, man, principal broker and, and the agent. It's more like two buddies, which is nice. So he's been doing it for 25 plus years. So he's seen virtually everything that can happen. He's seen the markets in this area go the way they've gone. And the agent will say like, yeah, I just wrote an offer for for this house over here for so and so with this. You know, the stage. Oh, yeah, I've done 10 deals with her. She's great. Okay, good. You know, I've helped awesome, you know, that kind of stuff. And I can say, hey, so I was talking with, you know, my principal broker Charlie. Oh, yeah, I know, Charlie. Yeah. So, you know, it kinda is like, Oh, you must be okay. If this guy is good, right? This guy is cool. So, right. He's 100%. Yeah, he's, he's the guy I look up to. He's the guy that I that. That I ask all the questions to now I've had some transactions with some really cool people, as well. And you know, hope to do business with them in the future. But yeah, with without him I I'd be walking around trying to announce racism, you know, 10 bucks.

Ian Arnold: 43:48

So while you're announcing races, you ever let it slip? Hey, I do real estate who can tell you know,

Rob Klepper: 43:54

I know. I don't. I've joked to different series directors are different things. I would say, Hey, do we have a we don't have a sponsor for the feature lineup? Do we? Are we used to have one? Do we still have that sponsor? Now? We don't have that sponsor anymore. Or they, you know, their contract ran out. They didn't want to renew it. Okay. So can I just call it whatever I want, then? No, sure. Because I mean, are you sure? I mean, because I literally can say whatever I want. Now, I may get fired right after. But it's out there. So no, no, I never have done that, though. I have I have bugged Charlie, once a while go you know what you really should sponsor this part of this series. I think you would get a lot out of that. And then by me bringing the sponsor to the series, maybe I get, you know, a percentage from the series for bringing a sponsor not knowing that it's actually the business that I work with. Maybe that's too close to home. I don't know but

Rick Ripma: 44:50

doesn't sound like no, they don't care.

Rob Klepper: 44:52

They just happened. Yes. Listen hasn't happened yet.

Ian Arnold: 44:54

I won't report anything. You're all right. Yeah,

Rob Klepper: 44:57

we're good. Yeah, keep it.

Rick Ripma: 44:58

Yeah. Don't tell anybody Do that quiet. So as you as you look at the the future of our, let's say, our real estate right now, in the next 3456 months, one of the things we're hearing is as soon as, as soon as Easter is passed, the market is going to get much busier, there's going to be a lot of houses coming on the market. Is that what you're seeing? Or what do you see in the future?

Rob Klepper: 45:26

Yeah, you know, it's, it's tough to say, I mean, we kind of thought, you know, towards the end of last year that we, you know, things were starting to transition more to buyers market, and that, you know, we were going to be have this influx of, of inventory. And we've seen more houses become available, but not a ton. So, you know, it's, I think it's hard to say exactly, it, you know, some people, especially on the buyer side, with rates going up, they don't know, what the Feds gonna do, and how things are gonna go with the election and a couple years and what's gonna happen, I can see more houses coming on the market. But I can also see them sitting there for a little while, as well, you know, worse. And we see that right now, like, I guess, if a house comes on the market, and it's a really, really nice house, perfect, maybe a flip or a really nice home, then that might go, if it needs a little bit of TLC. I've seen those kind of stick around a little longer, maybe people don't want to put the extra effort in or go, You know what, we're just going to hold off hold off a little bit. Whereas, you know, the last couple of years leading up to this year, it was like, I'll fix that, right? Here's an extra 50 Let's do it. And you don't you're not seeing that as much. So I'd love to see, after Easter, a bunch more, you know, and it starts to change. But it's kind of one of those things right now, like I said, I mean, I only really know the pandemic type market. So it's it's tough to really foresee the future. So we'll have to kind of wait and see, I guess. Yep.

Rick Ripma: 47:03

Who knows? That's the problem, right? We can't see the future. We are running out of time. So if anybody needs to get a hold of you, what is the best way to get a hold of you for any real estate needs are just to talk about racing.

Rob Klepper: 47:13

317-313-6594 That's my phone number. You can also email email me at Rob Klepper at my home indy.com That's our OB KL e PP er at my home indeed.com.

Rick Ripma: 47:25

And to get a hold of inner eye it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 317-672-1938. That's 31767 to 1938.

Ian Arnold: 47:36

And reminder, if you know any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy, sell or refinance, let us know we'll be more than happy to help them. Thank you and have a wonderful day and don't forget to follow us