Guru Rob Sorrell with Kellerwilliams

Rick Ripma: 0:00

Welcome to Indy's Real Estate Gurus. I'm Rick Ripma, your hardworking mortgage guy, and I've been in real estate and mortgages for over 34years, I've helped over 5300folks finance their homes, my team and I believe in custom tailored loans, not a one size fits all approach. We believe there is the right mortgage for you. And we believe we are the team to deliver it.

Ian Arnold: 0:19

And I'm Ian Arnold part of Rick's hard working mortgage team. I've been in financial industry for 15 years helping customers rebuild their credit and get them to get the best possible interest rate. I have a passion in helping you secure your overall real estate dreams and even possibly even helping you pay off your home even faster.

Rick Ripma: 0:35

And for any questions on the in the real estate market or mortgages,please go toHardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com You can contact Ian and I from there. Or you can give us a call at 317-672-1938. That's317-672-1938. And then who do we have today?

Ian Arnold: 0:54

Well, we have a wonderful guy. He came in here he was banging on the door. He's like, if you don't let me in.I'm gonna shout why you guys are on the air. And I was like,alright, well bring him on in.But he was early. Yes. Great.Hey, Robert. Rob, you go by right. And is it so rel Sorrell Sorrell? And that's S O. RR E.LL. Yep. Wow. And you're with Keller? Williams?

Rob Sorrell: 1:18

Keller? Williams?Yeah, northeast office.

Ian Arnold: 1:20

That's awesome. So before we get into your life of being a realtor and everything,what was your life before?

Rob Sorrell: 1:27

So before, so I came out of college with an accounting and finance background. And so I went into accounting type finance type work for about 23 years, and enjoyed that aspect of things.But after about 23 years, I thought, there's something different out there I need to be doing so the last few companies that I was working with either belly up the bank called note or they moved out of state and starting over and I thought,let's find something different.So I had a kind of a passion for real estate. And so I started looking into that, and probably not a story that you haven't heard before for many people,but real estate's one of the things that quickly developed a passion for and so I've been doing that for about 10 years.

Ian Arnold: 2:10

So is it you like it better being on your own? So when you're working with a company, I mean, you're getting told how to do it and everything like that, but now you're on your own?

Rob Sorrell: 2:20

Yeah, you have the ability to, to rise and fall based on your own efforts. And you know, what, when you're working in corporate America,you typically have a lot of support, but there's, there's usually a cap to it, I mean, not from just an earnings potential,but I mean, even rising through the ranks, I mean, you can get to, you know, levels I've been the CFO and, and whatnot. So you get to those levels. And when you're there, you're there,right, and so then it's just a matter of making sure that things are being well oiled and refining and improvements. But the upward mobility, the pay is,you're relatively stagnant, you know, you get bonuses and raises and that type of stuff, but, but with real estate, you really you're managing every aspect of your own business. And if you if you don't manage every aspect of it, then your business falters.And so having that ability to grow your business as much as you want it to or some people,some agents want to be at 3million, and they just want to stay at 3 million and that's fine. But the lack of a ceiling in real estate is one of the things that was really enticing to me and the ability to earn as much as what you what you can or what you want to is, is a nice aspect of real estate.

Rick Ripma: 3:36

So where did you grow up?

Rob Sorrell: 3:38

So Michigan's my home state. I was born in Kentucky live a little bit in Alabama. I don't remember either those two states and I moved to Michigan. So I still see Michigan as my home state. My dad is a pastor up there a little place called St. Joe by Benton Harbor southwest corner and lived up there for about 11years and then moved down to Anderson, Indiana, and just after blizzards 79 on so you guys remember that. I was in Michigan for that. Oh my goodness. Yeah, you missed that because that was a lot of fun.Yeah, I was young, but I was in Michigan and we were just off of Lake Michigan and about two miles and boy we got plaster was snow and as a kid that was the best. Yep. But then moved down to Anderson after that. And really my formative years were were an Anderson went to school there and then graduated stayed in Indiana ever since 1979.Somewhere in Indiana, went down to Clarksville, Indiana to work my first job after college and that was for the state and then moved back up to Indy and been an indie probably since 93.Okay, now you've been here

Rick Ripma: 4:43

a long time your your Michigan may be your home state but you're a Hoosier,right?

Rob Sorrell: 4:48

I'm a Hoosier Yeah,but I'm a Wolverines fan. So

Rick Ripma: 4:51

that's okay. My dad graduated from Michigan. My dad grew up in Grand Rapids. Oh,

Rob Sorrell: 4:56

yeah, got a brother there.

Ian Arnold: 4:58

And maybe beaten.Ohio State last couple of years,so you're doing just fine. Yes.

Rob Sorrell: 5:02

Yeah. So that's always plus you don't like Harbaugh?

Rick Ripma: 5:08

See, there's there's a coach. I know. I'm into sports at all. No, not

Rob Sorrell: 5:13

at all. Yeah, no hardball. Yeah. Yep.

Rick Ripma: 5:17

My family's really into sports. So then you got into real estate and and you you came out of corporate America?It's many times it's really hard to get going in real estate.Yeah. How did you do it?

Rob Sorrell: 5:29

Yeah. So I got a credit my wife with the ability to even think about doing it, to be honest with you. So when I made the transition front in2014, basically, in 2014, from corporate America to real estate, we had four kids, all in school, and my wife worked full time. And the only way I was really able to do it was she had the insurance. Because without that with four kids, there's no way it wouldn't work. And so I worked two jobs. In that transition for roughly a year or so, including the time there's,you know, studying for the exam,and all that kind of stuff. And the the challenge there, to be honest with you, I didn't think about how difficult that transition might be, which is probably good, or I may not have done it. But in retrospect, I think what an idiot, what kind of idiot goes from corporate America, good salary, and all that kind of stuff, to something that is 100% commission when you've got a family and four kids and a couple of pets, who does that. And the well, this moron did it. And, but without her ability to work without her ability to manage the family and stuff, it was, I wouldn't be able to do it. So credit her a lot for that. But, you know,the, the transition from corporate America to this was the job that I had was a consulting job. And so I was able to work the hours on it that I needed to work, but I could still, they were malleable enough that if I needed to do something with real estate, I could go into those later, as long as the job got done on that side of the consulting side,then I was able to do this. And so that was really helpful. I only did that overlapped for probably six to seven months.And as I ramped up real estate,I kind of, you know, weaned back a little bit on the corporate America consulting side. And then after about six, seven months, I just quit cold turkey on the other side and burned a bridge and thought better make it work.

Ian Arnold: 7:36

So you mentioned your kids and stuff. So have any of them had the itch possibly to go into real estate or

Rob Sorrell: 7:43

so I have one that has, has expressed interest in real estate, probably more from the investing side. So kind of like you, Rick, you'd mentioned that you'd kind of done some dabbling on the investment side,he's got some interest in that side, as far as being a real estate agent. And doing you know, the day to day real estate stuff, I'm not sure he wants to go that route. But there's so many things you can do in real estate, right? It's just multifaceted. And so he's got kind of that edge. The other ones I've got two that are sent kind of psychology side of things, they love to help people want one in school, now that's gonna get a, I have always forget the title. But anyway,he's gonna go get higher education for that. And another one that's going to be doing that in the next year or so. And then I've got a daughter that's more interested in physical fitness side. And so she's in school for training on that side of things. So a personal trainer, and all those kinds of things. So as you can tell, I haven't gotten my routine down yet for her. But that's, that's gonna be her next chart just to get me in shape. But

Ian Arnold: 8:51

alright, so the good news is your kids are on the right step. Because being a real estate agent, you have to be able to work with the people. So getting their psychology license early. And before you go into real estate. That's, that's brilliant. So that's where there'll be going

Rob Sorrell: 9:06

that very well.Could be yes, because that is very helpful in real estate.

Rick Ripma: 9:10

Amazing how many,how many people were real estate, great agents, we talked to that their parents or their grandparents were real estate agents, and they wanted nothing to do with real estate. And then here they are. Oh, no kidding.Let's date and love it. Yeah,they usually goes to do something else. Yeah. And then come back. I'm sure there's many that never do that. But it is amazing how many people actually do do that.

Rob Sorrell: 9:32

Yeah. Interesting.That's probably easier.

Rick Ripma: 9:35

Although we've talked to people I think the youngest we talked to, she got into real estate when she was18. She was a real estate agent at 18 years old, which I can't imagine, but I think that may be part of it. As you go you get I think it helps to have a little bit of age. Not that you actually need it, but you're mentally you think you're you know, how are you when you're young you think I'm just they're gonna think I'm too young to help them buy a house. This is the biggest investment right for me. Yeah, reality is If you if you show you are knowledgeable and you know what you're doing the age doesn't doesn't matter to most, it doesn't matter to me. Yeah, doesn't matter to

Rob Sorrell: 10:08

most people. Yeah,yeah, there's a lot of truth to that. And I think too, if you surround yourself with it,whether you're on a team or whether you're not if you surround yourself with people that can be go twos and situations, when you're you're unfamiliar territory, right,which, when you're starting out all of its unfamiliar territory,you've had your education, you understand some of the names,name of the game and nuances,but until you get in the field,it's going to be tough for you to get that if you've got a pool of people that you can go to to help. It's a, you can make it work. Yeah. And then as you as you learn, as you grow, as you see new things, because every day is new in real estate, you experience different, you know,pitfalls, or roadblocks or whatever, and you figure out how to navigate through those things. You get better at it.But you know, the, the fake it till you make it is really, a lot of people will tell you that in real estate, that's a tough one. Because if you're faking it, then it's, you're, in my opinion, potentially not serving your client the best you can. So if you surround yourself with a team, or you learn stuff for people that you can actually learn from and help you through those transactions, and you're still serving a client you're learning along the way.

Rick Ripma: 11:18

Yeah, you know, I think I, I tell people who asked me about getting into real estate, young young people, or even in mortgages, or pretty much anything they're going to do. The number one thing I think you need to do if you're young,well, actually doesn't matter if you're young, but I think it helps them more than the others,is you better become an expert.So you better study, you better do what you did you listen to the people around you, you because you can overcome a lot with knowledge. If you can communicate that knowledge, you can overcome that. And that's,that sounds a lot like what you did, but you also did it very quickly. I mean, you said seven months, you've you've you totally transferred. How did you get going? I mean, what what did you do to actually get your business up and going that quickly?

Rob Sorrell: 12:06

So when I first started out, I was with Is it okay to say the name of the firm? Yeah, yeah, I was with Century 21 sheets, love the people there. And so as I said,in, in those days as pre COVID.In those days, everybody was in the office, or a lot of people were in the office. And so we had a large bullpen, and there's, there's some called floor time that no seasoned agent really wants, but you have to have coverage for it. And then for time for those guys that don't know about it is basically you have somebody that usually is in the office that can take a call or a walk in or whatever and help them so that you know, the client service.Well, nobody really wanted to man, the phones, agents didn't want to be in there. And so when our floor time scheduled come out, I would just send an email to hate anybody wants to give up before time, I'm on it. And so I would just absorb those four times because I was in the office absorbing whatever knowledge I could anyway. So since I was there, I figured I'd just take it. And so I got a lot of leads from that resource,either walkins or phone calls.And then the other piece of that is the leasing world or leasing aspect of real estate. clients need a home, right, so whether they're buying or whether they're leasing, they need a place to stay well there's there's really no money in helping a client find a lease,you may make 100 bucks from me,you know, 200 bucks, there's,there's nothing to it. And so when you're driving around and showing them different houses,it's really it's, it's kind of a lost leader, so to speak, but you're developing a relationship with a client that someday probably is going to buy, you're developing the at that time for me, I was developing the ability to talk, walk the walk and talk the talk and learn what people are looking for, you know, and so that to me was learning experience. And so Since nobody else wanted to deal with those tenants or the lease clients, I would absorb those as well. And so as I started out doing those,even though there wasn't a lot of money with with those, I started getting those clients that way. And that helped not only train me and teach me the business, but it put up you know, 234 $100 on a lease client, and then some some of the sales would transpire out of that floor time and would help provide that. That pool of clients that would eventually turn into you know, closing. So that's that was pretty helpful for me. In a way I was able to make it that first six or seven months.

Ian Arnold: 14:36

So so you don't have to spend all your time on the floor right now. So yeah, how would somebody get in contact you they were looking to buy or sell?

Rob Sorrell: 14:44

Yeah, so probably the easiest way to get a hold of me is cell phone, text, call whatever numbers31750979433175097943 And they can always count Acme my email to Rob sorrell@kw.com. So it's first name last name@kw.com.

Ian Arnold: 15:07

And you spell your last name s o RR e ll you got it? Yes, I did it. I can read my own notes.

Rick Ripma: 15:16

Really good. Yeah,the pop up the lower third.

Rob Sorrell: 15:23

I probably should have spelled it for you did very well.

Rick Ripma: 15:27

And to get a hold of Vienna yen or I go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. All our contact information is there. Or you can give us a call it 31767 to 1938. That's 31767to 1938. And thanks for listening in these real estate gurus, the gurus we interview share valuable insights. They reveal their strengths,personalities and how they'll work for you. Well, we hardworking mortgage guys,secure your best mortgage real estate gurus work hard to they avoid problems the amateurs don't see. They listen and 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: 16:11

All right, so let's take a sidestep and get off real estate for a while it's getting to know you more. So let's say I take away your phone and throw it as far as I can. And after you yell at me and everything,let's say you.

Rob Sorrell: 16:26

Yeah, I was pounding on the door harder to

Ian Arnold: 16:29

get established. I don't even remember that. But what do we catch you doing for fun?

Rob Sorrell: 16:38

For fun, so I enjoy spending time with family. So we've got some family here local, and we don't get together as much as we used to when we had when our kids were younger.Because the kids have started to you know, forage out on their own and move out of state but love getting together with family. We're kind of a big game family. So we like playing a variety of different board games or other types of games like that. And then just a couple of years ago, my I've got a sister and a brother in law. I live in Carmel. And my wife and I live in Fishers and we decided to go halfsies on tritoon a pontoon boat. And so we dropped that in at Geist. And so when I'm not on my phone, even though I am on my phone out there on a boat, but that's okay. When I'm not on my phone, you can find me out there, either with friends or family or sometimes clients out on a boat. And it just enjoy getting out there on the water.Even if I'm just sitting there with Bob and like a like a bomber. It's it's a lot of fun to be out there.

Ian Arnold: 17:45

So what you're saying is if a client wants to talk to you about real estate and purchasing a home, they can say, hey, look, let's

Rob Sorrell: 17:53

jump on a pontoon.

Ian Arnold: 17:55

And that way they can't get away from you.

Rob Sorrell: 17:58

Unless they can swim. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 18:01

So anybody ready to buy on the water on

Rob Sorrell: 18:04

the wow, yeah, it'd be more than happy time. Happy to do that. And happy to do that. Yep.

Rick Ripma: 18:08

Good way to look at houses, wouldn't it? It would be a whole different perspective of the house from that direction.

Rob Sorrell: 18:13

Yeah. Now you may get shot out if you're pulling into the wrong slip.

Rick Ripma: 18:18

But aren't there usually real estate signs on the water?

Rob Sorrell: 18:21

There usually is sometimes you got to pull slips,though. 234 Whatever I gather,and he pull into the wrong one.And people tend to get unhappy about that. But yeah, that would not be good. Yeah, but so that in a fairly involved in my church as well. So we do a lot of stuff with the church. And so definitely keep busy.

Ian Arnold: 18:41

So what's your favorite board game?

Rob Sorrell: 18:46

I'm trying to think of the name of it. So I'm, I kind of like the old stuff. But there's a lot of good new stuff as well. So I love risk. Risk was one of my favorite games.And there but there are a variety of new games out here that are strategy. So pandemic is one of them that I enjoy. And I can't think of the name of one it's I wouldn't even begin to describe it to you. But anyway,it's, it's the strategy type of games are the ones that I really enjoy. And that can be strategy like pandemic, he got, you know,four people that are working together to try to solve the,the pandemic and then you know,even if you're playing some other game, that's strategy against your opponents, those types of things that make you think I like this.

Ian Arnold: 19:33

The reason I bring that up is because my family and with my younger kids, six and eight, so we like to do board games. We'll switch it off every Friday movie night or game night. Yeah. And then. So we do live games, but I can't wait to my kids get older and I'm like,Hey, let's play risk. Let's do these other ones. Because right now, I'm trying to read a clue card or something like that.It's tough, but as I get older,I'll be like, Alright, let's go.

Rob Sorrell: 19:58

Yeah, nowadays.It's like Sorry, yeah. All right, it's not that bad.

Rick Ripma: 20:06

I always liked playing Candyland with my kids.Yeah, we don't do it anymore.There. My youngest is 30. So we quit.

Rob Sorrell: 20:12

She didn't play Candyland anymore. No,

Rick Ripma: 20:13

he doesn't know he's bored. I kind of still like it.Actually. Actually, I will say they were fun to play when they were little, but they are kind of a boring game when you're older.

Rob Sorrell: 20:21

Yeah. When you're older. Yeah. And you know,Chutes and Ladders was another one. I don't know if you still play that with your kids. Yeah,

Ian Arnold: 20:28

we did it for a while, that my kids have progressed a little further.They do a thing. They love the game Mario life. It's similar to life. But you collect stars to fight bowser. So kids love that.

Rick Ripma: 20:42

So I'm guessing if you if you'd like strategy games, that leads right into one of the things you probably love about real estate, is that there's a lot of strategy and offers and

Rob Sorrell: 20:54

yeah, yeah, so for sure, there's a lot of strategy.So navigating the whitewater rapids of real estate is something that real estates and obviously lenders do as well.That's one of the things that I think is the most exciting, and it can be the most fulfilling part of the real estate transaction, it can also be the most frustrating part of the real estate transaction, right.But that's where I think I find a lot of the fulfillment from real estate is being able to navigate those types of challenges. And so yes, there's a lot of strategy to that and trying to think through, what's the best way to approach a particular issue, whether it's a negotiation on price, or putting together a package, or if you're looking at inspections, those types of things, navigating those types of conversations with the client, as well as strategizing what is going to be best for both sides. Because I mean, for me, I like a win win transaction. I like it when both sides come away from the table and say, hey, you know, this is really nice working with you guys. That's fun for me. The adversarial likes to show short,I just don't like, you know,those types of transactions. We still have them. You guys still have them, I'm sure. But the ones where everybody's smiling at the closing table. Those are the best. Yeah. And so navigating your way to get there and helping people get to that.That point is, is very fulfilling in this in this world. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 22:27

I agree. It's a lot more fun. That way. We're happy and everybody's happy. And it's no fun when people don't trust you. Or they they're, you know,there's there's fighting and fighting and things like that.Yeah. But usually, you know,it's interesting, because I can tell your personalities, one that's very call me, which has to help immensely in that type of situation, because it calms everybody, because things come up and inspection response or something comes up and with a lender, you know, whatever.Having somebody who's calm, who can kind of, because the idea everybody wants to close, so how do we get there is really,

Rob Sorrell: 23:06

yeah, you've hit on something that I think is probably one of the most critical factors for a real estate agent. And that is the ability to, to be calm in those types of situations. So he may be pedaling faster and is not underneath the water. But if you're able to appear calm on the on the surface, your clients, this is one of the biggest transactions they're gonna go through. And they do this once every how many years,right, we may be working, you guys included, we may be working on, you know, five 810transactions that day, right?You know, because they last for a while. And so all the challenges that come with that.The our clients are ones that.Typically, as we talked about the psychology of everything before, they typically are on a rollercoaster ride, and their emotions can be high and low.And in a split second they turn.And so if you can be that calming presence for them, it helps them not only weather,that storm, but it also gives them confidence that you know what you're doing, you know how you can navigate through that and you're going to, you're going to gather the information,we're going to figure out the best way to work through this particular issue, whatever it is inspection response or whatever.There's generally nothing that you haven't seen before and we've made it through in the past. We're going to make it through this time. Let's walk through this and see what the best solution is. And so that calming presence, I think is is helpful for your clients more so even for your den for yourself because like I said you may be you may be sweating like crazy yourself, but if you if you can be that calming presence for them, it's gonna be helpful.

Ian Arnold: 24:51

Yeah, as soon as you start freaking out, they're gonna freak out even harder. So yeah, we keep by keeping calm it's one it allows you to Think about the options. Yeah. Because if you start was beyond mentally, if you start freaking out to you can't think straight.Yeah, but yeah, it's a whole thing because everything you do is gonna magnify to them. Yeah,if you show calm, they're gonna be calm.

Rob Sorrell: 25:13

Yeah, yeah. And if you if you if you're emotional,then you just fanned the flame of their emotion and it gets even tougher.

Rick Ripma: 25:19

Well, I think that's one of your superpowers, but you probably have more than that one superpower. So what are you what would you say your other superpowers are

Rob Sorrell: 25:29

probably probably work ethic, I will do whatever it takes to get the job done. So let's get up early, stay up late, whatever that is, I tried to make sure that at the end of the day, there, there's the balls are all in the air. And none of them are on a downward trajectory. So the as you know,you're working through multiple transactions at a time, there are so many different facets of of any one transaction and you multiply those together, you add those together. It can be fairly daunting. And so I'm kind of a list guy. And that helps me make sure that no, none of those balls are dropping. But yeah,that work ethic side of things,I think, is probably one of the My greatest strengths.

Rick Ripma: 26:17

Well, you know, we believe heavily in work ethic we're we go by the hard working mortgage guy.

Rob Sorrell: 26:22

Oh, yeah. And I didn't even write that into the script. I just

Ian Arnold: 26:28

I will say notes. I didn't think about it at first.And then somebody mentioned to me years back is when you write stuff down. Alright. And here's the list of everything I got to do. Yeah, you don't realize how beneficial because there'll be times like, if I won't, before I start doing, I wake up like, oh,shoot, I forgot to I forgot to call that person or ever. I need to hurry up and just send them an email or something. But it's by having the list event, you can't miss anything. And if something happens, you just write it on there. And you'll get Yeah,

Rob Sorrell: 26:55

yeah, you're exactly right. It's exactly what I do. And of course, I've got probably three or four little pieces of paper and lists. And then at the end of the day, I'm like, Okay, I better combine these, so I don't lose one. But yeah, it saves your time. It does. Yeah, I'm so tired.

Rick Ripma: 27:06

Because when you you get to a point like, Okay, I got I can I have 10 minutes to do something. What was I supposed to do? Yeah. If you don't have a list if you don't have it written down?

Rob Sorrell: 27:15

Yeah. And it helps me prioritize to you know, like you said, if you got 10 minutes,you know, seven 810 12 things on your list. You can pick out the one you can't go knock that one out. Yes. So yeah,

Ian Arnold: 27:26

yeah. So if somebody is wanting to be on that list for you to call, how would they get in touch with you?

Rob Sorrell: 27:32

So again, phone number is probably the best way to get get in touch with me.31750979433175097943 in always can reach out to me by email as well. Rob sorrell@kw.com R OB s o r r e ll@kw.com.

Rick Ripma: 27:54

Did you think for men, he was gonna misspell it?

Ian Arnold: 27:55

Nope. That is something I do for fun is we don't have we don't see it a lot now because everything's like Tronic. But especially like when I was in the car industry, and people have been filling out their name. They'll write their name. I'll look at him like you spelled your name wrong.Everybody looks down and starts looking at their name. And I'm like how long you misspell your name? You think you spelled your own name wrong?

Rick Ripma: 28:17

Well, I believe it if I wouldn't surprise me if I misspelled my name. But if you got a hold of inner eye, Ian is IA N. Right

Ian Arnold: 28:25

now you got to spell that sometimes for people I know. And

Rick Ripma: 28:29

go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call us at 317-672-1938that's 31767 to 1938.

Ian Arnold: 28:39

All right, and now we get another question of the week and the question of the week is sponsored by Hey Rick and I the hard working mortgage guys where we believe in helping and supporting you and your realtor by sending constant updates through the loan process. We don't like living in a black hole so we don't allow you to live in a black hole. All right, so here's a tough question for you. And I'm kind of curious on this one. What was your first car

Rob Sorrell: 28:59

oh my goodness that has been so long ago and it was I can I can't tell you the make and model of the thing but I can tell you that it got about two miles to the gallon it was a white I can't remember if it was a caprice Oh big one Yeah, it was a it was a white car that just I remember when I got the thing spent a couple 1000 bucks on it my my poor dad who didn't have any money went in and got the thing for me and I remember filled it up and I came home a day or two later whatever and I told my dad I said something must be wrong with his car because the gas mine is on this thing is terrible. That's it

Rick Ripma: 29:43

what was gas at that time?

Rob Sorrell: 29:45

Yeah. Oh yeah. For well for poor college kid though. So yeah, gas was probably a buck something at that time. But yeah, it might have been it might as well been10 bucks from me. Oh, yeah. I mean, you're, I guess it wasn't college. It was it was high school because it was working at that point in time, but yeah,when you're when you're not making a whole lot of money,every dollar counts, but yeah, I just remembered that couldn't believe it.

Rick Ripma: 30:10

Just real. So you probably didn't drive it a whole lot.

Rob Sorrell: 30:13

I tried not to drive it as much as possible. So yeah, I would I would walk sometimes to where I needed to go. But yeah, it's just it was painful filling up that tank. So what happened to that car,remember, now, so I swapped it for something that was a lot smaller. It was like a, it wasn't a bug. But it was one of these a little bitty car, and I think got better gas mileage.And I mean, there's a little bit of cars, but you can only do things. I couldn't take anybody with the you know, just pack them all into this little bitty bug or whatever. And I remember we were that thing on its last leg and we were driving down the road one day and the timing belt went out. And there's a big ol semi that was right behind us in his in his car just kept slowing down. And the semi is getting closer and closer. I said, guys,something's wrong with the car.And that was all she wrote that thing was done.

Ian Arnold: 31:07

I like how you said you're buying gas was roughly about $1. Because I started driving 501 It was like three $4and then here in a couple of years, then gas prices shot up to $5. And I'm like, oh my goodness, I want to see $1

Rick Ripma: 31:23

I remember when it was under $1. I remember when it went over and then came back down. And we were like, Oh,great. It's back down to $1. But I will say one thing I can tell he is not a car guy.

Rob Sorrell: 31:33

No, no, I I'm not a cars, to me are a tool. I look I have I've got a I've got a nice Camry right now I like to look at the car and everything. But there are some books. Yeah, they They're really sweet. Really sweet. It's 2019. And it's a sweet looking car. But cars for me are just a means of transport. Yeah. You won't find me outside of my car every, you know, two every two days or whatever. And I do try to get it clean. Because it's white. And so it gets dirty pretty quick.But But yeah, it's for me. It's just a it's a tool to trade.

Ian Arnold: 32:05

There's nothing wrong with Camry I drive one mile. I love it. Yep. Mine has150 something 1000 miles on it.barely put any money into it.Knock on everything what I can find right now. But I love it.Yeah, yeah. So I want to hear a story. So when I asked you all right, what do you think your most memorable deal was?

Rob Sorrell: 32:28

My if I had to pick one, I would, I would pick my first transaction. So my very first transaction, I was about six months in. And the it was a it was about a half million dollar house. So it was a pretty good sized deal. For first transaction, it was a really good friend of mine. And we were on the buy side and house up in Saxony area. And we were at the we were at the final walkthrough. And to that point to transaction that gone relatively smoothly, I mean, you always have stuff on inspections. And so we navigate it all that. But it's 915 we're closing at 10 We'd got permission from the sellers to bring two carloads of stuff over put it in the garage, and the movers were coming right after closing. And so we had gotten permission to to roll out the carpet covers and stuff. So the movers couldn't come in, drop everything off. So we were there doing that we unloaded both of those cars. And about 920 or so I got a call from a title company and said, Hey, we got a problem. And first transaction,and a good friend of mine, and the title company says the we just found out that the wife of the seller had filed bankruptcy in another county. And as you guys probably know, they typically will search the county that they live in rather than every day. So anyway, they found that she had filed bankruptcy in another county. And we're going to have to hold off on stuff until we get this figured out.And so I got off the phone and had to tell my clients and the word livid is not quite apropos,whatever live it is on steroids is kind of for that. But so anyway, that that was probably one of my most memorable transactions, but believe it or not, we closed the next day. So we were again able to navigate that and got the clients you know off the ledge and we worked through that situation and close the close the next day and were able to get them the house. So

Rick Ripma: 34:39

yeah, it wasn't your fault in any way shape or form.That's not Yeah, you know, it's there's not you know, there's all you can do is help them get through it.

Rob Sorrell: 34:47

Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

Ian Arnold: 34:49

but he stayed even keel like a duck on a pod. So

Rob Sorrell: 34:55

at first trans I'm sure they saw me sweat on it. I probably saw my eyes about this big when I was talking to title.

Ian Arnold: 35:05

What do you mean?

Rick Ripma: 35:08

They were they were livid, but not at you. They were just,

Rob Sorrell: 35:12

it was Yeah, livid with the situation. And, you know, like I said it, it's, we were able to work through and I think in this business nine times out of 10, the the things that come up that derail a transaction or that cause an issue, it comes down to communication, you know, there's always going to be things always hurdles or roadblocks or whatever you want to call them that, that you're gonna have to work through. But if you can communicate, hopefully earlier than that, you know, 40 minutes before closing, but if you can communicate along the way, I think it helps you navigate those things. And you know,sometimes people get angry with you. And sometimes they shoot the messenger. And sometimes,you know, these rollers, we can drop the ball. I mean, it just happens. We're human.

Rick Ripma: 35:53

Everybody can make mistakes. Yeah, right. Or just something. Yeah.

Rob Sorrell: 35:56

But if you communicate, and you're honest,and you know, if you if you take responsibility for things, it's that where you do drop the ball.I think it's gotten better for everybody.

Ian Arnold: 36:08

Right? And but the one thing I've always noticed is yes, a lot of people shoot the messenger, because you just have to be the guy there, and they are furious. But what happens what most people don't tell you is either an hour, 30 minutes,even the next day, they're like,hey, look, I'm sorry for that.And they usually apologize. And you're like you just have and if you've been in the situation,you've been in sales long enough, you understand? Yeah,you're gonna catch stray fire every once in a while. Yeah, you understand that? You just let him know. Hey, look, it's alright. I understand.

Rob Sorrell: 36:39

Yeah, absolutely.Yeah. I mean, like, like we've talked about before. It's an emotional roller coaster for these folks. And you just you just got to understand that going in, you know, and you can't take it personal and as tough as that. Maybe.

Rick Ripma: 36:52

Yeah, well, I can understand why they were upset.The other truck out front. They have their stuff in the garage.Yeah. I don't know why they were upset now.

Rob Sorrell: 37:03

We had to pack everything back up to Oh, you did? Yeah, we packed everything back up. Because at that time,we didn't know we were closing title. That was all that was said on title was like, we're not closing, we got to figure this out. And so we had to take everything and put it back into vehicles. And that's Yeah, yeah,it was an interesting one.

Rick Ripma: 37:21

So what is something you're incredibly proud of in your business?

Rob Sorrell: 37:31

I would say probably the so I'm, I'm not tooting my own horn here. But I produce about 10 million a year,roughly, for last few years in that ballpark. And I'm a solo agent, I don't have transaction coordinator. And so I and part of that is probably not smart.So for you agents out there that are trying to figure out how the best way to do this, it probably is not necessarily solo, but I'm kind of a control freak, I like making sure that I'm on top of all the aspects of a transaction, it's tough for me to turn that over to someone else. And so I've always just kind of kept all that myself.And the reason I think that's,for me, something that I'm proud of is just because it takes a lot to be able to do that kind of volume on your own when you don't turn that over to coordinator or you know, someone else to help you with that stuff. And so, is that the smartest thing to do? Probably not. And could I do more volume if I was able to get in transaction coordinators or, you know, buyer agent or whatever?Yeah, I probably could. But for whatever reason, that's just not the route that I decided to go.I just I like being able to know all aspects of a transaction.And so it's just been easier and works better for me that way.Yeah. Everybody out there while you're Yeah, yep. Yep.

Ian Arnold: 38:48

So I noticed on your mug, it says escape room. Oh,yeah. So did you actually do one?

Rob Sorrell: 38:54

So? Yes. And actually, so some very, very good friends of mine actually own the escape rooms here in Indianapolis. They've got three in Indianapolis and one over in Ohio. And so when they first were putting the escape room together up in Fishers, I went and helped them before opening,it wouldn't help them kind of just do some miscellaneous things to get things open. And you know, whether we're ceiling tile or build table or whatever it was. And so from that experience, anyway, they gave me my own little mug here that I carry my coffee around in. And so the US initially have I done a room. Yes, I've done several rooms. Pow was my favorite room that I've done so far. And that was the first room that I did.And at that time, and I think even now it had only about a 3%success rate.

Unknown: 39:47

Did you succeed? No.

Rob Sorrell: 39:49

We did not we had we probably had seven or eight people in that room. Well listen, we had some really intelligent people in there but the so the escape room, you USA there. I don't know how to describe it. If you've ever done an escape room and it's not them, you'll notice an immediate difference. The, the lengths and the nuances of their escape rooms are, they're just top notch. And so the clues are tough to find sometimes. I mean,they have different, you know,levels of room and, or difficulties of room. But pow,like I said, was, was a tough one. And it's very intricate.And you just, you need some smart people to be able to do some of those rooms. And unfortunately, we did not make it out. I think we were probably about three or four minutes from from making it but you get 16minutes, and then you're done.

Ian Arnold: 40:41

Yeah, I've, I've always wanted to do one. And I saw that in your mug. The one thing that always makes me think of it is there's a big bang theory episode where they go in there. And they're they complete it in like six minutes. Yeah.And they're like, this is all it was.

Rob Sorrell: 40:58

That would not be the case with these escape.These are very, very well done.Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I would highly encourage you. And like I said, they've got three locations around this area,Westfield, fishers and downtown.So just tons of fun.

Ian Arnold: 41:12

So that's a great place. You can take your clients when you want to get them to meet them.

Rob Sorrell: 41:16

Yeah, good. See ya.Oh, and actually I as a kind of a gift or closing gift or whatever. I've done that before as giving them kind of a gift back mascot or whatever, for escape room. But yeah, a lot of fun. A lot of fun. Hi, Lynn, I would definitely recommend it.

Ian Arnold: 41:31

That's awesome. So back on the real estate side. So what does homeownership mean?For like a first time home owner, whether it's financially or even mentally?

Rob Sorrell: 41:44

Loaded question. So you could probably go a ton of different ways with that. So I think with with first time homebuyers, the the experience is such an unknown, that if you don't have an agent, and and a lender, really be honest with you, that can guide them through that or certainly put this way if you don't have an agent, and or lender that educate them through the process, it can be very difficult for them. If you got a seasoned home buyer seller or whatever out there. It's not as critical things change over the years, right from stains and that type of stuff. But overall,they've been through the process, but first time homebuyer they're clueless. And it's not a it's not a knock on first time homebuyers. They've just never been through it right. And so that to me,educating them along the way,making sure that they understand that process, and what you're going to experience over the next, you know, really 6090 days or whatever that might be because it's a journey, right.And it's great when you get the house under contract. But you've got quite a journey before that.And so from a first time homebuyer perspective, I think,getting them to a point where they're familiar with the process, and they're comfortable with the process. And they understand that process is probably our biggest job as real estate agents as lenders, so that they're comfortable making the decisions that they that they need to make. And if they're not comfortable, I don't think I've done my job well. So I don't know if that answers your question. But for an first time homebuyer I think that's one of the most critical things that we as lenders and real estate agents can do.

Ian Arnold: 43:27

No, I fully agree.Because I've worked with some i We do a lot of first time buyers here, can we with Indian Housing, and there's times where they've already had their own agent or whatnot. And you can tell when they're dealing with a new agent, because they'll ask me all these questions. And I'm like, Well, this, you should ask your realtor that they'll go through that with them. But But then, you know, when they're doing for good agent that, oh,they already know all these answers. They come to me they're like, No, we should. Yeah, let's do this. Let's get this together. So it's a big difference.

Rob Sorrell: 44:01

Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's important for for agents and lenders to I mean,there are certain things that I,I can answer on the lending side, but I try to stay in my own lane. And so if we can, if,if I'm directing a client,whether they're first time homebuyer or not to the lender for certain questions, and vice versa, with a well oiled machine, rather than them hearing something from me, and then they go to the lender and get a different answer than it there's a disconnect there and so I know enough to stay in my lane and enough not to get get the client misinformation. So yeah,

Ian Arnold: 44:38

I had the colleague call me they go, Alright, I got the inspection back. I just emailed it to you. And I'm like,I don't really need this. You need to talk about this stuff. I got this. You gotta

Rob Sorrell: 44:51

leave that email please. I do not want it Actually yes we if you don't get anything out of this podcast other than that do not send

Ian Arnold: 45:07

you could only hurt your deal.

Rick Ripma: 45:10

Oh my yeah I finally that's the thing that's, you know something they need to do Yeah. But on that same so now now you've you've walked them through and they end up buying a house first time homebuyer so what benefits? Do they gain by owning a home? Oh,

Rob Sorrell: 45:27

so I mean, the first first benefit is, is just the ability to own your own home, to me is one of the greatest things that you can Did you have a freedom in this country, you've got the ability to do that. It obviously comes without, with some pitfalls. I mean, now it's your, it's your sewer system, it's your refrigerator, you know, so, but you're, I mean, all of the things that you guys will know and that most public knows and you're paying your own mortgage,you're earning your own equity at this point, rather than paying down somebody else's mortgage. And so you're, you're developing an asset that is you're not going to be able to leverage later, you know, for a home equity line of credit or whatever, but that now you have that you can leverage as a purchaser or flip into a new sale or new purchase. If you want to get an investment obviously now you've got a tool that you can you can use from an investment perspective as cash cashflow generator, but I think those are all great, but But to me, the home ownership side of that thing is what I think lights up people's eyeballs, you know, and they're particularly first time homebuyers. Like I own my own. It's got like your first car. I mean, you asked me to my first car and you know,I'm not a real big car guy. Can you remember the name of my first car? But when you get that first car, it's kind of like,I'm autonomous. You know, I have the ability I don't have to call mom and dad you know and say can you drop me off at the mall or you know, get on my bike or you know, somebody come pick me up,you've got that ability now, to say that's mine. And I think that's the same same with a house you move in and you're like, this is pretty cool. I own this, or I will and you know5000 more payments.

Ian Arnold: 47:08

Okay, 300 660. But what is it? It's what is this two sticks home if you by the time you retire and stuff,homeownership is roughly about500,000 equity you have and stuff. The

Rick Ripma: 47:25

homeowner has$500,000 More More

Ian Arnold: 47:30

net worth than a renter. So yeah, all of us will speak we're sorry if we made you an extra 500,000. We are sorry for more. But Rob, if somebody is wanting to get in contact with you, what is the best way

Rob Sorrell: 47:48

cell phones best way to get a hold of me and that can be either via call or text31750979433175097943 email works as well. I just may not get to it until the day's activities are closed. But that's Rob Sorrell at KW that's r OB s o r r e ll@kw.com.

Rick Ripma: 48:14

And to get a hold of ena I go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com Or you can call 317-672-1938 That's317-672-1938 and please follow us for more indies real estate gurus

Ian Arnold: 48:28

and reminder if you have any friends family coworkers looking to buy sell refinance, let us know we'll be more than happy to help you. Rob thank you for joining us. It's been a pleasure having you on our show today. It's

Rob Sorrell: 48:38

been a lot of fun guys. Thank you so much for and Jordan for joining he joining this show. Now I've taken over I found that door down so no thank you very much for letting me come on the show. It's been a lot of fun really enjoyed getting to meet with you guys.

Announcer: 48:50

Brent, I'm gonna listen number three springs,number four one NMLS number6645898. You know Arnold NMLS number is 1995469 equal housing opportunity some restrictions apply