Guru Tyler Hankins with KellerWilliams

Rick Ripma: 0:01

Welcome to Indy's Real Estate Gurus. And we're recording today from our advisors Mortgage Group studio. I'm Rick Ripma, your hard work and mortgage guy had been in the business for over 34 years, I've helped over 5200 folks finance their homes, my team and I believe in custom tailored loans, not the one size fits all approach. We believe there is the right mortgage for you. And we believe we are the team to deliver it. And as we get started today, I want to remind you that for the most up to date information on mortgages, or the India's real estate market, go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com. And I'm really excited today, to have Tyler Hankins and you're with your Realtor with Keller Williams Realty. Yes, sir.

Tyler Hankins: 0:49

Thanks, very excited to be

Rick Ripma: 0:51

I appreciate you joining me very much. And I always like to find out how somebody got into real estate. So what how did you end up in real estate?

Tyler Hankins: 1:01

Ah, wow. So that yeah, it was a little bit by chance. So I graduated in 2015. From the IU School of Journalism, I had my specialty in public relations, was working at Lowe's Home Improvement at the time down in Columbus and was kind of just wondering what the next step was, right. And like a lot of people I was enamored with a lot of the HGTV shows I had a little bit of a background in design, my dad used to build custom cabinets, things of that nature. So I had it in my head that I would get my own, I will get my real estate license and do investments and things of that nature. That was definitely what kind of drove the desire to get licensed. And then I got licensed, I started working with buyers and sellers. And it took about a year before it was full time. And now I can't imagine doing anything else.

Rick Ripma: 1:49

So what did you do to get going? That's always interesting to me, because it takes like you said, took about a year. Yeah. And some people takes longer some people takes less, but everybody who gets going, it takes about it seems like a year is kind of a normal timeframe, or longer, right? What did you do? What did you put your efforts forward? And well, I

Tyler Hankins: 2:09

think it takes a year to figure out whether or not you're gonna really be able to deal with the ebbs and flows, a little bit of this kind of business commission base not getting a check, you know, guaranteed every week, you know, every month, whatever the case may be, there's a lot a lot of anxiety in that, you know, in that first round of things. You know, I was, like I said, I was working full time at Lowe's, I was, you know, dip in 30 minutes north of Greenwood from Columbus on my lunch breaks to show houses, you know. So for me, I, you know, I think everybody there's a fair amount of luck. You know, in the early in the early stages, I had a couple of friends that just happened to be at that age that were they were looking to buy their first house. So I got a couple of friend deals right out the gate to kind of get, you know, get my feet wet. And then as time went on, it became pretty clear that I that I had at least a decent skill at reading the market, negotiating just being able to do the relationship stuff, which is, you know, I'm pretty much exclusively referral and repeat and all that kind of stuff and really have been for the bulk of my career, which I'm very blessed to be able to say that. And so that was yeah, those first early stages. I, I remember, I sold, I sold a house to a friend and her I hadn't met her parents though. And her parents came to every deal they came to every every showing every everything you know, and we looked for a minute, you know, the market was still pretty, pretty bumping, you know, this was probably 2018 or something like that. So, obviously, it wasn't 2020 21 standards, but you were still competing, you were still getting beat out. I mean, I think we tried five or six different houses for them before they finally got one. But the biggest, biggest buoy for me and blessing was her mom was super impressed, you know, and so I got to jump up a price range that I would have never even probably seen that early in my career because I got to sell their primary residence and help them find a house and then they did a flip and so I you know, I think I ended up doing six or seven transactions for the parents, you know, and that was that was a huge thing for me. So when the time came and I determined I was giving more business away than I was making at Lowe's you know we took the took the punch yeah so

Rick Ripma: 4:25

yeah, I think Lowe's is a is a pretty you know, that's a pretty good starting point for somebody I mean you have to Oh yeah first you work a lot hours at

Tyler Hankins: 4:33

Lowe's right yeah, yeah a lot of hours a lot on your feet you know the concrete floors don't do the knees any favors but it also and it's it's information that's still incredibly valuable to me, especially with a lot of you know, I work with a lot with first time buyers I work you know, then it was almost exclusively first time buyers besides you know, getting lucky every once in again. But so having some of that background knowledge of what stuff costs being able to give like accurate the pay shins, I was in installed sales at Lowe's. So I knew what the jobs cost, you know, labor and material included, you know, roughly did some design work for them. I designed kitchens and baths for them for a few years. So I was able to take that knowledge and it almost directly applied. And it was yeah, a major help I, I've never been a company, man. It's not really necessarily my thing. But I have been very loyal to Lowe's, because I'm very appreciative of what that job ultimately gave me.

Rick Ripma: 5:32

Yeah, I think I think it's a it's a great starting point. But I think also with you being in the kitchen area, that has to be of huge help. Because you are designing kitchen, you really understand that. So how do you see that helping you? I gotta think that is a major help. Oh, yeah,

Tyler Hankins: 5:50

it definitely is, you know, when you're looking in some of the lower price ranges, which, you know, I'm, I'm located in Shelby County, do a good chunk of my business in Shelby County, I've had years where, you know, it's floated between some different counties or whatever. But for the most part, you know, I'm a Shelby County guy. So we look at a lot of places that need to be brought up to speed. So being able to get people like accurate legitimate estimations, you know, and even that even has expanded into actual quotes, you know, I've done over the last probably two years, I think I've designed and G seed, oh, probably at least seven or eight kitchens, a couple of those being, you know, houses that I've listed and things of that nature. So they've definitely went hand in hand. That's been a major thing for me.

Rick Ripma: 6:36

So you, you can do kitchens, obviously work at Lowe's, you learned a lot of other things, a lot of other things about houses and how you do that. Right. You also obviously have know how to work hard and long hours, right? Yeah,

Tyler Hankins: 6:48

we're no stranger to you know, yeah, we burn the midnight oil every now and again. I have, you know, over the last probably two quarters, you know, I really tried to put my real estate hat like solely on instead of wearing to, you know, the old Ron Swanson, right, you know, is that half ass and two things, you know, will hold us one thing. Pardon? Pardon my friendship, if that's not allowed on this on this podcast. But anyway, so we definitely have taken the scale back, I've done more into moved more into a consulting role on the design stuff instead of the actual like, guy on the, on the floor all the time kind of thing. But yeah, you know, again, you know, had that background growing up, you know, being on job sites with my dad, you know, he was building cabinets and woodwork and stuff of that nature. So it's no, I'm no stranger to it. And you got to work for it, you know, nothing was nothing was gonna be handed to me, you know, you know, and I hold nothing against third, fourth generation, anybody's you know, that's, you know, somebody worked hard to get you to that point. But I'm first generation, you know, this is, this is ground level stuff here. So, you know, everything that I've done and built has been from the ground up, and that does not come without a lot of hours invested into it. So, yeah, of course, we're very invested.

Rick Ripma: 8:05

Yeah, it takes a lot of work. So what is one of the, you know, something that you're really proud of, in your business?

Tyler Hankins: 8:12

You know, so I came up with the tagline, probably like my second or third year in the business, not your father's real tours. That's, that's something that we have really latched on to it's an all of our branding and all that stuff. Now for th Property Group, which is my team that I run for Keller Williams. And I think it means more than just a tag, I mean, it's a catchy tag. And, and I like it, and you know, it looks good on T shirts, and all that sort of stuff. But it does mean something. You know, my parents have only bought one house ever. And it was, you know, I was probably 15 or something like that. So it's been almost 20 years ago or so. But they were sold a house that was you know, what a lot of people would probably consider a lemon, right. And it was, you know, a real tour, who unfortunately did not have their best interests in mind, you know, kind of forced them through it and got them to the closing table with out a whole lot of regard as to whether or not this was actually the best thing for them. And I've seen that struggle, you know, they love their house was our family home, there's a lot of love in that house. There's a lot of trials, you know, that come with, maybe it not being the best fit, you know, so that meant something to me. And that's where that tagline kind of resonated as you know, I didn't want to be my father's realtor, I didn't want to be that kind of guy. So I think the thing that I've been the most proud of is we've been able to establish a culture within our team and within the business that we do that It's what's best for the buyer. It's what's best for the seller, you know, we take our fiduciary duty super serious like that, you know, I would, I would much rather be your real tour for life, right then a real tour for one deal. And you know, I I'm not the only person that feels that way and says that kind of thing. And I believe that there's a lot of real tours in our area that that embody that. But that is something that we take to heart? Very much. So yeah,

Rick Ripma: 10:03

there's a tremendous amount of great agents. Maybe not a tremendous amount. But everybody I've had on the show, I will tell you, they're phenomenal people before being a being a great agent, which they're all great agents just like yourself. Like you. They're great people. Yeah. Right. An important part. Yeah, yeah. And so it's important because as you work with somebody, you have to have that work, you have to be able to communicate and work together. Right? Yeah,

Tyler Hankins: 10:30

you got to empathize, you got to understand that, that, for one, it's not your mind span, right. And this is the biggest transaction that most people ever do. And that's as they level up, that stays true. So whether it's their first house, third house, fifth house, most of the time, they're going upwards, you know, then you get to the downsizing, and whatever. But it's not it's not any less important, something very major is happening in their life that is causing them to move. And taking that into consideration at every step, understanding the emotions of the transaction, you know, because they can, it's hard to keep it all black and white when it's your home. Right. I mean, there's, there's a lot that goes into it, that's not monetary, that's not numbered, based. So keeping things in, you know, in perspective, and, you know, sometimes, you know, the old joke, right, is your real tour, but you're also therapists, and you're also, you know, all the other jobs that we do, at least unofficially, to help our clients get to the place where they need to be. It takes an incredible, it takes a lot of practice. I mean, it's not something that I think, I think the best ones maybe have at least a little bit of that just natural, like, drive to want to help somebody, right? I mean, think you got to have at least a little bit of that, if all you're concerned about is the check, you're gonna get blinded to everything else that actually matters. Right. But yeah, I think it takes it takes a lot practice, it takes skill in, you got to be able, you got to have your ears on always, you know, you can't, you can't only hear every third word, you really need to be able to listen to everything that they're saying. And I think that's something that as you know, as I talked to new agents, and you know, start bringing some people on and, and I do some, do some teaching and stuff for kW now and stuff like that, that's, that's always like the top of my list when you're talking to new agents. When you're in that first year, so and every check is, you know, vital, it's really important not to get blinded by that if this is going to be the long term thing, you got to have a long term mindset with it, or else you're gonna get yourself in a mess. So

Rick Ripma: 12:38

yeah, I have found that the best agents, all in fact, everybody that I have on the show, they all have that mentality. And and they all have the servant. It's not about their Commission's it's about taking care of their clients, every single one of them. And

Tyler Hankins: 12:56

because the Commission's will come, right, I mean, yeah, exactly. Do it the right way. The Commission's will come, right. We're all in as the main money. I mean, there's not yet right. So we keep the lights on. But right.

Rick Ripma: 13:06

But but that's not the first concern, right. The first thing that pops into your head when there's an issue isn't, oh, there goes my commission, right? How do I help my customers? Actually, you know, my client get through that? And we figure it out. Right, yeah. In the best possible way. And that that's, I think that there's, you know, because of the way a real estate agents are looked at when you look at the rankings of professions, I think that's something I always like to talk about, because I like to get it out, because we have great agents here. We have great caring people like yourself, who care about people and care about their clients. Well over their commission, right. Everybody knows the Commission's, you know, they're getting a commission, but that's not right. It's a part of it, but it's not why they do it. Right. Right. Yeah.

Tyler Hankins: 13:51

I mean, it's, it's your it's your gig, right? I mean, realtors have bills to pay to, you know, we got families, we got kids, we got all those sorts of things. So, but there is definitely a stigma that, you know, I've worked very hard, you know, especially, and you see it a lot, you know, big cities fill it too, but and, you know, in the smaller communities, right, I mean, there's, there's a lot of that you feel the stigma of it being maybe a, you know, used car salesman or whatever, for lack of better terms. You know, I know some very nice used car salesman, so that's not meant to be disparaging towards them either. But you know, what I'm saying here, so this idea that you're going to say whatever it takes to get a sale, you think you got to be very mindful that especially depending on you know, the demographic, you know, some of the younger buyers who have been somewhat brought up to feel that way that they need to have their guard up, you know, it takes some time and some some real effort to to get past those first couple of hurdles and really establish some trust. Yes, but once you do, it's incredible. Like once you have that and they know that you are in their corner. That's it. I mean, you've won at that point, whether they buy that house or you know, you show him another 10 Whatever the case may be, I know you're there, you're not really there. And that and that means any it goes both ways, you know, because our business is unfortunately, it can't be a little cutthroat. And if you aren't taking somebody taking care of somebody the right way, you are not the only person that could sell them a house, right? I mean, it's very, very easy to lose that client as easy as you got them. So it's sometimes I feel like there are those who get sidetracked with the short term and they end up costing themselves. And both the short and long term. Yeah, right.

Rick Ripma: 15:31

So if somebody wanted to get a hold of you, they have any real estate needs. What's the best way to get ahold of you?

Tyler Hankins: 15:36

So you can find me on Facebook or Instagram? Cell phone? Yeah, my obviously my phone number is plastered all over the place. You can you can Google me. Oh, 317-364-8913 you can also find me at th property group.com. That's our website. I opened up the KW Shelby County Office. So it's one of our off branches of kW in the metro. So I opened up the KW Shelby County office in 2020 with a another kW agent named Mike Hale. We opened that up I think we signed the lease about a week before the world shut down. You know, so, so that first that first year so in the office was a little quiet, we didn't do a whole lot, but this year, we actually just moved. So we're at 10, East Broadway in Shelbyville, just right downtown. We do quarterly events, monthly seminars, you know, a bunch of community involvement stuff. And we're really excited to be a focal point in our community. You know, Shelbyville is a place that you know, born and raised there. It means a lot to me, you know, it annoys me a lot of times but you know, the things you love the most do so

Rick Ripma: 16:48

they do. And thank you so much for joining us. My name is Rick Ripma The hard work and mortgage guy and if you need to get a hold of Ian or I Ian's off today, go to HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 317-672-1938. That's 317-672-1938 And thank you for listening to India's real estate gurus. The gurus we interview share valuable insights they reveal their strengths, personalities and how the work for you while we work well we are hardworking mortgage guys secure in you the best mortgage guru real tours work hard to they avoid problems amateurs don't see and quickly address surprises. They listen they find unnoticed opportunity. Whether you're buying or selling a home a real estate guru is a valuable asset. If you're thinking of buying or selling a home, keep listening, and definitely call one of Indy's real estate gurus. And now we are back from break and we always get started after our break with our question of the week. All right hit man the question of the week is what was your first car

Tyler Hankins: 17:57

my first car still? So still, the longest relationship I've ever had actually was that first call. I wish I did. If I could find it man, as a 1993 to green Honda Accord used to call it the green beam and I bought that car when I was 15. I bought it off my cousin actually he had driven it for a while before that. I went through everything with that car. I was I'd hop in it like a racecar driver because the driver doors wouldn't open. i i Yeah, I never had AC not a single time and I drove it for about 10 years. So you know I'd had my head out the window like a dog more often than I'd like to admit try to get a little air went without heat for a minute to you know driving around with blankets. So it was a what some people will call it hoopty. But for me it was it was a beautiful car. I I literally drove it till the wheels fell off. I couldn't even get it out of the parking lot. I had to have somebody come and tow it to its new home. Really? I Yeah, it took me. I don't Yeah, I drive cars until they don't drive anymore. I'm on my third now, you know so and I wish I wish now i Yeah, I'm in a Ford Escape. Now. It's nowhere near as cool.

Rick Ripma: 19:09

Yeah, well, we have to do what we have to we got

Tyler Hankins: 19:12

to get from A to B. Yeah, we got to get from A to B rig. But yeah, if anybody know a 1993 Honda Accord, if you see one driving around that has the imprint of a four leaf clover on the back. Let me know I'd love to buy it back. That's you right. That's me. Yeah. How would they get ahold of you? If they do see there at 173648913? Yeah, I'd love it. And teal green. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Assuming that it's not rusted out by now. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 19:37

Yeah, we had a my wife and I bought an 85 Honda Accord. And it was

Tyler Hankins: 19:42

they'll drive forever for Wow, man. I can't even remember how many miles was on that thing when I end up getting rid of it. But it was it was astronomical. And it was to the moon and back. Yep. Yeah. Well, I

Rick Ripma: 19:52

love cars. If you can't tell, right. I always had to talk about cars. So what is or what is or are your superpowers? Oh,

Tyler Hankins: 20:04

well, I'm I'm pretty unflappable don't get riled up about much caffeine, I actually think has no effect on me. I know. I don't have Yeah, I got one speed usually right. And so in a lot of regards, I think that helps in this business to not get too sped up. You know, we take everything one thing at a time we do one thing we do it right, and then we move on to the next step. Problem solving is a strength. You know, when we get problems, you know, in the spectrum responses, appraisals come in short, whatever, there's a million things that can go right between pending and closed, right? But we don't look at it and say immediately, oh, wow, we're done or oh, we need to push back closing or oh, you know, we don't jump to the worst conclusions right out the gate. It's take a look at the problem analyze it. We've been able to build an incredible team around us of other vendors and contractors, and just really understanding that, if you want it bad enough, there, there usually is a solution. Right? Nothing is unsolvable. So as far as the superpower goes, I would say, you know, not very fast. I wouldn't say superspeed. But I think that kind of plays in my favorite here.

Rick Ripma: 21:16

You know, it's funny, because I think I might have bought the domain name that you need. It's called self I bought self caffeinated. Might be worse Navy

Tyler Hankins: 21:25

man. Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, sometimes I'll make a joke about being bouncing off the walls. And my wife says, I would love to see that. Because she, she's, she's the other way. You know, so we balanced each other out, she's gonna go go and I'm, let's slow, slow, slow. So,

Rick Ripma: 21:41

you know, I think that is one of the most valuable things somebody can have is for a real estate agent, as somebody who is that, that very even keel because it's a very emotional process. And it's just really helps to have that you got a person that personality?

Tyler Hankins: 22:00

Yeah, emotions are high everywhere else. So if your representatives aren't able to kind of keep somebody's got to keep the boat steady, right? Because otherwise, it's gonna tip over every time. So that's where, and I've been, you know, very, very lucky to have so many great agents on the other side of the table that have helped in that regard, where we're able to kind of be, you know, that thing that writes the ship, like, okay, let's, let's take a step back here. And let's figure it out. Right, you know, you get a big inspection response. And the all you look at are the number of items, but you don't know anything about the price attached to them. So like, let's actually look at them. Let's dissect that a little bit. You know, things of that nature, has saved more deals for me than I can count. So yeah, it definitely helps. And if you got somebody on the other side of the table that can you know, help with that. This job? Can be a breeze.

Rick Ripma: 22:52

Yeah, both agents looking at. Yeah, the entire deal. Helps, right? Higher transaction? Yeah, I always knew. I always feel very confident when you have two agents on a property, a listing and a buyer's agent. I always feel like the appraisal 90% of the time or more is going to come out. Okay. Because you have that that catch. All right, you have the listing agent, trying to sell it for as much as possible. Yeah, the buyer's agent, trying to buy it for as little as possible. And everybody agrees to a price. Most of the time, that's really good. So most of the time, if that happens, and the appraisal comes in lower than that, then then you know, it's, as you know, they're hard to argue. But it's one of those things where you at least have a chance because there's two agents. Right. Right. But it is it is it's important that the agents, I guess that was really my point. Stay calm, and work with you. Right? You know, because the reality is, we're all in this together. Yeah. Right. The lenders in it, the buyer's agent, the sellers, agents, the buyers, the sellers, the title company, everybody's in this together, we're

Tyler Hankins: 24:00

done. Those are, those are the most complicated transactions, right? When you have somebody that feels like that is how they serve their client best, by being unruly by being aggressive by being you know, that that's how they feel like they're fighting for their folks. That's hard. Yes. Now, that is a hard transaction to get through because it's combative. And these transactions aren't supposed to be a win lose, right? They're not, you know, that's not the way that these transactions are there. It's not even the way that they're set up in general like it is, you have something to sell, we have something to buy. We all want the same thing, right? It's when we lose sight of that, and somebody feels like if they didn't come out the clear winner, that they were the loser and that's just a bad mentality to have. So thankfully, there's not as many of those out as I think maybe you know, 20 years ago or something like that. Maybe there were right i Do you think that, you know, and this isn't to say like the new wave is any better than, you know, folks that have been there in here for a long time? Because I think to blast, you've had to adapt. Right? You know, to, if you're still a realtor that's been around for 2530 years, you're doing something right. Right, you know, and you've been able to adapt with the times have changed and whatever. So I've got love for the old heads. It's nothing like that. You know, I'm not a rookie anymore, either. Right? We've been around, you know, coming up on a decade, which is surprising to me, you know, but even that, like, well, it's a long time, right? You know, you know, yeah, I'll be 33 this summer. And it's hard to imagine that I've been in any industry for that long, you know, maybe it's just I'm not, not ready to accept that I'm getting on the older side of things. But, you know, but even that, like how I sold houses in 2017 isn't the way that we sell houses in 2023. Right, you've got to move and adapt and shape with the market and, and also just the people that are buying, you know, the buyers now want a calm, stress free, anxiety free transaction. You know, mental health has never been more important than it is now. And there are a ton of people who bought a house 1520 years ago, they're scared to death of the real estate transactions because of the way that it was done, then. Right, right. And I think that's the thing, especially, you know, when we talk to parents and things of that nature, we're trying very hard all the time to say, it's not like that anymore. You don't have to do it that way. You know, there is a way that this works out where everybody walks out of here happy. Preferably when you're at the closing table. It's all smiles, right? Like, you don't want to close in two separate rooms, because the two sides hate each other. I've been I've been there once, only one time, you know, I've done about 160 houses or something at this point. Only one time. Has it ever been that bad? Where we couldn't be in the same room together? And that was the worst transaction I've ever had. Right. I hated it. Yeah, it was. I mean, I don't get rattled very often. It was very uncomfortable for me. Right. You know, it's just not a fun deal. Not a fun deal at all. Yeah,

Rick Ripma: 27:02

it's hard on everybody. But how would somebody get a hold of you running up at the end of the radio show? So what's the best way best?

Tyler Hankins: 27:10

Yep, so my contact information is 317-364-8913. Or you can go to th property group.com. You can find me on Instagram at Tyler Hankins real tour. And that'll get you to my Facebook page as well. We do a fair amount of rehabs and things like that you can go back and look at some pictures of some cool stuff that we've done in the past. And yeah, that's awesome. That's

Rick Ripma: 27:34

awesome. And to get a hold of Ian or I, it's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com that's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com or 3176. I can never remember my own number and that terrible six, seven to 1938. I actually did remember like adding 31767 to 1938. And please go to indies, real estate gurus on any podcast site and you can listen to the rest of the show. It will be bookmarked so you can find exactly where to start. And we appreciate it. Have a great day if you're if you're done with radio, but please join us on the podcast side. And if you're on the podcast, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it. This I have Tyler hawk. It's Hankins. I want to say Hawkins so bad. You're

Tyler Hankins: 28:22

not the first one is terrible. You are not the first one. I don't know where the W comes in. Really. But I've been I've been alive for 33 years, man I've been called much worse than Hawkins but I that is a name that comes up very, very frequent.

Rick Ripma: 28:36

I wrote it out a bunch of times. Yes. Hanken. So that I would not make that mistake. And I still made that mistake. It's just a mental problem. I'm

Tyler Hankins: 28:45

not gonna hold it against you. Oh, good.

Rick Ripma: 28:47

I'll be in was here. He'd be laughing at me. Guys, I don't you know, I blame it on age. Right. Can I blame it on age? I'll give you that. Yeah, that's that I appreciate. So why don't Ian's favorite questions, and since he's not here, I'm going to ask it. Okay. What is your most memorable transaction or transactions?

Tyler Hankins: 29:10

Wow. So I've done a few for myself. And those are always memorable, right. And so, you know, like, the first house I ever bought was a little duplex, we did the house hack thing, and Shelbyville bought it, you know, rented out one side, and then we actually just sold it a couple a couple of years ago. And that's, it's always a little bittersweet when you get rid of your first right you know, but it was just the right time to do it. So I think probably my most memorable, sold some cool properties. There's one in particular that always stands out is in hope. It's on Schaefer Lake. Beautiful house needed a lot of work at the time, but the folks that have bought it have done a great job with it. But the thing that always sticks out, you know, just had this great view had multiple multi level decks and it looked out over the lake had its own dock. They had a couple of kids there always posted pictures of fishing in it, you know, they've been there for probably about six, seven years now. out, you know, so they've done some time in there and it's just you know, it always always makes me feel great to see that they're still enjoying it so much and we've stayed in touch and all that. So that's always been cool. That's a that's a great one. I sold a house up in Knightstown nice town once that was a civil war house. Oh, really? That was a very cool house super old obviously still all brick all brick brick was in a crazy shape for how old it was that somebody had taken very great care of it the salaries actually they had done a lot and kept the floor to ceiling windows. But you know, updated vinyl. So all custom boys one bathroom in this massive house, you know, but it was that old, right? Yeah, whatever. But that was an incredible property to be able to, to walk and you can just kind of feel feel some of the history as you go through it. I have a thing for these old houses, man, you know, like, especially the ones that haven't been like overly updated, you know, like, it's nice to bring the function up to times right now the to wiring anything anybody wants, but you know, the woodworks in great shape. You know, nobody's like slap six coats of paint on like, you know, still shines, and it looks great. These hardwoods, you know, every finished my my fair share of hardwoods and seeing that grime and dust and age and everything come off of them, and you get the pot that fresh shine on it. It makes you fall in love. I mean, it really does. And so there's, yeah, there's a lot of cool houses, you know, and that's one thing about our job that is really underrated, I think is the opportunity that we get to get a feel for the history of, you know, the houses themselves, and also the communities that they sit in, you know, if you're an agent like me, that has, you know, I've done deals as far south as Brownstown, as far north, as you know, like a Knightstown or mccordsville, or, you know, you know, some Carmel, you know, whatever the case may be, there's a lot of geography there, like, there's, you know, there's some miles there that, you know, we've been able to travel and kind of see, and you get a feel for all these different small towns. And these houses are really important to them, you know, and when you sell one that maybe hasn't been taken care of, as well as it can, could have been, and then the neighborhood like rallies behind the new owners, you know, and I've been that new owner a couple of times where neighbors walked by and want to say, you know, thank you so much for for bringing this back, you know, and whatever, and that that's rewarding within itself. Yeah, it really is. These houses deserve love. And that's new construction is great. We need it, you know, and there's, there's a lot of great things about a brand new house, when you can bring one of these old boys back to life. It's I mean, there's that's rewarding. Like there's a lot a lot of cool things about that.

Rick Ripma: 32:52

Yeah, we we, my wife and I have, it was a house that actually was moved to the location. Okay. And as I understand it, we don't really know how old it is. But everybody who works on it tells us it's really old.

Tyler Hankins: 33:06

Yeah, you can usually tell by that. Yeah. 100 years old. Right.

Rick Ripma: 33:11

And, and it's amazing to me. First, how great a shape it's still in, right? And then number two, how much stuff has to be done on it?

Tyler Hankins: 33:22

Never stops and never stops. Yeah, that's that is the cause you can you know, the house I'm in now actually, I bought it beginning of last year, it was downtown Shelbyville was built in 1919 10, I believe. And, you know, when he walked into it, because only outside, you know, had some curb appeal, like, you know, it was one of those things was like, you know, this isn't a bad looking house, it could have you know, but then you dig into it, right? And you start knocking some stuff out, and then you see what's behind walls. And, you know, when I walked the first time I walked into it, you know, I had a hump in the middle of the floor that was about probably four or five inches taller than the rest of the rest of the floor. Yeah. So it's a literally a hill in the middle of the room. And you're wondering at that point without getting underneath, it's like, okay, is is the problem here? Is it everywhere else? Right, you know, and it was everywhere else. That was right, that yeah, so that one was everywhere else. So we get underneath and we bring everything back up, you know, and all that and it's just some of the stuff it's you never know what to expect with an old house. Right? You know, there's, there's a, you can do all the inspections in the world, you know, but you can't see behind that plaster, you know, there's just, they have secrets they all do. And sometimes they're nice and other times they're not but you roll with it and you love it all the same. But you know, we've been done with it now for I say done, right? You're never done. But we've we've been in there we've been living there for Oh, six months now something like that. And you know, we're still finding new stuff every day that we either like or don't like, right but regardless, we've you know, the neighborhood has given us a lot of love for bringing it back. get up to speed and that that has meant a lot to us. That's awesome.

Rick Ripma: 35:03

It amazes me to how many houses and it must, it must be the way society changes in what they how they view it. But hardwoods are phenomenal hardwoods are covered with carpet hardwoods are phenomenal hardwoods, like, over and over again,

Tyler Hankins: 35:18

I love finding them under carpet, that usually means that hopefully they've been, you know, pretty well reserved. Yeah, you know, it's the ones that are left out to the elements that can sometimes be a little right a little hard to bring back up to speed, you know, they've got stains and things like that, that sometimes just never come out of it. But you know, you can hit that hit it with that drum sander as much as you want. Sometimes it's just in there, you know, and there's nothing you can do about it. But it's also part of the story. Yeah, you know, it's part of the story, something may, you know, might have been a dog that nobody should have had in there. And you don't want that stain, but it still tells the story, you know, misbehave and dog?

Rick Ripma: 35:53

So, what What, in your opinion? Should if somebody's looking to hire a real estate agent, what traits and personality? You know, should they look for

Tyler Hankins: 36:04

software? So I'm a big believer in the buyer consultation. You know, I not that I've never just met somebody the first time at a house and things like that, because of course, I have, and everybody has, and I will in the future. But if you have the opportunity to have that sit down conversation, you know, over a coffee or a beer or whatever, you know, and honestly, that gives you a little bit of an idea of who you're working with. Right? Like, yep. Are they a morning person? Do they want something a little more formal? Do they want to meet you at the office? Or do they want to meet you at the pub? You know, you see whatever, normal guy? Yeah, usually. That's my Mm, yeah, I've, you know, I'll meet you, I'll meet you at our local watering hole any day, right. I mean, that's, that's just how that works for me. But either way, you know, I, I'm a little bit of a chameleon, I can do whatever you need. But I think in that first initial meeting, it gives you a lot of insight into what's important for that person, you know, what are they actually looking for, not only in the house, but in a representative, like what kind of person do they what kind of realtor that they need you to be? You know, because everybody needs something different. And if you don't take the time to have that conversation up front, nobody's nobody has a chance to set their expectations, right, you know, and we both should have them. And I think that's a that's another thing that sometimes, especially for newer agents, you have a hard time setting the expectations for yourself, setting the boundaries for yourself, you feel like you need to do whatever it takes to get that sale, because you're trying to break into this business. Now, do you get some? Do you get some leeway as time goes by to obviously build that boundary? A lot? Of course you do. You know, you can't come in acting like you've been doing it for 20 years, right? You know, you can't be a Monday through Friday, call me nine to six guy, generally speaking. But you can still let somebody know, like, Look, I'm not, you're not gonna call me at 10 o'clock at night, I'm asleep, I got family to whatever, you know, there's, there are some realistic things that you need to set and that that first initial meeting gives you the opportunity to do that. And if that's going to be a problem, then I would rather know that that's going to be a problem before we get 10 houses down the road, right? Because our time means something we don't get paid for every minute, we get paid for every transaction, right? So you're doing yourself a disservice by not getting to know what that person is expecting of you. Because if you aren't the right fit for the job, you're just not run, that's the beautiful thing about what we do is, you know, you can refer stuff out and still get paid, you know, like, it is not either you sell that house or you don't get anything, if you do this, right, and you know, somebody wants to buy something in an area that's way out of your wheelhouse, or they want to buy something that you've never done before. Hopefully you're in an office that can support you in those endeavors, give you the training that you want, or has somebody in your office that is capable of doing that, and will hopefully repay that favor, right, you kind of you kind of create that two way street, where, you know, it goes both ways. They're doing something that you know, you do that, you know, that they don't. So I think that's and it goes I mean, sellers, obviously you always do that you always meet him at the house. Usually you meet them at their house and you talk about the listing side that's kind of baked in, but I think when you skip it for the buyers is when you can kind of get yourselves in, in a situation where you learn to three months down the road that maybe neither one of you is a

Rick Ripma: 39:28

good fit, right? Not the Fit matters. It does.

Tyler Hankins: 39:32

It means everything

Rick Ripma: 39:33

it does and it's people I understand a new person avoiding it because they're, you know, they're worried about they want the deal. They'll pretty much try to do anything.

Tyler Hankins: 39:43

I've been there. Yeah, I get that. Right. Yeah.

Rick Ripma: 39:45

But I don't you know, when you're experienced, and you and you have it, you've learned you learn that it's so much better to set the expectations and maybe it isn't like it's not a good fit, you should go here I have a team member, that's a lot better, a lot better venue than me.

Tyler Hankins: 40:04

The heartache is much worse at the beginning, right? Because then you feel like you feel like you did your due diligence and you're not wasting your time. Yes. Our time is in. I mean, it's just insanely valuable. It just is even at the beginning. And that's and that's something that new agents, I don't I think it takes a little bit of time to kind of get into that mindset, that your time still matters. Yeah, it just does and time spent with somebody that's not a good fit for you. Is time away from somebody who is yes.

Rick Ripma: 40:33

So what do you look for? When you're hiring a team, a team member,

Tyler Hankins: 40:38

I'd like a little bit of that, right, I'd like a little bit of a little bit of a sense of who you are, what you want to do, who you know, what kind of the other, you know, our industry is. So it's so diverse, that you can pick a niche, you can pick something that actually speaks to you. And I think, if you have any kind of an idea that right out the gate, that's a major plus or Oh, no, because then we can set you on the right path right away. Not everybody does, you know, I did. And so I don't look down on anybody that you know, that's not, that's not a deal breaker by any stretch, that is a plus, right, it's definitely a plus. You know, a lot of it's a lot of it is stuff that you can say for any self employed person ever, right? I'm not gonna call you every day to ask you what you're doing today, you know, and stuff like that, you you have to have at least, that level of motivation to want to wake up and make yourself better at what you're doing. Every day. Yeah, sometimes it's hard to get a feel for that for the first couple of meetings or whatever, you know, it takes a little bit of time to actually get a feel for somebody, but especially, you know, a lot, a lot of folks that I bring on are, are brand new, you know, so they're doing their pre licensing course. And honestly, the way somebody tackles the pre licensing course, is a great indication of how they're going to attack the career once they get into it with the online options and do it at your own pace, and whatever if, you know, I've had way more than one person where it's just expired, they never even got done with it. Right? Because they just didn't have the drive. They didn't have the drive to do it. Yeah. You know, when I was doing it, you know, again, I was working full time at Lowe's, I had my textbooks in the break room, you know, every, you know, I knew that this was I, I set my mind to it, and I was gonna get it done. I was gonna get it done as quickly as I could, because I wanted to get on with whatever the next step was, you know, so I think a little bit of that kind of laissez faire, you know, demeanor towards even just that first step is really most of the time all the indication that you need, you know, and we try not to shove everybody in a box. And there's obviously circumstances that come up that drive it out of your brain, you know, there is some of that. But I think in a, you know, if you're looking for generics, right, I mean, that's a great place to see, like, from a rookie standpoint, how much do you want to do this? Right, you know,

Rick Ripma: 42:59

I think it's a hard thing. It's that drive that I always found the most difficult to figure out when I'm just talking to somebody it is, it's, you know, I think I've been I've been around this business for a long time. And I've hired I was a new home sales I ran, I ran a sales department. So I've hired and trained tons of people, right. But the one thing you could never know, is the drive the person had to get and I think I think they struggle with it. Like in sports these, you can see the whole body of work, right of a quarterback. And they draft this quarterback number one, number two, and I'm not a sports fan, so I may be I may be wrong here. But they draft this quarterback really hot, right? They pay him a ton of money. Right? And then they

Tyler Hankins: 43:47

generally on pedigree, right? Yeah. On how tall they are, how big their hands are. Yeah, they go to the combine. And they you know, you can't tell either, right? Now there's, I mean, there's a lot of unknown in there folks that come out of the woodworks and just surprise you, right? So you try not to get to Brady, you try not to get too into your, you know, what I'm looking for is the only thing that's gonna work, right? Because just because it worked for me, doesn't mean it fits for everybody else. Right. So you have to kind of keep an open mind to a certain extent. But I do think there are just a couple of small things that it just it's just a huge indication of what their motivation is to be good at this. Yeah. Because a lot of people feel like it's easy money, right? I mean, that's, that's huge. I mean, that's a huge misconception, you know, and I, you know, I deal with it all the time. You know, I got plenty of family members that don't think I go to work a day in my life right now. And I just wonder where all you know, where everything kind of came from, and it's like, well, you know, there was a lot, there's a lot of work, there's a lot of work that still goes into it. You know, it's none of this stuff is easy, right? It's just not and it's not supposed to be right. It needs to take some skill it needs to take effort or else Were devalued. Right? Yeah, we that we we demand the pay that we demand. Because not everybody can do right, your skill

Rick Ripma: 45:08

that has to make a difference. Exactly. Your your skills make a difference. So why do you think so many people fail?

Tyler Hankins: 45:17

I think a lot of it is that I think it's I think they had the wrong idea coming in, I think they thought that they were going to hang their license with a brokerage and that deals were just going to come. And that was it. It's not the way it works, you know, it's not and, you know, the last couple of years, didn't do a whole lot to help us with that. Right? When I mean, anybody could put a sign in the yard and have five offers, you know, and, and there's still I mean, you know, seems like we've been on a little bit of a seesaw the last quarter or two between slow and hot and slow and hot, while while the world tries to figure out what we're doing. Right. But I think that I think there's just a massive misconception that you don't have to work really hard to do this. Lead Generation is not fun. Nobody enjoys that side of the that's, I don't know, a single realtor who wakes up every morning and says, Man, that's my favorite part. I can't wait to do Legion. I don't want to do lead gen, you know, and I, and that's where I feel like, you know, you kind of fall into what you're comfortable with and what you like, and what works best for you. And, you know, and all that sort of stuff, you know, do you have to do door knocking and cold calling and stuff like that, I don't think you have to, you know, that's just something that I subscribe to. And a lot of people, you know, when they get in the door, they feel like maybe that's the way that they have to do it. And I. So I think people fail because they misunderstood what they're getting into to begin with. And I don't know to it, that they either a they don't have the mentor available, or they don't or they're afraid to ask questions. You know, it's the it's the fear of you want to you want to look good and be right. Nobody looks good at the beginning, right? You shouldn't, because you've never done this before. You've done a pre licensing course. And you've taken a state exam that says that, you know, the bare minimum amount of knowledge to do this job. Like, you know, the terminology, you know, what you're allowed to do what you're not allowed to do to a certain extent, right? You got at least a base knowledge of the Code of Ethics and things of that nature. But no lead gen, you haven't done it right, you haven't done it, you don't know what this actually takes. And you haven't felt the pain of a friend that you've known for 20 years, posting on Facebook, that they just closed with somebody else, because they didn't know you were a real tour. Right? You know, it's it's that like, constant, staying in front of everybody all the time, whether or not you're trying to work with strangers or friends or whatever. You still have I mean, the Legion doesn't change, you still have to stay in contact constantly. Yep. And that is work. Yeah, it's work.

Rick Ripma: 47:52

I find that for for, you know, I was in car sales, when I first got going in sales, and they brought the deals to you. So lead gen wasn't really a part of it. But as soon as and new home sales was the same way they brought the right deals to you. The biggest reason I see people fail in mortgages. And it sounds like you're saying the same thing for real estate, is it's the lead gen and they don't know how to do it. They don't know what to do, or they won't do it. Right. Right. Because you make calls I make calls, we we spent a lot of time doing things that we don't necessarily want to do. But we do it because we know you have to do it. Right? You know that you're going to help those people. And it's important, and you want to be the one who helps them. Exactly. Right. So we do that. So I agree with you 100

Tyler Hankins: 48:38

Gotta find the thing that so this is how I've generally tried to do it. And I found it's worked for me and so that, you know, obviously I just keep going because you know if it works for you, but finding the value piece, right? It's the it's staying away from the head, you know, anybody looking to buy or sell, you know, just that, right? You know that, you know, that care call that doesn't really feel like a care call, right? Or, you know, things of that nature. I try to stay away from stuff like that, because it makes me uncomfortable. I don't like to do it. So that's why I do customer I do client appreciation events all the time. I do you know, birthday cards and Christmas, you know, all the like organic stuff that you would normally do to somebody that you care about, right? And that's why it comes from a real place because I do care about the people that we do. So and I think that for a first like for a young agent, or even just a new agent. It's finding that it's finding that comfort, because I you know I subscribe to a lot of things but I'm not always a big fan of the getting out of your comfort zone. You know, I feel like that's a little played out and it's a little bit like a almost, it's almost a little bit of a cop out right for just like finding what fits you. There are so many ways to do, Legion. It's a wide spectrum, right? It's man passive, right? There is something that you can do that you would like to do that isn't going to make you feel like you're pastoring the people that you love. Find that. Yeah, it takes some time, it takes some thought it takes some trial and error. Not everything is gonna work. Right. And that's the other part, right? You can't get down on yourself if the, you know, two or three things don't go the right way. Right? Because it's all I mean, it's always okay, well, let's try this.

Rick Ripma: 50:29

Keep track. Yeah,

Tyler Hankins: 50:31

you have to keep track of what's working. You know, you you so you have your Legion, then you do your conversion. And then you look and see, okay, this one came through this one came through this one came through? What did I do for each of those? It? Was it all the same thing? Because obviously that works, or was it a mixture of things, whatever the case may be, we have to be organized, right? We can't just do things to do them. Right? There's not enough time in the day for that. Yeah, you have to be committed, it has to be purposeful. And that is another thing that you know, when you're first getting started, you just don't know, right? And if you don't have the team behind you, somebody to kind of help you. With that. It can be a very lonely profession, you can fill out a play super, super quick.

Rick Ripma: 51:15

Yeah. And you just have to keep doing it. No, and you're doing the back legs. You just keep doing it. You do it over and over and over again, the right things and it'll all come

Tyler Hankins: 51:21

consistency is everything. You know, if you want to do videos, then you have to do videos, right? You know, you might get two likes on the first one, you might get zero likes on the second one, you might not everything's going viral, right? So you just keep doing it. Just keep doing it. If that's what you want to do, if that's the way that you feel like you want to take it, then you have to do it and you have to give it an honest chance. Nothing works on the first try very rarely. It takes time to build it and then people come to expect it. And then it becomes a thing, right? I mean, a podcast is no different than that. Right? You know, you do your first one, you might have five listeners, right? The idea is you do it for a year or two that listenership continues to grow. You keep doing it and you're building it the right way. You're doing it organically. You're not just expecting success overnight, right? It's that is as hard. We're instant gratification. I'm no different. I want everything to come the moment I think exact I am not different than that. I get disappointed all the time. Yep. But here I am, right. You know, we just keep chugging,

Rick Ripma: 52:26

and you're doing great. And if somebody has any real estate questions, but also it sounds like if anybody's looking to be on a team, they want a good mentor for their real estate. What's the best way to get a hold

Tyler Hankins: 52:36

of you so you can get a hold of me at 317-364-8913 You can find my website th property group.com Or you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook at Tyler Hankins real

Rick Ripma: 52:48

And if you would like to get a hold of Ian or I, tour. it is HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com That's HardWorkingMortgageGuys.com 317-672-1938 31767 to 1938 and follow us so you don't miss a show. And if you have any friends, family or coworkers looking to buy, sell or refinance, please let us know we'd love to help them out. Thanks so much. Have a great day.