Real Estate Expert Joe Hammonds-Swain

Intro: [00:00:08] Coming to you live from the Business RadioX studio in Woodstock, Georgia. This is fearless formula with Sharon Cline.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:17] Welcome to Fearless Formula on Business RadioX, where we talk about the ups and downs of the business world and offer words of wisdom for business success. I’m your host, Sharon Cline, and my guest today is a local real estate expert specializing in the Woodstock and Cherokee County communities. He’s got a background as a software sales executive for some of the top Fortune 5105 hundred companies in the Southeast. He has been in the community in Woodstock for 20 plus years, lives here. He is just great. I’m so grateful to have you here in the studio. Please welcome Joe Hammonds-Swain. Hello.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:00:55] I’m honored. Thank you so much for having me.

Sharon Cline: [00:00:57] You’re welcome. I’m so glad to chat with you. We were just fine. We were doing a quick, quick chat beforehand, and I have so many questions that I’m like, Let’s save it for the radio. That’s right.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:01:06] We have to save it for content. I got it.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:08] So let’s talk a little bit about kind of starting where you are right now and work backwards a little bit. So you’ve been well, you’ve been here in Woodstock for 20 plus years. It’s your home now, pretty much. And now you service this whole area.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:01:20] That’s correct. Yeah. I moved here back in 2000, two, 2003 time frame. We bought a house over in Town Lake, which is around the corner. Yeah, and we just haven’t moved. We found this community to be really fun and really vibrant. We spent a lot of time, you know, developing relationships with other people here in the community, and we just we just haven’t left. And it’s been continuing to pay for word every every time. So we’re excited to still be here, excited to spend time, you know, with these new businesses that we’re seeing and some of the same businesses we’ve seen for the past 15 years and supporting those businesses. And then, you know, you know, just enjoying enjoying our time here. You know.

Sharon Cline: [00:01:56] People talk about how this community is special in that way, that, you know, not every community has that same feel that Woodstock does.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:02:04] Well, you know, I’ve always said you have to put into it what you want to get out of it. So if you want this community to be something that you enjoy, you have to spend the time supporting those communities and you have to support the businesses. You have to get to know the businesses. And then, you know, you have to spend you have to spend your money and where it counts. So and that’s small business.

Sharon Cline: [00:02:23] I like. It’s almost like a mantra. Get into it. What? You know, put into it what you want out of it. So do you apply this to your real estate as well?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:02:32] That’s a great question. So I’ve been doing real estate now almost five years. I’ll be a licensed five years in March. I be. Congrats. Thank you. Thank you. It’s you know, it’s one of those things where you get into business for yourself. You have to understand the complexities of running your own business. You don’t necessarily know what you’re doing. You just jump in feet first. You run, run, run, and you try to figure problems out as they arise, you know? And so being in real estate now for five years, it’s been it’s been a growth opportunity. But I’ve always seen myself as somebody that if you’re not focusing on making yourself better, then you can’t focus on fixing other people’s problems. And so I view my methodology of helping people secure their their residents as a as a you know, there’s a series of steps we have to take and we have to overcome certain obstacles. And and part of that is through coaching, through education, through understanding and, you know, helping them to elevate, empower and inform. That’s really my thing.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:31] But you start you start with yourself.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:03:33] So I have two every morning. I’m trying to figure out how I can be better me, how I can be a better father, I’m a better business person and continual effort on personal growth.

Sharon Cline: [00:03:44] It’s like it’s a priority. It’s like putting the oxygen mask on yourself first and then you do your kids or whatever. I always it’s funny. It’s like not my natural tendency is to think me first because it comes across. I think I have a notion that it’s somewhat selfish, but it’s really not when I reframe it to being. But I’m the better I am, the better my family is, the better the people around me are. It’s almost like if I don’t get enough sleep, everyone suffers around me, including myself. But it’s so nice. Like if I can reframe it to where it’s not really a selfish thing or like judge myself for it. So it’s like a wonderful notion to think that you are you are actually trying to exponentially help people by helping yourself.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:04:21] I mean, that’s the goal, right? I mean, I want to leave a legacy. And that legacy starts with me. And that legacy, whether it’s for my family, whether it’s for my business, whether it’s for my business partners. In the end, we all have to we all have sacrifices to make and we all have to come to resolutions and solve problems together. And again, that comes back to community, you know, and your communities. You can have several of them. Sometimes they’re all in the same boat, sometimes they’re not. Sometimes you get a few over here that you’re working together with collectively solving problems. And then over here you may have another selective group solving problems, but you go from in real estate, from having one boss in corporate America to having 34 bosses. So it changes.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:02] How you manage that.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:05:05] Availability. You do have to set some, you know, parameters. I call offense the field kind of.

Sharon Cline: [00:05:10] Concept because I’ve spoken to some agents who talk about how hard it is to to put a boundary down around your work out. There are their work hours. You know, if you don’t if you’re not actively responding to things, do you miss what would potentially be a great sale or a great client? Like how do you do it?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:05:25] Is that a question to you?

Sharon Cline: [00:05:25] Yes.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:05:26] Okay. So I like to say that beginning with self growth, right? You do. I try to wake up every morning early and I like to accomplish a series of tasks before everyone else started work. I tell people I work when most people work, but I also work when most people don’t work. So it’s not like I’m on call 24 seven. I typically do shut off the phone about 9:00 pm unless I have some things going on and I want to make sure that we. You know that people understand that there are some limits. They have to understand that I have a family, you know, and I think they respect that.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:03] It’s good to know.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:06:04] Yeah, you have to you have to you have to set expectations. And if you set them appropriately and correctly, then a lot of people will rise to that because a lot of people like to help people, but they also sometimes have to be led and they have to be guided. And so if you’re able to fence the field and say, well, within these parameters, we’re able to execute the following tasks. So.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:25] So this is kind of just an industry industry question. What do you think of the Fed raising the rates again?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:06:32] Well, I saw.

Sharon Cline: [00:06:33] It yesterday. I’m like, holy cow, seven something percent.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:06:37] Well, I will tell you this. I’m not a financial person, okay?

Sharon Cline: [00:06:42] Me neither. So great.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:06:43] I don’t do mortgages. I’m not an economist. I’m not any of those parties. But what I will say is, when they do those types of moves, they can sometimes affect what we call a mortgage rate. But that is, it’s going to be dependent upon those experts that do that. And I have seen rates actually come down the last two weeks.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:04] Oh, wow.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:07:04] Yeah. So sometimes when they raise the federal rates, it doesn’t necessarily affect the mortgage rates.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:09] Always assume they’re hand in hand.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:07:11] A lot of people do.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:12] Oh, look at that. I love showing how I don’t know things. That’s okay on my radio.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:07:17] I’m not an expert at that. Believe me, I don’t do financing or lending.

Sharon Cline: [00:07:21] So what’s your favorite part about being an agent?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:07:26] Okay. I pause for a minute there because I want to say that. Everybody has a story. If you can understand the past story, the current story, and allow them to make a future story. Then I’m from part of that process that I’m actually honored to be part of that process. So it’s about people. I enjoy conversation. I’m a problem solver at at my core. I have a lot of empathy. You know, it’s part of my core personality traits. So at least I understand what I’m what I like. But I’m always need help with organization, time management. These are typical things. You know, I think a lot of people deal with. But, you know, if you focus on your strengths, then I think it’s going to be overall better and try to backfill with help to fill in the ones that you’re weak with. So that’s my.

Sharon Cline: [00:08:21] Goal. It’s sweet. It’s you want to be part of someone’s future where they’re putting down their roots and their family stories. And when they die, I always picture it like this. Like someday I’m going to be driving by my house and be like, Oh, that used to be my house. And we used to this and we used to that. I mean, it’s part of my part of my story now.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:08:37] It is part of your story. And the thing is, is I see you as a caretaker, right? There’s an old it used to be into cars and automobiles and collectibles, stuff like that. And one of the mantras that they would have is with a really nice collectible car, It’s you’re not the owner of that car. You’re just the steward while you own that car. So think of it that way, that you’re the steward of the house or the or the home, and your job is to care, take for that particular property, and at some point you will pass it on. And if you don’t take care of that property, then of course you’re going to incur some costs or loss of profit examples, you know, and that’s typical business one on one.

Sharon Cline: [00:09:17] So in being in the industry for five years, what are what are some of the surprises that or things you didn’t expect to be sort of like if you could go back five years and tell yourself something that you would have really appreciated knowing, do you have something you can think of?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:09:34] Yeah, I do, actually. I jumped in fee first with very little money and said, I’m going to try to blaze this trail on my own good faith. Well, you have to have blind faith in yourself, right? And I was like, I do work hard. You know, I have I do enjoy talking with people. I do. I do what the work I do. I work hard. And so. You know, if people could tell me it takes a ramp and I’m using that, it takes time to build the business. And what I’ve learned after being in this industry, it’s not just me, it’s business as a whole, right? So you see a new restaurant that opens on a corner. You know, usually it’s about a 3 to 6 month ramp until they start seeing people coming in on a regular basis. And and I just continue to think through that. And it’s about a year to two years, you know, to get on your what I call on your feet to where you’re doing the transactions and you’re spending time working the business, it just takes time. And I wish that I would have known that sooner. I might have tried to save some money before.

Sharon Cline: [00:10:39] I think everyone. Yeah, well, that’s good advice for anyone who’s interested in starting in this industry or really any industry. It always seems like money is is like if you have enough to kind of give yourself a safety net while you’re getting yourself going, even to find out you don’t want to be in this industry, you know, that’s really important.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:10:58] Yeah. And sometimes, you know, you have to give it six months before you realize you don’t need to be in it or you don’t want to be in it. But even at six months, it also makes you hungry, right? So you tend to work really hard because if you’re committed to the process and you’re committed to finding business, you go. But the other thing that I learned is that you’re not just an agent or a realtor. You’re also accounting, marketing, sales contracts, data entry, social media. You just name it, you’re all in one. And so sometimes you have to seek help out from those experts to help drive that. But when you’re first getting started, you don’t have the money. So you try to find cost effective ways to do that.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:43] What are some of the cost effective ways that you’ve been able to market yourself? And I mean, social media, everyone talks about it. It’s like that’s the number one.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:11:50] It is. But I think it’s also because there’s there’s you know, I think the last number I saw, there’s like 90,000 agents here in the state of Georgia.

Sharon Cline: [00:11:59] Oh, wow. I had no idea what the number. I couldn’t have even named it. That’s a lot. I had no.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:12:03] Idea. Yeah. So, I mean, if you talk to your friends and family, you realize that everyone seems to know somebody in real estate. And if you talk to anybody in the last five years, you tend to hear that, you know, somebody just got their license. I mean, I had a good friend of mine get hers yesterday. Oh, wow. Yeah. So she’s been trying for three months and she’s she’s now has it, which is great. Congratulations to her. But, you know, you tend to know people in the industry. So when you have that many agents, there’s competition. So how do you stand out amongst competition? Well. Well, we have is our service level that we provide and our reputation. And I lean back on my experience in corporate America when I had CEOs and executives calling me, you know, you don’t let a phone go to voicemail, you answer the phone and you don’t know who it is. And so I try to do that today to give myself a heads up. Now, I do get a lot of your home warranties out.

Speaker3: [00:13:02] Of your car.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:13:03] You know, I get those types of things. I get a lot of spam because now I’m very, very public. So you have to look at those types of efforts and you have to say, okay, where am I spending my time? That’s going to give us the best bang for the buck. And I find that there are plenty of networking groups that you can tap into, that you can build relationships with businesses, because a lot of those are small businesses trying to build relationships. And maybe there can be some conversations there that may lead to future business for you, maybe future business for them, maybe, you know, referral partners to try to figure out, you know, if I need a plumber, well, I need three. I can’t provide just one. I have to provide a number of them. So you have to be thinking about that and you sometimes have to vet them, you know, validate that they are insured and bonded and that they’re right for your clients because it’s your reputation, your.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:56] Word.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:13:56] When you pass it on to someone else.

Sharon Cline: [00:13:58] So I like that you talk about being an empathetic person because not all I know it’s going to sound somewhat misogynistic, but like not all men sort of are willing to lead with or be vulnerable enough to explain that or admit that they have a real tie into their own emotions and the emotions of other people. And I’m wondering, I know that you said that it helps you to to become invested in someone’s story, but what other ways do you feel like that is a strength for you in your industry?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:14:30] Okay. Great question, because I feel like you do not know somebody’s story until you’ve had a chance to think about how you would walk if you were in their shoes. So that goes back to the fables, right? And if you can truly sit down and say, okay, I’m a new person moving to this particular real estate market, my budget is X, these are the parameters that I’m looking for. And then how? Can I find the right fit for this particular party or what may stand out based on the criteria that they provided us and try to show and be selective about, Hey, okay, well, this is the criteria. They’ve defined it. How do I meet that criteria? Well, here’s four or five options. Let’s talk about these options. Which one would really fit based on what they’ve told us? Does this really seem to check that box? Well, this one may not. So let’s move it over here. But it’s still an option. And of course, I don’t make that decision. They do. But then we look at the last four and say, okay, well, this one is just at the top of their budget. They may love it. So let’s go ahead and take a look at it. Let’s look at this one. This one fits right in the middle of the budget. Let’s go ahead and add that one to the list. And so you put them in that order and you schedule the timing and you go spend time looking at the properties and then you hopefully you’re asking for constant feedback. What do you like? What do you dislike? Could you see yourself doing this? Does this seem to meet the reasons why you’re moving here? And so being in their shoes and seeing the reasons why they’re making the decisions they’re making will allow you to be a stronger agent for them and build a stronger relationship with them, because then they’re like, Well, he listens. The biggest thing is people don’t listen. People in general just don’t listen. They are too busy thinking about how they’re going to respond. Versus listening to actively to what people are saying.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:25] So it’s it gives you a perspective on. Whether or not something that you’re going to present to them sort of fits what their emotional need is to, you know, like how they want to live their life, how they want to feel when they’re in their house and how they want their life to feel when they go to this house, as opposed to you wanted a driveway, you wanted this. You know what I mean? It’s like all of the lists of things, but you’re actually giving them an emotional tie to to it.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:16:51] So I want to ask you a question.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:53] Oh, gosh, wait. This is my.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:16:54] Show. I know it is.

Sharon Cline: [00:16:55] I know. This is. All right.

Speaker3: [00:16:56] Go ahead. Okay.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:16:57] So do you think people make decisions based on emotion or logic?

Sharon Cline: [00:17:02] I think personally, well, I think the world is just exactly how I see it. So probably emotion.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:17:10] 90% of decisions typically made based on emotion.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:13] Interesting. Even if they don’t think it, though, Right.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:17:15] Well, they use logic to justify sometimes. So they’ll they’ll say, emotionally, I’m attached to X, but then I need to justify, okay, I need to spend $1,000 on this pair of socks. How do I spend $1,000 on this pair of socks? Because I love them. Well, here’s my logical justifications. Well, I’ve got to get paid a bonus. And you know, it’s a holiday time. I don’t treat myself enough. They do doo doo doo. And then they go buy a $1,000 pair of socks.

Sharon Cline: [00:17:36] So in your industry, how oh, gosh, I want how am I going to ask this? How emotional. Okay. Forgive me if I say it wrong. Okay. How emotionally stable are people or in touch enough with their emotions in order to kind of. Because we’re talking thousands of hundreds and thousands of dollars. Right. So that has an emotion tied around it, that amount of money as well. But then you’ve got someone trying to make a logical decision, which doesn’t actually if you’re just looking at numbers, there is no emotion really as far as like X plus Y equals Z. So how do you manage people’s expectations and how how they even process their own wants and needs and what they can’t have? And I don’t know. I think it would be difficult for me.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:18:23] It’s as an.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:24] Empathetic person, I can imagine. Exactly. You feel it, you know.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:18:27] Well, you want to again, you want to serve, you want to address their needs and you want to deliver and exceed their needs. So, you know, by understanding motivation, that’s really a key function. So what is the motivation? If we can tap into the motivation as to why you’re trying to accomplish X, then let’s let’s really dig deep into that and let’s really, truly understand that because when it comes up later in a conversation and they’re like, I’m not doing this.

Sharon Cline: [00:18:55] It’s too hard.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:18:55] It’s too hard. I can’t deal with it. You’re like, Pardon me? Then you you remind them, Hey, remember you said you wanted to live next to your family.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:05] But how in-tune are people to what their true emotions or motivations.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:19:09] Are? I think it varies from day to day because people, you know, it’s a roller coaster. Some people have really great days and sometimes they’re always in a great mood and they’re always having a great time.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:16] Like me, man. Just like, yeah. So no, but like, that’s fascinating because I’m sure there are a lot of people who don’t sort of have have, have, have never had that conversation of really trying to get to the root of what even makes them want to get up every day. Do you understand what I’m saying?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:19:31] I do.

Sharon Cline: [00:19:32] And I didn’t say that eloquently.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:19:33] But that’s okay. You know, like people like to think that if you can understand the motivation, then you can, of course, justify the logical side of it. But you’re dealing with people’s livelihoods here. You’re dealing with people who are making the biggest financial decision in their lives. So so you’re not only a realtor or an agent, you’re somewhat of a coach. Oc therapist laying on the couch. Tell me about this and tell me about that. And then you help draw out some ideas and emotions. Oh, I don’t like the color pink, so I don’t really want a pink house. Well, guess what? We will take that off our criteria.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:11] Or we can paint. Yeah, Yeah, you’re right. Because people kind of become unreasonable. Imagine about what they want and don’t want.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:20:18] And some people are not visual either. Like they’re. You have to explain things and so they’re analytics, so you have to explain, okay, so this is a gray room. You like the color blue. It’s paint. It’s easy to fix this.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:35] Not a hard No, it’s not a hard.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:20:36] No, this is not a hard no. Do you like the space? Is it nice of a nice night of daylight? Is it ceilings high enough? Does it have fixtures? Does this seem to fit like a good feel? If you were to paint it blue and you have to tap into that and you have to know how to ask, ask those questions.

Sharon Cline: [00:20:51] Did you always have those skills, though, or was it something you had to develop as you got further into your industry?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:20:57] It’s not just this industry. When you’re called on the coals for delivering certain deliverables as part of a contractual arrangement on delivering a piece of software or code, you have to know how to define the specifics. Okay, this is what we’re going to do. This is a milestone. A once we hit milestone A, you get to pay me some money. And then we hit Milestone B. You had to pay me some more money and most don’t see you get to pay. And then when we hit D, you’re going to sign the final amount and we’re we’re going to say everything’s happy. Go lucky. We’re done. Mm hmm. So you understand, everything comes in stages. They come in small chunks. You have to take the elephant breaking up into small pieces. And that’s what you kind of have to set expectations with people because they’ve. Some people have never bought a house. Hmm. So you have to explain to them the process. You have to educate them on the different steps. You have to address their questions.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:49] As daunting industry task. It’s a daunting dream, I think.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:21:53] A dream? Yeah. Owning a house.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:54] Yeah.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:21:55] That’s American dream, baby. Let’s go.

Sharon Cline: [00:21:59] But there’s so much to it. Like anytime someone needed a document from me, I like would start to panic a little bit. Like, Oh, if I don’t get this document, I’m not going to get this house. Like, I just was high maintenance with myself regarding it. So it is. But, but if you have the right person kind of holding your hand, like you said, almost a therapist, just give me the document. It’s fine. You have until next week what you know, but dealing with different personalities, I imagine you have to be pretty adept.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:22:22] You have to you have to listen. If you’re listening, then you can understand their challenges. And if they’re being truthful, then that’s great. But it’s the moment when it’s you’re not. You’re like, why are you? How come I haven’t heard from you in two weeks? You know, then there’s something they’re usually right. Something they don’t want to talk about. Got you. Something that they don’t want to come to terms with themselves, maybe. And so you have to force the conversation. So that has come for years and years of working in a relationship management business.

Sharon Cline: [00:22:49] So let’s talk about where you were before. What were you doing before you got into real estate?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:22:54] Good. Good question. So I spent quite a bit of time in the Atlanta market and in the Southeast helping large companies automate different technical processes between different systems. And I can get real complex. I’m going to try to keep it as general as I can.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:11] Oh, you’re kind to me by doing it that way. I want to follow.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:23:15] Okay, well, here we go. So we take data out of one system, we manipulate it, and we poke it into seven other systems.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:23] Great. Okay. I can understand. I have, like, a visual in my head of what that looks like. Yeah. So how does that industry compare to what you’re doing now?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:23:32] It’s a lot of. I mean, it’s problem solving.

Sharon Cline: [00:23:35] Oh, that’s so interesting. Yep. Same same kind of theory behind it.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:23:39] Project management, problem solving, you know, You know, in health care, the biggest thing is, you know, patient record, patient ID numbers and a database, I mean, excuse me, date of birth. And so security numbers being able to take those and query and pull back information that’s actionable that we can do something with in pokemon’s systems so that nobody has to do a bunch of data entry.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:02] Got you. Wow. Across. So, like, let’s say I go to one CVS and I need to get this prescription and I want to go to a different one because I’m in a different city, but I want them to have access to my information. Is that the kind of thing that you’re talking about?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:24:15] No. Think of it more like between hospital and their tertiary facilities around the outside or a bank between their partners that they’re working with or an insurance company and the partners that they’re working with.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:28] So it’s not within that exact bank, but it’s with the network that they have outside of it.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:24:32] There is a big box retail company here in downtown Atlanta that used to buy carpet from a big box carpet company in Dalton.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:39] Okay.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:24:39] They had processes set up that were very manual between them. I helped connect both of them so that they wouldn’t have to spend hours and hours and hours of doing data entry.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:49] They must have loved you.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:24:51] I don’t know what they did. I love working with them.

Sharon Cline: [00:24:54] I bet they did anything to make things easier.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:24:56] Yeah. You know, if you can save money, then that’s always a win, right? Because they have budgets and they have to meet these budgets and they have certain criteria they’re trying to accomplish for the year. And if they can hit those targets and then they get bonuses, so they win, too.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:09] Well, if you’re just joining us, I’m speaking to Joey Alvin Swain, who’s a real estate expert here in Woodside.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:25:14] Thank you.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:15] We were talking a little bit before the show about how litigious your industry is. Let’s talk a little bit about that. Can you can you talk about that?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:25:24] I can touch on it. I would say that I’m not a real estate attorney. I don’t do those types of things. I will say the industry does have a lot of regulation. I don’t think people realize that.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:36] Now, you were mentioning. Oh, go ahead. Sorry.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:25:39] No, go ahead.

Sharon Cline: [00:25:39] Well, you were mentioning how you can’t really speak about this. This is a good school. This is a good school district. You have to frame it in a way that is very fact based where I can back this up, not my opinion, but fact. So they say top rated schools or top schools, is that right?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:25:55] Well, the way it would work is that I’m not allowed to have any opinions about anything. So it’s about it’s about the facts of the property. Got, you know, square footage, size of acreage, tax rate, millage rate, you know, the age of the roof, those types of things. And so if it’s located in Woodstock, Georgia, then that’s the criteria they provided. And they provided me maybe number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, and you punch it in and you put a price point to it, excuse me. And then there’s there it is. And so then you proceed from there. They may choose to take their criteria and narrow it further. Maybe they want a pool. Maybe they want to be in a certain school district. You know, those are things that they would provide me. But I’m prohibited from providing crime stats and sex, age, religion, national origin, sexual preference. You know, you just go on and on. The list is all the federal housing stuff that typically we can’t discuss.

Sharon Cline: [00:26:50] But people that that’s important to. You know what I’m saying? Like I would like to live in it, but I guess I can do my own research on on my own. That’s that’s what you would recommend for someone.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:26:58] Well, I can provide you some links to places to go and do your research. That’s. That’s where it would come from. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:04] So. You’re concerned, right about the way that you like. You walk on eggshells a little bit about the way you speak. Is that right?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:27:13] No, I wouldn’t say I’m concerned. I just have to be very direct in how I communicate. And there are things that I can and can’t discuss. And I’ve had to call people out and tell them, hey, I’m not allowed to discuss these topics because it would it would I’ll lose my license. And I’m not losing my livelihood over a question. So some of the things that are defined by federal housing law, which everybody can read and pull up, just off topic, it’s just we can’t discuss it. And so I want people to come to me and work with somebody that’s transparent. It’s factually based. They can give you information and give you resources to go and find information. And that’s really the goal.

Sharon Cline: [00:27:50] I wonder if I’ve asked I mean, I’m sure I’ve asked questions that I don’t know that I’m asking something.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:27:57] Sometimes you have I mean I mean, with us in real estate, we hear it from a lot of different parties. I mean, it could come from anywhere. It could be somebody moving in from out of state, could basically be moving across town. It could be anything. Right. But you have to it’s your job to protect your your livelihood. And so you just have to be very direct and very succinct in your communication.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:15] I didn’t know as well that they will test you, you know, send people to especially ask you questions that you’re not allowed to answer to see what you’re going to do. That’s terrifying.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:28:28] Well, I mean.

Sharon Cline: [00:28:29] I suppose it’s not if you’re if you’re on it.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:28:31] Well, I mean, we’re surveilled just about every day, right? So I go show a house and there’s a ring door camera on the front porch, and then you walk inside and there’s cameras all through the house. So everything I say and do is recorded and can be used against me. And it could get used against my clients. You know, people like to snoop. They like to listen. People like to understand who the people walking through their homes, you know, So you have to understand that we’re in a constant state of surveillance when we’re visiting other people’s properties. And again, they have the right to do that. Right. It’s their personal property, it’s their home. So they’re welcoming us in and we just spend time, you know, discussing the property and just know that I set the expectation to my clients, you know, this is going to be the case. I mean, it’s more now in the last couple of years than it’s been the previous three. I just see more and more cameras everywhere.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:17] How it make me so uncomfortable.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:29:19] It’s not comfortable because I don’t do anything wrong.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:22] You know what I mean? Am I wrong? It’s a question, you know, It’s something it’s like, I don’t think I’m being watched all the time. I don’t know what I’m doing or not doing that I would want to justify or explain. I’m not positive, but if I had a camera on me all the time, I guess I’d be. I’d be more conscious, I suppose.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:29:38] I mean, people have cell phones too, that they turn on record and you’d never know it. And then you’re walking around with them, you know, you just never know. You know, I run my life through I try to be as transparent as I can. And and the reality is, is that I’m here to serve my clients. I’m here to to provide them with information, to educate them and empower them and inform them so they can make the best decisions for them.

Sharon Cline: [00:29:58] Do you have a favorite story? Favorite story Like a like a like a really proud moment is that you were like, Yes, I was so happy this worked out. Is there something that’s just especially special?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:30:10] Well, you know, the last couple of years, up until about September of this year, as we all know, you’ve seen the news. Everybody’s seen the headlines. There’s been a lot of people that have been buying houses and a lot of demand for houses because interest rates were abnormally low, like never been this way before. So it creates a lot of demand. And so I spent a lot of time with some clients. I want to say it was almost a year. We looked at approximately 58 homes a year.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:37] It’s a long time, right?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:30:38] It depends. I mean, I worked with another set of clients for two and a half years before we found their house. You know, there was a lot of things that they were doing behind the scenes that you you know, when we landed their home, they were the happiest they’ve been in a long time.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:49] So but you develop a relationship with people over two and a half or a year.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:30:53] You know, I heard a saying the other day that says a client will become a friend before a friend will become a client.

Sharon Cline: [00:30:59] Oh, interesting.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:30:59] Isn’t that an interesting concept?

Sharon Cline: [00:31:01] Yeah, like, it’s interesting. I’ve never thought of it that way. I like that.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:31:03] Yeah. And there’s people, like, maybe acquaintances that know you may have known you in the past. Life roll different.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:09] They don’t see you as.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:31:11] Exactly. And so they may call you and you may spend time with them and you may help them buy a house and then all sudden you’re helping their family buy houses. You know, it’s a good referral source. But, you know, you may not have been closest to friends, but, you know, it’s good.

Sharon Cline: [00:31:23] You know, it’s great. So there was a client you had that you after a year or so, you were able to find a place for them?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:31:30] Yeah, it was it was interesting because we had put in, I think, 11 or 12 offers. We’d lost out. Okay. There was a cap on that process that they weren’t going to go above and they were very analytic. So they were like, If it doesn’t meet this criteria, we’re stopping. And so we spent a lot of time going through the homes and looking at houses as soon as they hit the market. And, you know, it’s you have to continue to serve, serve, serve, serve. And then when we found one that was kind of wasn’t off market, but it wasn’t marketed correctly as the best I can describe it, it was in one system, but not in another system. So it didn’t have the visibility as it would have if it was in the in both systems. And so I was able to find it. We were able to look at it and we were able to put an offer, get under list price, got some concessions, got a few other little things, and we closed in 30 days. And they would they were ecstatic about it because they had been doing this for for over a year.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:22] It almost sounds like it had some divine ness to it. Almost, almost, if you believe in any. But I do know sometimes things happen for a reason that you can’t really explain.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:32:32] Yeah, good people. They became really close friends, so.

Sharon Cline: [00:32:35] Well, that’s huge. I mean, I think that says a lot about who you are to. Yeah, well, what advice would you give to people who are getting started? I know we were talking about making sure that you’ve got maybe potentially a safety net or knowing at least knowing when you’re getting started that you’ve got about a year and a half, two years to get yourself to where you feel like you can really be stable. So, you know, a lot of people we were just talking about making decisions and being afraid before the show started. But yeah, it’s like the notion of if you don’t make a decision, it’s still making a decision. But a lot of people out there, you know, feel like my favorite word. Daunted into getting into the industry, what would you recommend to them?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:33:13] Well, I would say that you need to sit down with people that are productive, that are producing agents, and have a conversation about what are the real reels. And again, the real reels of real estate. Right. What what kind of obstacles am I going to see, what I’m going to have to overcome and have a just a real honest conversation? Because I feel like sometimes those turn into recruiting conversations, Oh, come work with us. We got a great program that can bring you up to speed. Et cetera, etc., etc.. But, you know, this is the hardest job I’ve ever worked because it’s not just a very personal job, because I’m putting myself personally out there. I’m working with my clients are putting themselves very personally out there. Excuse me. I’m also trying to accomplish a real large financial transaction for them, help them achieve their goals, and understanding those goals are critical and they’re critical to me because I want to make sure that I’ve exceeded those goals. But they’re also critical to them and they may only want to be in a particular location for two years, three years, five years. Then you have to know that that’s the goal. If you don’t know that and you’re trying to find in the Forever home, then you’ve not done a good job trying to understand their needs. So, you know, most people move 7 to 10 times in a lifetime, you know, from a I don’t know if it’s rentals or included in that. I’m maybe quoting this way off, so don’t hold me to it.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:39] But it sounds about right.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:34:41] Yeah, sounds about right. You know, so, you know, people upsize and they downsize. You know, some people find vacation homes, second homes, third homes. So, you know, that could be counted as part of that, too. But, you know.

Sharon Cline: [00:34:56] Are there things that you are not afraid of anymore? Having been in this industry that you previously were?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:35:02] Afraid.

Sharon Cline: [00:35:03] I know. Afraid is a kind of an all encompassing word of sort of maybe uncomfortable, unsure.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:35:11] I just. I’m getting real comfortable being uncomfortable. Mean, I mean, David Goggin said it best. He’s a if you follow him online, he’s a motivator. He’s a savage as best I can describe it. But he, you know, if you get get comfortable with being uncomfortable, you’re ready for when things go sideways. And that’s what I’m always thinking. This is running real smooth, almost too smooth. When is it going to go sideways? Okay. When is something going to pop up then I’m not prepared for. What am I missing in the process? Because I’m asking myself that my clients are happy as could be, you know, properly appraised. Everything’s good. Money’s been sent to the attorney. We’re already moving out, packing stuff. They’re happy, and I’m glad they’re happy because that’s what they need to be in this process. But if I’m sitting over here going, okay, are they going to make the money deposit? Is this going to. Have they not done their part on their side? What am I missing? Is there another transaction here that I missed? You know, you’re constantly asking yourself, you know, how are we going to overcome, you know, what’s what’s something that could come out of the side here and derail this. So if you’re constantly prepared for that, then you’re hopefully going to be able to react to that in a more efficient manner and maybe anticipate it. So maybe you’ve already set an expectation over here.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:36:30] You know, I had one the other day, we got an offer on a property. It was a great offer. I called the lender on on my listing. So I called the lender and had a conversation with the lender. And they’re like, I have to call you right back. We need to look at our file. Great. Come to find out the buyers weren’t even qualified for this amount because the rates had gone up in a month. Oh, wow. So I had to tell my clients, Here’s a great offer. I have to present it to you. But based on law, I would say accept it. But right now the lender says they can’t buy it. And so my clients were like, Oh, great. Oh no, really? I was like, Sorry to waste your time, but they can’t buy it for this amount. They’re only qualified $50,000 under this. And then they were like, Are you? I can’t believe that. And so when I told the other agent that, I said, you know, here’s here’s your offer, we’re you know, we’re not going to accept it, even though it was great, but we’re not going to accept it trying to terminate it. There’s no reason to do that. So just want to give you a heads up. Your lender said they don’t qualify and the letter was literally 30 days old. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Sharon Cline: [00:37:33] How volatile is this industry?

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:37:35] Well, I mean, you always have to be thinking what’s going to pop up? What’s going to pop up? And it’s because I want to do a good service for my clients. If I’m focused on that, then I’m going to continually do the right thing. It’s always about that.

Sharon Cline: [00:37:50] Well, if anyone out there is listening and wants to have a realtor, how can they contact you? It’s real estate. Joe is what we call real estate show.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:37:57] I am the real estate Joe Around here. It’s easy for me online. Joe Hammond swinging. Just a simple Google search will pop up to probably three or four different profiles, all the major websites. But you know, the real estate real estate Joe sells dot com is my website. It’s really easy to pop there and find that but I’ve got a great search tool. I’ve got a great home evaluation tool that I use. These things are tools that I use in the industry to help educate people because I feel like today I’m more of a coach and an advisor than I am an agent.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:27] You wear many hats.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:38:28] I do. They don’t fit, though. I’m a big head. I don’t mean like that, but I mean, you know. You know what I mean?

Sharon Cline: [00:38:38] Well, I really. Real estate. Joe, I really appreciate you coming on the show and and being willing to talk about what it’s like to be a bit of a vulnerable person when it’s not. That’s not something that I think is is lauded as much as it should be.

Joe Hammonds-Swain: [00:38:50] Wow. Thank you, Sharon. It’s been fantastic. You know, it’s fun to come in here and have conversations. So if I can be of help to anyone, let me know.

Sharon Cline: [00:38:57] We’ll do. And all of you out there. Thank you for listening to Fearless Formula. I’m Business RadioX. And again, this is Sharon Cline reminding you that with knowledge and understanding, we can all have our own fearless formula. Have a great day.