Open The Gate
Breaking down Sacramento Real Estate: Our Favorite People, Places and Mindsets
Open The Gate
Ep. 6: The Samantha Tov Story - From Immigrant Struggles to Real Estate Stardom
Feel the pulse of an ever-evolving real estate market through the experiences of those at its heart. Join us as we explore a world where interest rates sway fortunes and life's milestones carve paths through the property landscape. We're sitting down with Samantha Tov, whose journey from humble beginnings to real estate magnate encapsulates that quintessential American dream.
Step into the shoes of an immigrant whose resilience forged a path from poverty to prosperity. Samantha's story isn't just a tale of financial triumph; it's a heartfelt saga of sacrifice, loss, and a family's unbreakable spirit. Ride along as we discuss the real estate market's future, gleaming with potential as we transition from scarcity to abundance, from uncertainty to the promise of a thriving community ready to welcome change with open arms.
Get ready to be inspired by tales of culinary adventures and leadership breakthroughs. Sacramento's own melting pot of culture, cuisine, and real estate vibrancy serves as the backdrop to our conversation about the significance of community and the power of determination. As we unpack the journey of the first Asian female president of her association, we celebrate the relentless pursuit of success against all odds.
All right, Dan, how's your week going?
Speaker 2:Yeah, buddy, it's been fantastic. The year is off to a hot start, feel a nice little groundswell in the real estate space and just super, super excited. There's so much optimism out there. In attending some of these office meetings and different MLS meetings, things like that, the energy is very exciting right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree. I feel like something interesting can happen. In the last month of the year is that we saw interest rates really start to come down significantly from the highs around. I don't know, it was probably Halloween time, but the cool thing about that was, as they started to fall was at a seasonally slow time in real estate where we were kind of going to the holidays and I just had this feeling that we were gonna come out of the new year. People were gonna be putting away the Christmas decorations, interest rates have kind of stayed and they bumped up a little bit, but we're definitely a better place than we were a few months ago and I feel like we're off and running here in January.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. I think that we're just right on the crisp of that breaking point where sellers or homeowners who have that super, super low interest rate it's getting close enough to match up with the amount of equity they have to get them off the fence and maybe list their property and go find the next property or the best, the better fit or whatever. That is the next stage in their life starting to see and feel that we're getting a lot closer to that gap.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would agree and I think just having kind of a year that slowed down or a year and a half people's life continued. You know, we had unfortunately some divorces, what depends on how you look at it. Unfortunately some more kids and people just have to move, regardless of what their interest rate is.
Speaker 2:It's cold winters, baby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly man, no more COVID babies. So well, tell me a quick intro on our guest today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Samantha Tov, one of my absolute favorite people in the industry, jokingly my work wife. She has the same birthday as my actual wife.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that she referred before you got to the studio as your work husband, so it's mutual.
Speaker 2:Hey, hey. Like Marina's aware of it, sam's aware of it, we're all good. Sam is an absolute force in our industry. Her and I got linked up probably about eight years ago or so, when she was involved with Women's Council Realtors. She asked me if I would be involved and as she was asking, I felt her hand grip the back of my collar and I knew I was in.
Speaker 2:So it's like when your dad asked you to go help your mom with something 100% yeah, it's one of the tactics I need to start employing at home on my own children. It was very, very subtle, yet effective. Yeah, it worked.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so Cool. Well, let's bring her out here. I'm the survivor, I'm not gonna give up. I'm not gonna stop her, I'm gonna work harder. I'm the survivor, I'm gonna make it. I'm the survivor. I'm the survivor. All right, sam welcome.
Speaker 3:Hi, thank you for having me today.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us. I gotta be honest, we were all grooving there a little bit too, and that's not even beyond that. That was Destiny's Shouts old school.
Speaker 2:I didn't think we had a chance of getting Sam into the shoot man like she's actually here. I thought we were doing this thing over the phone, but she is in the shoot ready to go open the gate. Let's get it.
Speaker 1:I love it. I'm just gonna say for those of you who cannot see, we've had a handful of guests on here already and some pretty people that are used to commanding a room, and they were a little nervous coming in here. They were exuding a little bit of nerves, which is understandable, and we got them kind of up and running and we fell into it. But I'm not getting those vibes today. Sam, I feel like full confidence. You had your game facing off from the instant we walked in and Sam was here before both of us, so I'm a little embarrassed about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, did you go through my drawers?
Speaker 1:No, yeah, your wallet was empty already.
Speaker 2:Let's see, there's no money in that thing come on.
Speaker 1:I got a club volleyball man.
Speaker 2:I got a club volleyball player. There's no money in that wallet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, I'm right behind you here. So, sam, tell us about why you chose. I'm a survivor.
Speaker 3:You know, if you've heard my story, I am a true survivor. I've gone through everything that you can think of, including the kitchen sink, and I'm still here standing. I feel like my life has always been like. I'm on the beach, the wave is constantly pushing me down and I keep getting back up, and I'm still here. So that is like my one word probably 2024,. I am a survivor, but I'm here to make a difference.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, I mean persistent Sam is. Sam is, in my opinion, the epitome of persistence. Let's dig into that, sam, because you could probably be described as somebody who is essentially living out the American dream. Now, that American dream certainly wasn't handed to you by any stretch. You've earned everything that you have. Everything that you have and then some. So talk a little bit about how did you get here?
Speaker 3:How far back do you?
Speaker 1:want to go, oh we want it all.
Speaker 2:Let's go back to just after birth.
Speaker 1:We'll skip the birth story and we'll go from the Genesis.
Speaker 3:You know what I was thinking about that, because I'm starting to write my installation speech. How much should I share? How much will my audience want to know? It's too much, too much.
Speaker 1:Today would be a great trial run because it's gonna be for you know. I think we're up to. We got over 100 downloads, so I'm imagining you're gonna have a few more ears at your installation speech than today. So this is a good dry run.
Speaker 2:It's a pretty massive following over here at Open the Gate.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:As it should be Mr Dan. Yeah, and stand the man.
Speaker 1:Stand the man. Well, yeah, tell us a little bit more. I think you know the main goal of this podcast was for people to have a space where they could open up and be intentional and maybe speak, you know, without some of the not lack of professionalism that they normally have, but to take off the shroud a little bit of. We're all industry facing professionals and we all have a brand, and, although we will all continue to maintain that we just really wanted this for to be a space where we could get to know people better and not focus on production numbers and what's going on in the industry, and we'd love to get to know you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't know how much Dan knows about me or I've shared with him, but okay, let's go back to my early childhood. In 1975, I was probably two or three years old I was disrupted out of my house. You know there's shooting bombs, all of that.
Speaker 1:And where were you living at the time?
Speaker 3:My family survived the genocide war in Cambodia. So we were homeless for three and a half years. We live in concentration camps, we live in the woods, wherever we look for food, scrap for food, eight bugs, whatever you can think of dirty, muddy water. You wait until the mud goes down, you boil the water and you know. I lived through poverty that you wouldn't imagine and in 1979, with the help of the USA Army and the Red Cross, my family won a lottery, A lottery of coming to America. So it was literally you put your name in a hat and they pull, and two social workers in Oklahoma City, the heart of America, sponsored my family to America. We came to America with a bag of rice, probably a couple of dollars. My parents did whatever job they could janitor or dishwasher, whatever they could to put in meats. I remember, you know, when our other families moved in. We lived in a one bedroom apartment with like a dozen people with cockroaches and all that stuff. So that is true poverty.
Speaker 3:With living that life, you work twice as hard. You never throw away scraps. Some days when my parents are working, my grandma would take us to the Safeway Market. We don't go in the market, we go in the dumpster. We dumpster dive for our food, vegetables, whatever they're throw away. We would take it to the heart. You know, throw it away the outside, get the inside of the cabbage or whatever. So I've lived that life School supplies, I would go in the back of office supplies and dumpster dive for pens, papers, whatever. But that is true. Like people see me now, they think that everything is handed to me. Now I work hard for my parents, my parents. I started translating for them when they bought their first house, probably at nine or 10 years old.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:Learning English is my third language. You know, as a child there was no translation in Oklahoma. It's very little people of Asian descent or immigrants back then. But they moved to California because they wanted to be business, entrepreneur and not have that language barrier. So they moved and they continue to work, but they open businesses up.
Speaker 3:We ran a couple of yoga shops, couple of donor shops, a few Chinese restaurants and but they never believed in allowing me to go to school, to go to college. I was actually going to run away and go to college. I already registered at Cal State, northridge. I wanted to be an attorney. I got my apartment, got my student ID. I was going to run away at 18. I wanted to pursue a college degree. But that all kind of just went away because my parents, a month before I, had all these plans in place. They bought me a Chinese restaurant at 18 years old. They spent $300,000 on buying me a restaurant. I gave up my college dream. I gave up everything to run the restaurant for my parents because that was sort of life savings. They saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, even though I was raised very young.
Speaker 3:At age seven I was cooking and cleaning, babysitting my brother and sisters while my parents work at 12. I was already translating, doing you know order forms, and running the business, doing health department all of that I was already doing that. So at 18, six years, in learning the business from my mother, who was a force to be reckoned and that's where I get my synergy and my energy and my persistence from them. She was harder on me than anybody else, harder than my brothers and sisters, because I was a middle child, middle child syndrome, right, and I ran that for about a year. And then the restaurant she bought me was in LA and the Rodney King riot happened. I saw the mod squad coming up Vermont Boulevard. I locked up everything. I went home, came back the next day it was totally destroyed. All the windows, everything that they could pick up was gone. You know, it took us a couple of weeks to rebuild it, but we rebuilt it. And another thing happened like six months later my mom was, she was the, she was everything to me and I saw so much empathy and compassion towards my mom.
Speaker 3:There was a flood in China. Her restaurant was a big Chinese dim sum restaurant. The Chinese government needed help and there was a flood Her restaurant in one weekend, raised over $40,000 and donated it to China. And they asked her what do you want in return? She goes I want to find my father. During the war we got split up so my mom was going to go to China and find her father with the government's help in January, but in December in December, my mom was kidnapped and killed in Monterey Park.
Speaker 3:I was 19. My mom was what do you want? If I told you before when I walked in I've lived a life that nobody wants to live and I survived that. I became a head of household. I helped work twice as hard, if not harder, running the businesses for my family. My dad likes to gamble, like every typical Asian, and you know I worked really hard, put both my brothers and sisters through college and ran the businesses.
Speaker 3:But then I got married. I married a guy that needed help and I helped him in more ways than one. You know I it was kind of like an arranged marriage. I gave him his green card as US assistant, but they're the father of my kids.
Speaker 3:I wanted to make it work, not just on paper but in life. I always dreamed like watching TV leave it to be versus a family. You know you do everything together, right, but that didn't happen. You know he traveled a lot and you know your eyes go to wonder. So, anyways, he left when I started real estate. Within a year he goes.
Speaker 3:I don't know why you're doing real estate. You're not going to be any good at it, you know, and I and I continued doing it. My kids were about five and six when he left, so I became a single parent. But I got really involved with association at SAR and P car and I just love my second family. If I had any kind of struggles, those were my second families. They would get me to it. The laughter, just the volunteering, the compassionate heart. I think back where my mom is. You pay forward and continue keeping doing what you do best. I want to continue her legacy by giving back more. I want to hopefully in the future be a philanthropy, not give my own money because I'm no money but I want to give away other people's money.
Speaker 3:But I want to continue the help and helping others and, just like the social worker that sponsored my family here, I want to make differences in people's lives, if it's not just with the association but in the community as well.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. I'm just going to stop you there for a half a second. That is heavy and amazing and I feel like you should put as much of that into your installation speeches you feel comfortable with, because that is a story.
Speaker 3:I don't know that, Dan. Did you know all of that?
Speaker 2:I knew most of it, yeah.
Speaker 2:Here's the thing next to him. I've been in the room. I mean it's a massive part of my adoration for you and who you are and what you're able to do and how you're willing to go about it. You're one of those people that I look at and go God, how does she do everything? And we haven't even touched on your brokerage and your relationship with Judy and everything that the two of you do in the Asian community in Elk Grove and Greater Sacramento.
Speaker 2:But it does kind of lead us to the next question we have, because you're the incoming SAR president. We talked about the installation, some big shoes to fill down there, some just incredible things going on down there diversification, equity and inclusion, everything that's going on in Sacramento. For me, who's been in the greater Sacramento area for about 12 years now, just seeing that town go from a little map dot on the way to Tahoe that was the capital of California to what it is today, only just a few years later, with the farm to fork movement and everything else that's going on there, so incredible. So for you to be stepping in as the SAR president, the president, the face of the movement towards people buying and selling real estate and investing in real estate down there.
Speaker 3:I have some exciting things coming as my initiative as president, as you know me.
Speaker 2:So let's hear it lay it out what can you share with us what? Kind of goals, what kind of stuff can you share with us?
Speaker 3:So you know me anything that I do, I want to do it in a grand scale. So that goes to hints, where my theme is. It's the next level.
Speaker 1:It's the next level.
Speaker 3:Next level. So everything that we do this year, it's already Probably kick started, starting with our installation sold out. Over 410 days coming and it sold out. Everybody wants a ticket and I have no control. It's done.
Speaker 1:Presidential pardon yeah.
Speaker 2:Black tie man.
Speaker 3:I gotta get a put a bow tie on oh Hollywood glam, we're taking it back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think Dan and I are going to go dressed in the blush. What are they? The Dumb and Dumber suits, orange and blue Top hats.
Speaker 3:I love it. I love it. So one of my initiatives for this year is I want to be more hands on as a president. I want to be part of the professional development which replaces the education. I want to do more events. I want to bring more masterminds together this podcast is amazing. I know SAR has their own podcast as well House keys and I want to bring more top reducing panels together, not just from the ones that you already seen. All the time, the same people all the time. I want to bring new people, new blood or seasoned people that share their secret sauce, and that's what our members are looking for. That's what our members are craving.
Speaker 3:How do you want to fill the room when you do an event? You do an event what people want, what people are not sharing, right, so you want to be part of that room and I love coming into Dan's office when I saw his thing. You know our family is being part of the community. That is huge. That's who I am. I'm always about bringing the community in, bringing our members in. How can we collaborate with everybody and unite everybody? It doesn't matter what brokerages you work for when you're at the association, it's hats, your hat is out to that. We do one thing and we come together and we elevate one another in any way possible.
Speaker 2:There is no company where we're just one unity, and sometimes, if they don't want to come along, you just drag them. Yeah, you just put that on punch them, prod them, and you just make them do, but at the end of the day they'll wake up and say, oh, that was really good for them.
Speaker 1:The firm hand on the back of the knaps.
Speaker 2:It's called Voluntile, yeah.
Speaker 1:Voluntile. I've been Voluntile for a lot of things over the years, so I learned how to wash dishes at a young age.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, just talk for a second about we just came off of. You know, regardless of production numbers as a whole, the industry's been kind of gutted the last couple of years here. So we've got more people out of the industry than there have ever been. Volume was down, sales transactions, regardless of who you are, for the most part are down. So you've got an incoming SAR president who I'm a survivor is their song who's got a tale. That is pretty impressive. How do you bring that energy kind of on the tail end of what we're hoping is the end of what's been a tough couple of years?
Speaker 3:So one of my initiatives that I'm actually bringing to SAR is starting in global business. So NIR has a global business, so this SCAR, but we don't have it here in Sacramento. Sacramento is the hub, it's the capital and we're the most diverse city, if not any. You go to all these different area, from Roseville, carmichael, faro, xfosum, southsac, elgrove, lodi, galtz you know we're so diverse Only from the Bay Area is moving here during COVID right and why do we not have global business? So how can we help our members get more business? Is they need to learn how to get the referral business? If not the referral business coming in, we can refer out and setting up global business is going to be the next thing. That's going to be everybody's going to want to learn. It's like how do I be part of that? So we're starting out in April. We're offering a certification. It's CIPS, which is certified international property specialist, and once you get that destination you get to be in the hub, in the network, in the you know community of other people that are certified. Did you know that NAR has like over 26 countries as part of the NAR, which is the National Association of Realtors, and out of that probably they said, about 17,000 members, like worldwide, that's looking in to invest in the United States. How can we tap in?
Speaker 3:So I'm super excited and starting that as my committee.
Speaker 3:I've been working on it since last year, took all the classes and talking to NAR and I think our members going to really love what I have in place. And then I already knows when I have my mind on something I'm going to make it big, grander, and that's where the next level is going to be. I want I want all of our preferred partners, affiliates, everybody in the industries, to be part of that, because they can be part of the business and that's how we're going to grow, not just our member, but bring more people together and collaborate and share that with everybody. So I think it's really exciting and I've already talked to some of the siblings neighboring associations and some of their CEOs or the presidents. Like Sam, when you do that class, let me know I'm going to send my members go there and get certified because our association is smaller, but if you do it we'll support you or come there and I love that. I love that other association neighboring. There's no competition. They're willing to help one another and that's what I want to bring.
Speaker 2:More collaboration and less competition. You know it's so funny. I think all of us are maybe either on the older end of the millennial demographic or maybe just slightly older than the millennial demographic.
Speaker 3:I don't know, I just turned 50.
Speaker 2:But I will say, like I mean, you know, the millennials have taken their, have taken their lumps as far as all the things that we've said about them. But, man, that generation has pushed collaboration and you, just with that, coupled with technology, the amount of growth that we've been able to attain across the board, and it's not just in the real estate industry but just everywhere, where you just find it's that old mentality More people pulling weight can move a lot more weight. Super, super cool. So refreshing to hear that you know, as someone who's pretty highly involved in both, you know Sacramento and Placer County, and even El Dorado County and Association of Realtors, seeing, seeing that that driving force to say you know, we're going to, we're going to get together on more stuff we're going to unite everybody because we are greater Sacramento and you know the demographics.
Speaker 2:You know we all follow Ryan. We've had Ryan on the show. He was our first guest. The amount of people moving into the greater Sacramento area compared to the amount of people moving out of California is astonishing. People want to be here, they want to be a part of this thing, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm a big area transplant Blake's.
Speaker 2:you know Washington transplant.
Speaker 1:So I think, the only person that moved to California during COVID, that's probably yeah, it was me. No, there was more than that, I think during COVID.
Speaker 3:they said that Sacramento or greater El Grove was the number one city that was in the nation that was moving yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, el Grove is massive. It just continues to grow. It's an incredible community, like you said. Touching on the diversity, the food, the people, I mean what do they have? Seven or eight high schools down there? Now, it's just, you know. I mean, when cities grow at that rate, there's a reason, there's something to it and you know, I think you and your team and everything that you guys do definitely just does nothing but add to that. So, with that said, what are some of your favorite things about where you live? Like, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 3:So everyone thinks I live in El Grove. I don't. I live in downtown, in Safflon Park, and I don't really kind of promote myself. What I do for fun. Do I ever have time for fun?
Speaker 1:Five minutes is it, yeah, the best podcast in the greater North Sacramento region.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think my fun is probably just supporting all the different organizations. Like tonight Nora is having their installation, that is the Hicks Manic Real Estate Association and you know we have so many things, different things, but my happy place probably is probably in my kitchen cooking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you like to make?
Speaker 3:I love to cook anything that you can think of. I will try to make it and I'll make it as delicious as you've ever had it.
Speaker 2:No PTSD from when you own the restaurant, you're good.
Speaker 3:The restaurant gave me you know how. You have all the sauces, all the vegetables. You just want to throw things together. It actually gave me I don't have recipes, but I just know how to cook stuff Like I can make the best spaghetti that you ever have I can make. So I cook international cuisines. Like if I go to the restaurant that tastes good, I'm going to go home and try and make that better.
Speaker 1:Anything that you brought from your Cambodian heritage. I got to be honest, I'm a little ignorant about what that would even be.
Speaker 3:I was born in Cambodia, but I'm a hundred percent Chinese. You can't get more Chinese than me. I took a 23 and me is 98.99% Chinese.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was Dan too. Wasn't that your number, yeah?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so Cambodia. I love their cuisine. I like spice, so I'm very spicy.
Speaker 1:I can see that that bleeds through, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I think that's a little bit of your heritage you got with us. You don't want to do a spice eating contest with me, because I win.
Speaker 2:Oh, wow. What's your go to? You're hosting dinner. What are you cooking?
Speaker 3:Anything.
Speaker 2:I'm coming over for dinner.
Speaker 3:Me and.
Speaker 2:Marina are coming over for dinner Anytime. What are you cooking us?
Speaker 3:Anytime In the summer I'll invite you over.
Speaker 2:Let's do it, have a nice backyard.
Speaker 3:Well, do a crawfish feed.
Speaker 2:Yes, I love that. Roll out the butcher paper and just spill it right on the table. Oh my God, isn't that the best? Oh my God, you know.
Speaker 3:Or, you can try hot pot. I don't know if you've tried hot pot oh.
Speaker 1:I've heard about hot pot.
Speaker 3:Just open some in Roseville, Rockland, Shabu.
Speaker 2:I'll have to go check them out, for sure.
Speaker 1:Well, you know one thing or two about. We had Kaylee Cornell out here a couple weeks ago and she talked about her love, you know specifically Faroq's. But Sacramento is a greater region and Dan just talked about a little bit ago, like this influx of people and the movement and how things have changed there. But one thing that Kaylee pointed out and I think we both agreed is that people seem to really love being here. There's a greater pride for this town that certainly before I moved to California I knew Sacramento was, you know, the capital, but I didn't really know much else about it and I think it's. It seemed seemingly I don't want to piss anybody off like the little brother of LA and San Diego and San Francisco and and the people here seem to really love this place and it's an influx of a ton of people. What do you love about this community?
Speaker 3:So I've lived in a few different places that you already talked about and touch. The best thing about Sacramento I can tell people and I tell my clients is just the same. It's a great place to raise family.
Speaker 3:There's sports, there's parks, there's activities. If you want to be on the river, you want to be on the water, you want to beach, go to the river. There's beaches are there. There's Folsom Lake, there's. There's so much.
Speaker 3:Like when honor short Schwarzenegger was in office, he did a commercial and I thought it was the best commercial. He goes, you're an hour and a half from Napa, you're an hour from Tahoe, You're an hour and a half flight from LA. So it's the best place to be, cause you can go anywhere. If you want to go to the beaches, hour and a half you can go to Point Reyes, or two hours with traffic. So this is absolutely, but it's not that kind of hustle bustle like LA or San Francisco. You know you drive. There's all this honking here. It's like, oh, go, go.
Speaker 3:You know everybody has so, so pleasing and so polite. I know I raised my daughter's here as a single mom and it gave me the flexibility to work and know that they're okay if I'm late picking them up. So make friends, go to your friend's house. You know that's the trust that I have in the community. Right, it's making good people, meeting good people, surrounding yourself with really good people, and I know there's a lot of great people that came out of Sacramento. Look at Tom Hanks. He went to Sac State and look at who he is now.
Speaker 1:Ford Forest Gump yeah.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I mean, there's some amazing people and I've met a lot of amazing people that are bigger, that came out of Sacramento Jesuit High School or St Francis or just McClatchy, like. When my daughters went to high school at McClatchy, she was in the basketball team and that year the varsity team won state champion. How do you do that? It's like it's really the best place to live. Wherever you want to eat Southern California, san Francisco all those restaurants are coming here. Like I think there was an article in SacBee saying that New York has nothing over Sacramento because we have all these great restaurants hole in the walls, not just a franchise, but everybody wants their culinary skills to pop up restaurants, pop up this, and that it is really the best place to live.
Speaker 2:Well, and so supported by that farm to fork. I mean, we grow this stuff in our front yard, we grow it, we eat it.
Speaker 3:We eat it in New York. So sorry, guys, but like you, want.
Speaker 2:you want to cook with the best ingredients. Let's go.
Speaker 3:Come on, let's open up some more eating establishments, because that's all I need are more really good restaurants, yeah, more places to go, more celebrate that's how we all gain weight. Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 1:We're just coming off that season too.
Speaker 2:That's absolutely right.
Speaker 1:So you're a veteran, you're kind of OG in this sphere. No-transcript. We've got a really interesting time that we just talked about coming out of a bass exodus of people that were maybe doing this part-time or, you know, quite frankly, just couldn't make it in the last couple years. As we see, maybe the market shift and people are getting started, or maybe they've been in a couple years and just grind in their teeth and holding out what are some of the keys that you would offer up to a newer agent that wants to be successful.
Speaker 3:So I've said this a few times when I was on a few different top producer panel and I just said that to our new licensees at new membership orientation If you're a new agent, find a mentor. Don't go for the company with the highest split because you're going to fail. If you are agreed, don't think about the money. Think about how many people you can help. How can I get there and how can I learn it the right way. Find a good mentor that will teach you, take you under your wing, show you so that's kind of a safe way of my company. I don't know if I can talk about that.
Speaker 1:Yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:This is, this is brand. You can say whatever you want.
Speaker 3:So I was with a big franchise company for 13 years and we did a small team, was like number one team for like five years and then we started portfolio real estate five years ago come next week. Wow, congratulations A lot of people said that we're not going to make it. Even our past brokers from the big franchise companies like you're going to fail in a year. I don't know why you're leaving. You should stay five years down. We were started with four agents back then. We're at 463 agents in five years.
Speaker 3:Yes, and you're still on the real trends national top producing team, if not a company. I'm not a broker, I'm a sales associate. My broker is side, but my company is portfolio real estate and my partner and I, judy Kong of 15 years, we are still in the trenches. We still sell houses, we still clean houses, we still list houses. I still do open house. I love open houses because I get to meet people and I love meeting people.
Speaker 2:And I just want to say, as a testament to that, you and Judy are exactly who I mean you're. You're far more seasoned and experienced than you were back then, but you're still those same people. I've walked into your guys's office down at portfolio and chopped it up with you and with Judy for 10, 15 minutes and you guys drop everything to make the person in front of you the most important person in the room or the most important person in your world at that time, and it's just, it's so. It's so nice in a world where there's where there's so many closed doors. And you know, I mean I'm in outside sales, so I'm knocking on doors, trying to be all day long.
Speaker 3:Our doors always open to everybody.
Speaker 2:And it's, it is, and I think that there's there's something to. There's something to that, that openness, that accessibility, that that that totally correlates with the amount of success that you guys have had, are having and will continue to have.
Speaker 3:Well, going back to your question about, about the newer people, what can you do is go out. Just don't join a board or join a company and think the business is going to come in. It's not. You need to build relationships, you need to be out there. If you see Dan, he's probably in a million places in a week.
Speaker 3:I'm just the same way, but I'm a. I'm a people person. I love meeting people in person, just like a master's club is sponsoring my installation. I went to their very first meeting yesterday and I thank everybody in person for doing that, because it means a lot that you get the support of a friend. Like if I Dan is sponsoring something, I'll call him and say thank you, I'll give him a hug in person. That meant a lot. You know, it's that personal touch and building relationship. Go out and network. Don't stay home, don't sit behind a desk, don't sit behind a computer. Think your phone's going to ring. No, they, they will forget about you. Be out there. And one of the things I probably told a lot of people I support the people that support what I'm passionate about. You're passionate about the association or you're doing helping me with a golf tournament or doing something. I'm going to remember that. I'm going to give you business right back.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah, yeah that's. I mean, I think it's just becomes such Such a sticking point now that we we have technological advances, we have so many more things that are distracting us that our human nature seems to be like we still really want to connect Like a handwritten note. When somebody sends me something like that, that means a ton to me. When somebody puts down their phone and looks me in the eye, it shouldn't be such a shocker, but when somebody gives you their undivided attention and their, their eye contact, it's like wow, this is, it's kind of amazing. What do you need me to do? It's just, it sounds like you are the kind of person that makes genuine connections.
Speaker 3:Yes, the general connection, the personal touch. We need to go back to basics. Yeah with the technology and stuff, we're missing that piece.
Speaker 1:So new agents find a mentor, get out there, be visible and and maybe back to basics.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Wow, those are, I feel like I think there's so much to that.
Speaker 2:I mean even Sam talking about the panels and stuff like In being around the industry and things, the conversations we do, that's that's where it's going. It's getting back to those relationships, those panels that I know that last year P car did the, the millennial panel, and they're doing a similar one again this year and it's it's just super Neat to see and hear the, the different perspectives, because just like we're getting from Sam, like it's just insight, yeah, and take it or leave it. Grab your nugget, grab the piece that you like the most, that you can apply to your life or your world or your business, and and make it go.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's what we're missing on. I looked around when I first started real estate years ago 20 years ago and I looked at the biggest producer and I asked him can I join your team, can I learn? He's like nope, I don't think you'll make it. You'll be gone in a year. Nope, and that's Lit fire in me. I can, I can see that crush that I'm gonna make you eat your words and guess what? He's no longer in the business. He got hooked up in drugs and the rest is history. I'm still here.
Speaker 3:Yeah and I'm. You're a survivor, president, survivor.
Speaker 1:How cool is that? You know that's kind of a theme that you've hit on a few different times here and I think it's evident in the persona that you project. Is people telling you that you can't do things or people not believing in your own success With the story that you've had? You must have had either somebody along the way, but maybe that was your mom or Yourself at some point you, you know, had an anchor in the fact like you can do anything is is what I hear, because it sounds like a lot of people have told you.
Speaker 1:The opposite of that.
Speaker 3:I was actually thinking that I was changing up my installation speech and that's what I kind of. I don't know if I want to share it today, because I want to keep it a little bit in there but hold the mace in the sleep people that tapped on your shoulder, that asked you I think you can do it. I was like I don't think. So you know, I would never dream to be standing in front of people and said that I'm your first Asian female president for the Association of 116 years.
Speaker 3:Wow, I did not know that but I sat there and in one of the installation and our own, franka Garcia, was the first hexmanic president and this is over 10 years ago probably and he's like we need more people stepping up, we need more diversity, we need all those that you think that you're afraid of Do it. And then he started calling names out, like Randall home and some at the top. I was like what did he just say? They just say my name, that. But you know what it made me question? It planted a seed in me and I started to be more involved with the SAR and I started joining more committees. I got onto the board and it got on to exact Even.
Speaker 3:I questioned myself a sec but then asked my current president to meet me for coffee Kelly Swain and she played a huge part. She believed in me. I didn't believe in myself because I didn't come from your typical People that had everything given to you. I work for every single thing that's ever given to me. I don't want people that outside think, oh, some out, that has it all done. No, I work really hard for everything.
Speaker 3:Nothing was ever given to me not by my husbands or whatever. I earned everything and I always want to be the biggest role model is for my two daughters, because you know it goes back to you know sometimes people think that you're not educator or college Educate. You can't do something. But if people believe in you and you believe in yourself, anything's impossible, anything's possible. So I question myself about that, because I don't have a college degree, but what I have is Street Smart and I have a fire. I'm either a driver, I'm a connector, I am. I Go with the entourage. Probably if I say I'm going somewhere, people want to go there too.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I want to keep doing that, but I also want to lay a path of how we can tap on more future leaders and how we can elevate and keep it going. Keep the fire lit, not put it out. I want to inspire others.
Speaker 1:Well, I think you're doing that. You've got some grit too. That's a word that comes to mind. For me is you've got some some hardcore grit. That's that's earned on the street. And I think you touched on something, too, that every guest that we've had so far including Dan and myself starting this is this not necessarily always imposter syndrome? But everybody who's all arguably been pretty successful has had these feelings of doubt or I'm not enough, or I'm not qualified Because of I was a stay-at-home mom, or I've never done this before, or I didn't go to college. Speak about that a little bit, because we're talking about people that have been very successful and are continuing to be successful and take action and still Feel this sense of lack. Or I'm not enough, or how do I get there, and I think that's one thing that stops people in this industry sometimes. So for somebody who's been so successful, how do you overcome that?
Speaker 3:It's going back to being I guess it goes back to being a single mom. I mean, I can't think of a better career in this career. Because you set your own appointments, you set your own time. The number one best advice I got from somebody when I first started real estate it's treat your family, treat your kids as an appointment. Clients don't really care that you have kids or a life or Doctor appointment, but if you say I have already a schedule appointment for that time, can you reschedule? They will respect you a lot more. Earning people's respect and keeping that respect is key.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and something that's so, so hard to do if you, if you don't hold yourself accountable in this industry.
Speaker 2:Set in those. Setting those boundaries right Like setting those boundaries is so, so important this business. When you wake up in the morning and if you don't have something in contract or something just closed, like you're at zero.
Speaker 3:Until you got a plan ahead a couple months.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent and that, and you know, you hear the the super successful agents and and even in lenders and title reps and everybody who's had success in this.
Speaker 2:It always, it always comes back to that. There's some sort of fear motivating them, I feel like, and then, but there's always like a consistent work ethic and a Self-belief, like, and the self-belief when it, when it outweighs the doubt, because we're all gonna have moments that we doubt ourselves but the ability to Brush that off and say you know what, like, maybe maybe I will, maybe I won't, but I'm certainly gonna try, and I think you know if you don't try, you're not gonna succeed, obviously. So what?
Speaker 3:you right now I mean the price points of homes is so much more than when I started. I started an aria. We're selling fifty thousand, a hundred thousand dollar homes. Our commission is five hundred to a thousand dollars a year. We're showing 30 to 60 homes and writing hundreds of offers before getting one accepted.
Speaker 1:You're all in person too, right, yeah, no, hey, already looked on Zillow and I want to check out these three.
Speaker 2:Zillow didn't exist back then, pre MLS. Yeah, that was right.
Speaker 3:It was crazy and there was times I sat and cried in my car because I go, I don't know how I'm gonna pay my bills. I looked at my two girls. I was like, whatever I'm feeling, get my head out of the box, keep going. I gotta do it for them. I got to provide them a good life. I think it knows spouses support. I think in no child support. I did it all my own and a lot of people says I'm a single mom, I can't do it. I go. You got to believe in it. When they're in school, plan your appointments. When they're doing stuff, that's when you can shine. You can plan all your stuff around that and figure it out. I figured that out. Nothing came Like so easy. I went out there. I went to all the education events, all the free education. I learned a little bit from everybody and I made it my own and everybody can do the same.
Speaker 1:Well, this has been fire and I feel like it's they are is gonna be in good hands of the incoming president. Your installation is coming up. That's do. I'm kind of got a big silly grin on my face here. This has been an awesome episode and we always like to end with one question and we always let Dan ask it. So I hope you read your prep sheet.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:My favorite question. This is the most fun, I feel like. Hopefully, the millions of listeners, this is the what, this is what they stick around for so if you could be somebody, a live or deceased for one day, who would it be and why?
Speaker 3:One person if I had a time travel that I want to be Will probably be my mother and just tell her kids how much she loves them and how proud she will be of them and no matter what obstacle, a step-step gone through, that she's proud. I wish I have 30 seconds, but that was taken away from me and I don't.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm sure she is very proud of you and we're proud to call you a friend and have you here. Sam Tau, your incoming SAR president, thank you so much for joining us today on open the gate. She's our survivor. We'll see you, guys next week.
Speaker 3:Thank you you.
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