Jared: What is up? It is the Andy and Jared show, or lack thereof. It's been a couple of weeks since we've gotten together.
Andy: Do we actually have a name on this thing yet?
Jared: No, I think it's, yeah, the J and A Show.
Andy: J and A, A and J?
Jared: A and J Show. But no, we've had a case of the summers and around the holidays, so we haven't talked for a minute. But as we were talking offline, this might not be as data intelligent type of a podcast, but with the market the way it is and Andy, you brought up a little bit that some real estate agents are freaking out. You want to touch on that a little bit? We can talk about what still needs to be done to keep these guys on path to continue to get listings.
Andy: Yeah. I mean, you and I have talked about this before, as well, and it's not necessarily just real estate agents. It's also throughout lenders we're seeing this. Insurance brokers are doing the same thing. But it's the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day. And I always say this inside of my coaching program, the unofficial start of summer. So as soon as Memorial Day hits, it's like, hey, it's vacation mode. That long weekend hits and then you get the first clump of agents and/or professionals, people who run their own business tend to take more vacations and the end of school hits, then family vacations start, and then all of a sudden it's like as they're going towards Labor Day, people don't typically come back, honestly, until after the New Year.
Jared: Right, tie that in-
Andy: People are freaking out about this.
Jared: Tie with some inflation and some high interest rates.
Andy: That's exactly where I was going to go with next.
Jared: Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I jumped the gun.
Andy: No, no, no, man, you're good. I mean, we're recording this on the 13th, so CPI inflation numbers come out today and 9.1% and mortgage applications are down 55% year over year. All of these doom and gloom numbers and the term recession is being thrown around and granted, we're there, but recession and economy and inflation, that doesn't necessarily mean that there's no opportunity for agents. That's the point to be looking at is the folks that are looking at the stagnant and really stuck mindset or scarcity mindset of there's not enough out there for me, the market's going down, inventory's going up, people don't want to buy, people don't want to sell. It's the people that are looking for more opportunities are the ones going to really thrive through this market change. And you're right, we're not having a database conversation at this point in time and yet this is, I think, the conversation that most people need to hear.
Jared: Right. It's a motivation, I think, conversation. It's a mindset reset, but the cream always rises to the top. When the going get tough, the tough get going. I mean, I say this term to my kids and they want to punch me in the throat, but if you're going to run with the big dogs, you got to pee on the big trees. At the same time, the agents I see that struggle are the only ones that were thriving in the 6, 9, 12 months ago world where it was just you get a listing and the house is sold and it's flying off the shelves. But now you have a little adversity, the interest rates go up. There's still positives behind it. There's still people that are getting older. There's still people that have distressed situations or have life events that cause them to sell their house or there's people that have to buy with job relocation. So there's always going to be need for real estate. I heard, I think Dave Ramsey said it a couple of weeks ago, that no matter what the interest rate is, you'll always have an opportunity to refinance.
It's not the term of the loan, per se, but the value of that property is as low as it's ever going to be right now. So there's got to be some half empty versus half full mentality and approach. When we talked about this offline, I think the success end with what we do as, and I'll say this again, you'll tell me you hear it all the time, but the treasure map to the gold through my data or our data or your coaching and your motivation and your calling, it still has to happen and it's still going to create opportunity, but you also have to put a little bit more work in and manage the numbers. That's why it's even more important to have a game plan, to have a process in place for marketing or for follow up or for communication because it is going to be more challenging in your career right now, but the resources are still there, the potential sellers or buyers are also there, as well.
Andy: Where I will take it to the data side, because I think it's important too, that the agents, lenders, insurance brokers, whoever is honestly watching this thing, they need to be speaking with more motivated people and you hit the nail in the head man. Whether it's divorce, probate, distress properties, financial distress properties, things like that, people that actually have a need to move, the whimsical want of saying, "Hey, I want this amount for my home," that whole financial based decision in order to move isn't there anymore. So to talk with you guys, honestly, I think if people are looking to talk with more motivated people, I think that's the conversation they need to have with you to be like, "Hey, what does this look list look like and how can we get it as," I hate to say it, man, "but as niche specific as possible for the market areas that I serve." And candidly, you're right, man, the push that I will make for agents, insurance brokers, lenders, is quite simply, this is not the time to go small. This is the time to start to cast the net out wide, meaning an area-
Jared: Yeah, yeah.
Andy: And then start to bring it down. So if you're going to sit there and not for nothing, but if people are going to be sitting there trying to pull 3,500 records, 5,000 records, and hoping for the best, I do think it's time to go a little bit bigger to be honest with you, and start to expand the menu a little bit.
Jared: No, totally. And you said it too, really niching down is a lot of the conversations we're having with larger brokerages and bigger real estate teams or lenders is really digging into the data and customizing it on your area. Not necessarily what the nightly news says at seven, but what your neighborhood's saying or what the market is, or how long are houses really staying on as a listing. They're still going faster than ever too in some markets too. So it's a perception, but it's also an action that needs to be done too. It's easy to say it, but I always say actions are louder than words. You and I can sit here and talk about it until we're eating our fifth meal of the day, but we also know that as business owners and providers, that we have to continue to go out there and grind and build relationships and conversations with people that are willing to do the same and like-minded people.
Andy: Yeah, this is the time to put the nose to the grindstone, man. This is not the time to be sitting here thinking, "Well, it's summertime, I'm going to take vacations." This is the time to be thinking winter's only four months away.
Jared: Totally. And people are feeling sorry for themselves. So now is the time, like you said, to pick it up and put your big boy pants on and come ready to rumble. I think as we transition into our next topic, which is more exciting than the dog days of summer and inflation, recession conversation, but using data in a different way will be a good cliffhanger, I guess, for future conversations.
Andy: You're doing a little precursor, a little segue there.
Jared: Yeah.
Andy: A little teaser for what's to come. Honestly, man, I am excited for that and some of the results that we're seeing with what we're doing is pretty substantial.
Jared: Awesome.
Andy: I'm excited to be talking about that a little bit more as we move forward.
Jared: Well, so yeah, then in the next couple weeks or a week or so, we can jump back on that and definitely share some successes and different ways to use the data outside of the traditional marketing.
Andy: Heck yeah, man.