Why Agents Are Pivoting To Luxury Leasing • Stephanie Spenner

Keeping It Real Podcast • Secrets Of Top 1% REALTORS ® • Interviews With Real Estate Brokers & Agents

Stephanie Spenner the founder of Maven at Compass goes back to the beginning of her career in Milwaukee as a leasing agent. Stephanie describes her transition from Milwaukee to Chicago and how she built her business. Next Stephanie talks about social media and how to utilize these networks for lead generation. Stephanie also discusses the importance of knowing your inventory and the process in and out. Last, Stephanie focuses on the importance of building relationships and how that helps in building your business.

If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!

Stephanie Spenner can be reached at 262-613-8985 and [e-mail]

This episode is brought to you by Real Geeks and FollowUpBoss.

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Transcript

D.J. Paris 0:00
Now that the market is shifting, are you doing rentals? Well, you should. We’re going to talk about that today. Stay tuned. This episode of Keeping it real is brought to you by real geeks. How many homes are you going to sell this year? Do you have the right tools? Is your website turning soft leads and interested buyers? Are you spending money on leads that aren’t converting? Well real geeks is your solution. Find out why agents across the country choose real geeks as their technology partner. Real geeks was created by an agent for agents. They pride themselves on delivering a sales and marketing solution so that you can easily generate more business. Their agent websites are fast and built for lead conversion with a smooth search experience for your visitors. Real geeks also includes an easy to use agent CRM. So once a lead signs up on your website, you can track their interest and have great follow up conversations. Real geeks is loaded with a ton of marketing tools to nurture your leads and increase brand awareness visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod and find out why Realtors come to real geeks to generate more business again, visit real geeks.com forward slash keeping it real pod. And now on to our show.

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Keeping it real the largest podcast made by real estate agents and for real estate agents. My name is DJ Parris. I’m your guide and host through the show and in just a moment, we’re gonna be speaking with top luxury producer Stephanie spinner. Before we get to Stephanie, though, a couple of quick reminders first, the best way you can help our show is by telling a friend I think of one other realtor that could benefit from hearing from top producers like Stephanie and send them a link to our either our show, which you can find on any podcast app, or if the person’s not really a podcast person, just send them to our website, they can stream every episode we’ve ever done right from a browser. That website is keeping it real pod.com And also follow us on Facebook, you can find [e-mail] forward slash keeping it real pod every day, we find an article that’s written specifically to help agents grow their business, and we post it on Facebook. So check us out facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod and now on to our conversation about the luxury rental market and luxury properties in general with Stephanie spinner.

Jay on the show, we have Stephen spinner from Maven at Compass here in Chicago. Let me tell you more about Stephanie. Stephanie spinner was born and raised in Milwaukee and she’s been living in she’s been living in Chicago for six and a half years and she started her real estate journey when she was 18. In residential property management, where all the best stories live. She has been an independent broker for almost five years now. And she started her own brokerage and then came to compass where she currently is running a team of 13 agents and an expanding team. It’ll be more by the time I finish this sentence. But right now she has 13 agents who specialize in rentals, but also helping renters become buyers become homeowners generating leads through social media marketing, and I want everyone to pay attention before we bring Stephanie on. I want everybody unless you’re driving. Or if you’re driving pullover, go visit this website because I want to show you a really impressive website that that highlights some of what the what Maven and Stephanie’s team does with respect to social media and video. It’s live shy.tv So li ve ch i.tv. And you can go see their YouTube channels and some of the cool ways in which they promote different different listings and places to live. So anyway, Stephanie, welcome to the show.

Stephanie Spenner 4:09
Thank you so much. I’m so excited to be here. Finally, to have you know, hear your face in person or hear your voice in person.

D.J. Paris 4:17
And you have to look at me I’d see my face which is not not always a pleasant experience, I’m sure but I appreciate you look very nice for anyone who isn’t watching Stephanie is always always looks super, super nice. And you know, I always appreciate how professional you are. I was actually really impressed. So I heard Stephanie speak just to give the audience an idea of, of you know what, why you’re on today. And I mean, we’re always wanting to talk to exceptional realtors, and you are but there’s a lot of exceptional realtors. So the reason why we thought you would be a great fit, no pressure, by the way on the show, but as you have a really unique approach to building your business and I’m sort of surprised that more people don’t Don’t do it this way. But I just think it is so smart. It makes all the sense in the world. And you have built an incredible career in a very short amount of time doing it. And it’s not the only thing you do. And I haven’t even told the audience really what it is we’re talking about rentals. But she does more than that. But this is a great entry point that I think a lot of agents overlook. But before we get into what you’re doing today, I’d love to start all the way back at the beginning and learn more about why you got into real estate and how

Stephanie Spenner 5:30
thanks so much for having me, DJ, I’m excited to share my story again, or the full thing as much as you’ll as much as I can fit into 20 or 30 minutes. So

D.J. Paris 5:40
and that’s all the time we have. So go right ahead.

Stephanie Spenner 5:46
I don’t want to miss anything, because it is all part of the journey. And it’s not like it just happens overnight. People are like, how do how do you do it if you don’t have a YouTube channel, like I didn’t always have a YouTube channel. I had it for like literally less than two years. So I started in real estate when I was 18 years old. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, my we moved to Walker Shaw, which is like 2030 minutes west where I went to high school. And then I was going to UW I started going to UW UW Milwaukee for college. And I randomly applied to be a leasing agent when I was 18. And my first semester of college where my parents made me live at home for the first semester. So I was like driving to Milwaukee for 2030 minutes to school every day. I don’t know why I did that, or listen to them. Because I always made my own money. Since I was like 14, I’ve had two jobs literally like. And so first semester I lived at home, I worked, I randomly applied to be a leasing agent at a premier property in downtown Milwaukee. It was just a high rise that had a pool. So that’s why everyone wanted to live there. But it was built in 1961. So it was like very old. Three total towers made up the complex 600 units. And so I randomly applied to be a leasing agent there and somehow I just I got the job, and how

D.J. Paris 7:13
real quick just out of curiosity, because when I was 18 I, you know, I barely like knew enough to like, get into college and figure that whole thing. How did you know that that was even I worked as like minimum wage at some, you know, whatever. How did you know that that was even an option back then just out of curiosity.

Stephanie Spenner 7:32
So I mean, basically, in high school, like I was really good at academics, but it but I was also a class clown. So no one really knew that I was smart. But I was always in AP classes and stuff. And senior year I was in this really cool business program. Because of like the grades I got, I was able to get into like this business program that we had in senior year of high school, where if you got certain grades and stuff, then you could go to school only for the first half of the day. And then you can go to business co ops. So they like they helped me get set up into an office manager job that I worked at for almost a year, like a year and a half, I worked there as an office manager position on my resume. And I’ve always been in the business mindset since like, since I can remember. And so when I like as an office manager, I mean I was bored out of my mind and but I love the like secretarial work I love to like staying organized. And that’s always been something I like, loved to do is like just be organized. But I so yeah, once I had that office manager on my resume, I just like and I was so bored at work every day that I would just sit there and look up jobs and apply to this one. I applied to that one. And I would literally just like apply a bunch of jobs. I would take interviews, I would literally go to these interviews and get a lot of the jobs but this one for some reason. Just like really, I was like this is this seems cool. Like, and like these are like older people like you know, they’re all in like their 30s working there and stuff. But I was very adult, I guess right? Yeah. And that’s just like, I’ve always been like this more mature like, kid, like, a couple steps ahead, I guess. Like mentally I feel like, but yeah, I just randomly applied to be a leasing agent. And like, I got the job at the first day the property manager is showing me model apartments and I’m like, why is this woman showing me peoples of places like I didn’t even know what a model apartment was. And next thing you know, my first paycheck, I had more sales than the other girls that were working full time. And I was like, Holy shit, like, this is my passion. Like I can’t believe I just got this lucky. Like, this is what I love to do. And no matter what I’m finishing school, that was just something that was ingrained in me that I had to have an education. No one like my family. No one in my family had has an education. But it was just like me no matter what, even though I also didn’t need it. It’s like I was already making more money than my parents were. But I was If I was going to school full time, I worked full time. And so I’d have classes like Tuesday, Thursday, all day long. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I would go clock into the premier property Fridays, or Saturdays, Sundays were open to all the five. And I would just work all day and just close a bunch of deals. And then the owner of the company, which I didn’t know, it was a shitty company. But I worked for this company for almost four years. And I loved it. And that’s how I got my backbone that I have today that I feel like I can handle anything. So once I was working as the leasing agent at that premier property for two and a half years, they promoted me to assistant property manager there. And then he’s like, Oh, you want you want more money, like here. And he gave me a stack of papers with all the availability of his properties in Milwaukee from like Whitefish Bay to Greenfield, so kind of like uptown to South Loop Streeterville to Logan Square, and he’s like, here, do whatever you want with it. And he gave me a set of 100 hard keys, like hard keys, not fast. And I’m just shaking around like the janitor. And I’m just like, what, and this was Craigslist days. So I like after a week, I was like, okay, like, let’s do this. And I went through and I looked at everything that was vacant on his list, I would go to the property, take pictures, put them up on Craigslist. Now I was a broker. But I didn’t know I was a broker until I came to Chicago and realized like, this is like, like, brokers are super legit. I didn’t have to have a license in Wisconsin, or maybe I did. But that company didn’t care. I was not licensed to do what I was doing at the time. And so I was, at the same time I was the assistant property manager working full time, there was also a broker being able to show any of his properties at any time. So like, literally in between classes, I’d be like, Yeah, I can show you at 1230. And I would literally like run down the street because a lot of his properties were on UW Milwaukee campus Eastside, which is really nice part of Waukee. And so I would just like show properties in between classes, before class after class, before work after work of the premier property where I’ve clocked in, and then he’s like, Oh, you want more money, like here, you can manage your own building. So all at the same time, I then manage my own building, which which it was only 50 units, and 50 units. You have free rent, if you just kept the building fully occupied, and shoveled and raked and clean the apartments and people moved out and change the lightbulbs in the frickin garage. And every hallway, the lanterns were gas. So when you took the light bulbs out, like you could get shocked. It was it was a great deal. I it was a great deal. So I had free rent, I managed the building, I had free parking, I went to school full time, the whole time. And I just I loved it. I can’t even believe to this day that I did as much as I did. But like I just loved it so much. And that’s how I got started. And I finished school. Five years it took me and I graduated with finance and international business.

D.J. Paris 12:50
Wow. Well, it took me five years to and I wasn’t as busy. So I really respect all the things. You’ve been a hustler since you were as old enough to work. And I mean that in the best possible way. I mean, somebody who really digs in and grits it out and that we all know that that’s one of the cornerstones of success, but I love the fact that you have been living that basically everyday sense. And you’re still continue to do that today. And so yeah, I think, oh, go ahead. I’m sorry,

Stephanie Spenner 13:24
that that’s that’s will lead right into the next story. So like, that’s where like, I just, I think when I was younger, like my, my dad, just, you know, I’d be like, hey, I want a soda he like he’d be like, how are you going to earn $1 to go get that sorta and I’d be like, let’s do it. And I like literally earn 100 pennies to go get it myself and like I did it. And like, if you want it, you gotta go get it. And like, that’s what I’ve taken from that. And that’s what I think drives me and just being proactive. And that’s one of the biggest things that like, takeaways from today is like, be proactive. Like, if you want something, go get it if you want something and you think you’re not gonna get it, then it’s never gonna happen. But if you want something and you go after it, and you don’t get it, at least you try and and you’re gonna you’re not gonna, you might not get it, but you’re going to get the next thing that you should have got that is super close to that. Now I’m trailing off like I always do, but

D.J. Paris 14:16
no, no, no, I think you’re saying something really important, which is you’re not trailing off at all you what you’re saying is it’s the it’s that old expression and I want to make sure I get it right because my, my anyway, it’s something like and I know I’m gonna say this wrong, but something like shoot for the stars land on the moon. Right? So so even if you don’t get the stars you still end up with something. That’s probably still

Stephanie Spenner 14:39
the moon which you didn’t have the stars or the moon for. Exactly. You were back on planet or

D.J. Paris 14:46
so. Yeah, no, no, you you know, it’s so funny. It’s, it’s I’ve done so many of these episodes. And I remember one of my, one of my episodes from this as a Chicago person so anyone who’s listening you can Go back and find this episode probably several 100 episodes ago, but there’s a broker here in Chicago, named Matt Larissa. He’s one of the top agents in the Chicagoland area. And I asked him, I’m like, Why do you think is he’s always like, number one or two, I know the list of top agents. So how do you why do you think you’re number one or two and all these other agents, you know, who are just as smart as you. And you know, he’s a very smart guy. And he goes, I just, I wanted more. He was just real honest. He’s like, I just, I just outwork everyone. He’s like, I’m kind of a dummy. And he’s not a dummy. But he was thinking. So it’s like, it’s not intelligence. It’s just I work hard. And I look at you the same way in again, I’m not trying to compare the two of you, because you’re very different people. But I’ve always respected the amount of energy that you put into your business. And it’s really clear what you’re doing. So let’s, let’s dive into it. Because you have this team. And you guys have really mastered the art of luxury leasing. And again, I know you do way more things that you sell million dollar homes, and you do all of that too. But what I think makes you really unique is this entry point where you decide, and it’s so smart, you decide to build the relationship when people are renting. And that is so smart, because everybody who owns or almost everybody that owns used to rent, right? I know I used to rent. And the only reason I chose my Realtors because he was my friend. But nobody helped me when I was renting. So I didn’t have a realtor to think to reach out to. And then when I got time to ready to buy a million years ago, I was like, Oh, my friend does that. But had someone been helping me along the way, I might not have ended up giving it to my friend because I might have already had that relationship. And I’m so shocked that more realtors and not every market in the country would support leasing. You know, it’s certain markets are better for that than others. Certainly here in Chicago, there’s a ton of it. But even here in Chicago, I don’t see many agents doing it. So I’d love to hear a little bit more about why you decided to go that route. Obviously, your background would suggest that you’re great at doing leasing all the way back when you were 18 or so. But love to hear more about you know how that works for you and your team.

Stephanie Spenner 16:58
Yeah, if I can go back just a second. I know that we’re short on time and stuff. But it’s funny that you just mentioned Matt literacy along with my name, because he’s now using my partner and videographer to do his videos. Oh,

D.J. Paris 17:15
what is that? That is awesome. You must have great videographer.

Stephanie Spenner 17:20
But it’s not only that, but it’s like it’s this is also a point where it’s like, am I going to be mad at him or my partner? No, there’s plenty of business to go around. And there’s plenty of personalities to go around. The same the person that wants to work with me is not the same person that’s gonna want to work with him or person on my team, which is why I love the diverse team that I have and that I’ve created. And then just just really quick going back into the proactive and how I got to Chicago so I so I came to Chicago six and a half years ago, I had no plans to move here I managed. I made my way up in Milwaukee to be managing the most luxurious rental tower in Milwaukee called the bow Dern which is right next to the Bucs arena, that when I moved here, they were breaking ground for the new arena. But I rent it to all the Bucs players, all the admirals players, all the Brewers players, they all lived in the building. I had courtside seats to all games. I had free everything because that’s just you know how Milwaukee worked and Shaw walkie and so and I had free rent, I managed the building. And I had like one of the best departments there was and I was visiting Chicago, Christmas of 2015 When I saw marquee block 37 being built on State Street, and I said I like stopped in my tracks. I’m like, What is this? Like, I have to have this building like, I have to have it. I don’t know why I just had to have it. And I finally saw the name Ballard. And I researched Gollum, the management company and part of the development team and I found the head of hrs email, and I emailed her my resume and I said, I don’t know what’s going on here. But this is what I do now. Call me if you think there’s room for me somewhere. And they call me in for an interview basically the next day, and they basically gave me a verbal offer on the spot. Because my mentor to this day is like a mother to me, she always reminds me of why she hired me in on the spot versus because I asked what is going to be the price per square foot of these units.

D.J. Paris 19:23
Ready? How do I how do I how do I how do I get these things rented? You were already thinking I need to know some specifics about this verse, which is a brilliant question to ask in that kind of interview. So so

Stephanie Spenner 19:36
different from Milwaukee. Yeah, tell

Unknown Speaker 19:38
you that. Well, that’s true, too.

Stephanie Spenner 19:40
Oh, yeah. They basically gave me a verbal offer. And I like I moved to Chicago 10 days later. And I like wow, the developers of the building that I worked for, I was like, I don’t know how I’m going to tell you guys this and they were like Stephanie like, you are Chicago you have to move this is 100% You like go freak release like we got, you will figure it out. And it was like the best decision I ever made like, and one of my favorite quotes goes along with being proactive is like jump at opportunities as quickly as you do at conclusions.

D.J. Paris 20:15
Oh, that’s I love that. I

Stephanie Spenner 20:18
love to jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions and I jumped, jump, jump, jump, jump, and Mark, he was the best decision I ever made. I, we started up, we started pre leasing marquee in February of 20. March of 2016, we opened in June of 2016, I was the leasing manager, and I released up the building and we’ve leased 690 apartments in 13 months. And I rented like 250 of those. And that is truly why I see so much value in rentals from me writing the checks for these brokers who are bringing clients in to me also seeing that I hit a ceiling and I can’t just want to be leased out marquee there was no other big building that I was gonna like that was going to be a challenging enough. And I was like, oh, like I want to be on this guy’s team, like this top producer at marquee had just left his big brokerage to start his own thing and or just to be an independent contractor and get 100% Commission and I was like, I want to be on your team. I want to build your brokerage, like let’s do this. And so him and I built epic Chicago, which he still has now. And we focus only on rentals. And we worked on a WeWork offices, I built the whole brand whole business for brokerage and I hit a ceiling with with that. team that was the brokerage that I built, I hit a ceiling there. And that’s when I came with like one other agent from that team over to compass and realize that like compasses exactly what I needed to help like, boost me up and because they truly like collaborate without ego and dream big together. And those are like all their principles of Compass directly aligned with the principles I wanted for my business. And the first day I started at Compass, I had like, my first sale opportunity. And I still had no idea what I was doing. I had my broker’s license for two years, my previous business partner did not help me at all of a sales, he barely knew sales, but he kept faking it till he makes it and he couldn’t teach me any of it because he was still faking it. And I came to campus and like, within the first month, I close my first sale, because people, all these other top producers helped me. And then they I helped them when they had these rental things and these rental questions. So that’s like, that’s really like my full story. And I, I just I love rentals, so much. I love rentals so much. And I happen to get into sales, because my renters want to buy. And, and I that’s fun, too. It’s just nowhere near as fun, it’s nowhere near as satisfying. And I just I will always do rentals, and I and I have like big plans for the city to change things. And

I truly believe that when developers see that they should separate the leasing activity from property management is when they’re going to see the ultimate the ultimate efficiencies, the ultimate maximization of rents. Decreasing a vacancy is when you separate leasing from property management, property management should be taking care of the current residents and making sure they’re happy and making sure the building is maintained. Leasing should be handled by brokers bringing in new clients, I can be showing the property any hour of the day. And like But notice, I’m late to this meeting with you today because I had to meet with another agent on site. Because that property doesn’t do self guided tours, which 90% of them do for me and my team, which means I scheduled a tour and I say I’m bringing I’m coming through with my client, they say the doors are open stuff come on through and they like let me take my client around on my own. I’m in and out in 20 minutes while that broke their leasing agent who works on site, who’s paid salary plus commission, if they close that deal, can be taking out another client while I’m taking out my client and now both of us can be closing a deal at the same time. And but that’s really a big point I wanted to say today too, is just like I really I my big goal that I’ve always had since I started epic, my last brokerage and what is about to start happening, I know and see it and I feel it it’s already happening because of the efforts that me and my team are doing is separating that leasing from management. And I truly think that’s why mark key block 37 that I was part of the lease up. I truly think that’s like the number one reason why we were the most successful. I mean, we were in newspaper or newspaper articles for like breaking records of leasing a property the fastest ever in history, especially in 2016 and nobody. People didn’t live in the loop yet. It wasn’t like a popular place. Olivia, and we made it fun so, and I think we were so successful because my mentor at the time who was the property manager of marquee Jennifer saw Seto like, powerhouse queen. She knew that cuz she went when she did every lease up in Chicago, she knew to separate property management from leasing. I was a leasing manager, I handled all leasing, I had my three leasing agents and me anything, any single leasing question went through me, I approved all the leases, I approved everything, I set up promotions, like the promotions and concessions and stuff. And Property Management handled any current resident complaints, they handled the movements of the current resident of the residents that we just closed, and everything. And it was just, it was seamless, it was seamless.

D.J. Paris 25:48
Okay, it’s what I what I love about about your business. And the way you approach it is you have a plan, you have intuition, which I believe is one of your guiding North Stars is your intuition. Because you have really good well, you have the ability to really pay attention to your intuition. Like you’ve already said it a couple times, hey, I moved to Chicago on intuition really, I saw a building I applied, I got a job. And then now you’re like, I’m changing leasing here in Chicago, here’s what I’m doing, I know that this is going to happen. Right. And and you actually get results that way. And I think that’s a really important thing is, you know, it’s sort of a more of an ethereal kind of non tangible thing, but like paying attention to what’s going on inside of us. Sometimes there’s wisdom there and knowledge that we can’t totally comprehend. Like you said, I really had no business moving to Chicago, I really shouldn’t have been here, when I saw this building, and I just knew I need to be there. And and then you, you know, you, you jumped at the opportunity, as you said, and all of a sudden, here you are now all these years later, a total superstar. Um, I want to talk about social media, and how it can be used to for lead generation. Because, again, we talked about this a lot on our podcast, but I think what you’ve done with your YouTube channels, has been really, really inspiring and interesting. And can you talk a little bit about how you think about social media and how you utilize that for, you know, engagement? And also lead? Gen.

Stephanie Spenner 27:22
Yeah, I think what’s really cool about real estate is that there’s like, really not too many rules, and especially as an independent contractor, meaning like, marketing, like you can literally be thinking outside the box, like so far outside, and like there’s just no end to it. And so like, and I just don’t think a lot of people think that way. And I don’t think a lot of brokers think that way, and they just start like postcard newsletter, cold calling networking, referrals. How can you get referrals, if you don’t frickin have any of the other things like, you know, how can you? Who are you mailing a postcard to? Who are you sending a newsletter to? Where do you start before that, like, how do you get your first lead. And I know that a lot of brokers, like myself, were taught to get a lead the wrong way. They’re taught to post a fake listing or a different address, and then oh, that person calls them and oh, now I have my first lead. And now that leads gonna give me a referral and I’m just gonna boom, boom, boom, boom, and I was like, Holy shit, I just like left my full time, like on site leasing agent manager position to be an independent broker to like, this is how we get leads. Like, we’re gonna post fake ads on Craigslist. And I’m like, I like literally, within days, I was just like, holy shit, no, and I went to Facebook, and I would just want to fake it. Like, I’m not even, I’m on Facebook. I do not use it at all. It’s a different demographic for me. And I think for a lot of people, it’s like, oh, I stay in touch with my parents, whatever. But I at that time, like five years ago, I was I went on Facebook, and I went into different groups. And I was like, Oh, shit, like new to Chicago, like, Polish people new to Chicago, or like, Chicago meetups or like, roommates looking for roommates, or sublets. And I would literally just like read them and be like, This girl will be like, I’m looking for a roommate, my budgets 1400. And I’m like, Girl, I can get you a studio on your own for 1400 Boom, she calls me I literally close her in a virtual tour like the next day. And to this day, she’s my client rented from me three times and you know her she’s ready to buy now. And she’s uh, you know that she’s a cold lead the second she’s a renter, and then she’s a warm lead, you know, the second time she rents from me again and then when she order the or the second time, she sends in her job form, which is like what we use to collect the leads. So even if it’s a previous client, and they’re like, hey, step. If you remember me, I You helped me with my place last year and like, of course, I remember you here complete the form again with your new criteria. And they’re like my budget seven grand and I’m like, You Why aren’t you buying something? I’m like, How long do you plan on Being in Chicago, you know, and then like, maybe five years, it could be longer. I’m like, let’s talk about buying. Literally a week later, we’re under contract for something. So I’m digressing. I’m bopping around here. But this is just who I am. I can’t like, it’s very hard for me to like, I have so much to say all the time. But, but that’s how I got started. I just I went through Facebook, and I started like just getting leads through Facebook market groups.

D.J. Paris 30:27
Yeah. And that’s something that I noticed, like I live in Wicker Park and which is a neighborhood here in Chicago for our listeners who aren’t familiar. And there’s a Wicker Park community group or page or whatever it is, and people are constantly posting, hey, I’m looking for a hairstylist, or I need a house cleaner, or someone know the goods, best sushi place or whatever. And at least once every couple of days was like, Hey, I’m thinking I want to move to Wicker Park, but I don’t really know what’s available. And I am shocked at how few responses that come back. If I was a realtor, I would be finding my local group for wherever I live, and work or service, and I would be a real serious presence in that Facebook group making sure I’m providing great content. And then you know, and that’s, that’s what you did. And And now, you know, Craigslist, whereas agents, what they used to do, as Stephanie was saying earlier, many, many years ago was, hey, we’re going to post ads on Facebook or Craigslist, rather, we’re going to hope people reply, and then we’re going to try but you know, when people reply to one Craigslist ad, they reply to like five. And so all of a sudden, you’re now competing with four other agents, you don’t even know. And it just gets really, really messy. Whereas well,

Stephanie Spenner 31:37
you’re saying Go ahead. Yeah, I will say too, though, like, you know, I didn’t just go to the groups and start messaging people out of the blue. So part is that, that I want people to take away from it. This is what I do is I start posting about real estate, I have a sick ass video. At that time, it was still photos of model units from the property, probably pixelated, probably, like just absolutely no personality. Maybe some had furniture in them, maybe some didn’t. And I just posted static photos, and I’d be like River North two beds, under 3000 or whatever. And then so I people so that if I’m messaging someone, and they’re like, Who is this bitch, they go to my profile and say, Oh, she does real estate? Yeah, oh, maybe I maybe Oh, my lease is up soon. Your lease is always up soon, like, you know, so, like, put it out there and like you have to be putting it out there of like how you can help people so that they know that they can DM you that they can message you. I also I also do want to throw it out there. I guess this is like not important, but it is but like you have to put what brokerage you work with on your social platforms, it is illegal to not do that. You cannot say real estate broker and not have your brokerage listed. So it’s just funny because we have a lot of eyes on us being a social media influencing team. So we get like, it’s like we do one one video I said my services are free. The properties pay me to bring them renters you never do. Boom, tick. You said free can’t say free. Damn. Like I knew that. How did I say that? Like I had to take down the video on YouTube already had like 2000 views in two days, take it down, clip that out, put it back up. So it’s like, to me it’s very and not just because of that. But like, it is ingrained in my brain that in my heart and my soul that like you have to be ethical ethics is the most important thing. Your reputation is everything going above and beyond for every single client every single time no matter who they are, what their budget is, and what you’re getting paid is the most important thing. And that’s why it’s super important. And that’s where my team is called Maven and not Stephanie Spenard. CO Maven is an expert to kind of sewer in your field. I am very hands on with my training with my agents to and I do not take on the next group of agents until my first those new mavens are actually mavens, and they feel like mavens, and we have one on one to say, you know, how are you feeling? And we look at their numbers quarterly. And you know, we’re not like other teams were like, Oh, you didn’t do this. So your one strike for you or like, I know, I’ve heard that some teams say if you don’t get your invoices in like the same day that you do them or within the week that you do them, then that’s a strike and once you get three strikes, you’re out like if somebody can’t get their invoices in that quickly, it’s because they’re fucking crushing it and you’re gonna kick them off the team like, I’m sorry, like, take you know, let me get an invoice coordinator for you to help you take this little thing off your plate that can be maximizing your efficiency of like getting more clients,

D.J. Paris 34:49
it because the same skill that’s good at closing homes, apartments, whatever is not the same skill that’s good at paperwork necessarily. Right. Those are two totally one skill sets. And by the way one can, one can be outsourced. And one is, you’ll can’t. Awesome. Oh, you know, this is a good time to do a quick sponsor read. So bear with me we love our sponsors. So we want to talk really quickly a moment for a moment about our favorite sponsor, which is called follow up boss now after interviewing hundreds of top Realtors in the country for my podcast, you know, what’s that CRM is used by more than any of our guests. It’s actually follow up boss. And let’s face it, following up is the key to taking your business to the next level, Stephanie can talk about that too. Follow up boss will help you drive more leads in less time with less effort. Don’t take my word for it, though. Robert slack who runs the number one team in the United States uses his follow up boss. And he’s built a one and a half billion dollar business in just six years. Follow up boss integrates with over 250 systems so you can keep your current tools and lead sources. And here’s the best part. They have a seven day a week support. We know real estate happens nights and weekends. So you’re going to get the help you need when you need it and get this follow up boss is so sure that you’re going to love their CRM that for a limited time, they’re offering keeping it real listeners a 30 day free trial, which is twice as much time as they give everyone else and oh yeah, no credit card required. So you can try it completely risk free, but only at this special link, I want you to visit everyone visit follow up boss.com forward slash real again, follow up boss.com forward slash real for your free 30 day trial. Follow up like a boss with follow up boss. And now we’ll back to Stephanie, Stephanie, I would love let’s talk about your videos, because this is another I mean, you do so many things. Well, actually, before we get to videos, I’m sorry, let’s go. Let’s go back one step, I want to just set the table for why leasing is a great entry point for any aid, especially right now, when we have a little inventory for sales pretty much all over the country, we’re dealing with inventory issues, the Fed just raised rates, again, 75 basis points today, which I think mortgage rates have already been impacted. So that’s not a big deal for interest rates. But it’s a sign that, you know, buyers are going to be pulling back a bit. So we have a lot of opportunity here on the rental side, I am curious to hear about what your thoughts are with respect to y. Well, first of all, I also want to mention, you are incredibly passionate about rentals, regardless of the conditions of the market. This is your thing. And that I think in and of itself is a really important thing for agents and our listeners to understand is find your niche. Stephanie has found hers and she does her team do a million things. But I would love to just talk a little bit about the opportunity that so many agents Miss around rentals, number one, by the way, and I want to just make this point and then I’m gonna let you fill in the rest of the gaps, you can actually make a really good living just doing rentals. And most in some markets obviously not if you’re in you know, rural Illinois, here we’re in Chicago, there’s a lot more opportunity here in the city. But if I was in Peoria where it’s where I grew up, that would be much more difficult to do but not impossible. But I’m curious, because a lot of our listeners probably haven’t ever done a rental. So can you tell us a little bit about you know why you see that it’s such a great opportunity for agents.

Stephanie Spenner 38:36
There’s so many things, I don’t know where to start. I really don’t know where to start. Kind of tying things together with in my first year as an independent contractor, leasing agent, after Marquis, like when I started my first brokerage with my partner at the time learning to post fake listings show and then going into Facebook groups, not having a full blown social media like Instagram that I do today. And by the

D.J. Paris 39:07
way, you really didn’t have a sphere of influence of any. I mean, you were here, you were working at a building, but you’re not from here. It’s not like all your friends live here. In fact, most of your most of the people you grew up with, I’m assuming are in Wisconsin, or maybe they’ve moved elsewhere. But it’s not like you’re like oh, I just you know, all my buddies needed apartments. And so I helped them out. Right, you had to find your own leads. But anyway, I’m sorry. Go ahead. Yeah,

Stephanie Spenner 39:31
yeah, and that’s exactly it. So like I’m that first year of like, finding all my own leads and figuring out like my own lead generation, tactics like and that’s where like when I have new agents that want to join my team or just want to get into real estate in general, I’m like, your number one job as a broker as a lead generate leads to get leads, how are you going to get leads, you know, and that’s what I asked myself and my first year I closed 96 rentals.

D.J. Paris 39:56
Okay, let’s pause and because I want everyone to take a breath In her first year, she closed 96 rentals that’s a rental every three days or so. So every three days, including the weekends, you were closing a rental with virtually no sphere of influence, very small sphere of influence, right? Because you’re new to the city. This is possible. And if we think about, and we’re most of these non MLS properties, okay, so for everyone listening, yes, yes. Okay, so Stephanie has a big smile on her face. And the reason why she has a big smile on her face is here in Chicago. And in many other markets, we have what are called, well, I don’t know what they’re technically called, I call them non MLS rentals, meaning they don’t show up on the MLS, when these properties are trying to rent out their their available units, but they still work with brokers or in Illinois, all realtors are called brokers. So realtors, they work with realtors, and they usually pay one month’s rent, sometimes more, sometimes less. But typically around one month’s rent. So if you are and there’s no listing agent, because it’s not on the MLS, so you are getting, you know, 100% of one month’s rent, as opposed to splitting it with the listing agent, because there isn’t one. So this is we’re talking

Stephanie Spenner 41:13
close, if you close, closer, and if you don’t, then you don’t get paid. So, you know, it’s a it’s a it’s a you have to figure out that game and how

D.J. Paris 41:24
it’s the most fair deal ever, because you’re either getting paid or you’re not. And it’s all up to you. But the opportunity is there. And that’s that’s what you have really seized. So yeah, let’s let’s talk

Stephanie Spenner 41:36
about with that said like the reason i So with those 96 rentals and majority of them not being on the MLS, there’s no way to track that if you if someone is trying to scout me, they’re not looking at me as a top producer. You can’t see my numbers like that anywhere. If you looked at my numbers on the MLS, you’d be like, how is this like, this is a joke, like, none of my numbers are on the MLS. So when I had the opportunity to talk to compass and potentially join compass, they, at this time, three years ago, they were hard and they still are, but you had to like be vetted by two agents to even talk to them, then you had to have like five rounds of interviews with them, you had to prove your numbers show your numbers show why your team players show this and that. And then you had to be vetted by like, once they thought you were good, then you had to have, they would call two random agents that you said you knew at Compass. And they would have to say something good about you. And but they compass won’t even at that point, I don’t know how it is now. But at that point, compass won’t even talk to you unless you’re like a top producer, unless you had x number of sales. And so my 96 rentals. In

D.J. Paris 42:40
my career translate really, you had to sort of Yeah, it

Stephanie Spenner 42:43
didn’t translate directly. But I had I showed them a translation, which was over $10 million in sales. If you break it down,

D.J. Paris 42:52
I believe. This is what’s so amazing about this is Stephanie flew really under the radar. Because those transactions weren’t on the MLS. They weren’t really public knowledge. But she was crushing a deal a rental every three days. All of a sudden, she now gets to bring that to a company like compass, which is taking over everywhere, and saying, Hey, guys, I know you don’t know that I’m a top producer. But here’s what I do. And oh, by the way, these are people renting pretty luxurious properties they’re going to be buying soon. So it’s a total no brainer. And I just I’m always shocked that I mean, maybe look, maybe if you’re lucky, and you get your license, and then all your friends are like, hey, I need to buy a million dollar condo. Maybe there are people that are fit into that category that are just kind of lucky. You are not that lucky. I am not that lucky. You have built everything up by starting the relationship as early as possible via renting, and then staying in touch with that person. And then oh, yeah, by the way, let’s talk about sales. So I just think it’s really but let’s I mean, 96 rentals in a year is exceptional. And it’s a pretty darn good living to write. So even though you’re a broker, you have this license, you’re not doing many sales, because you’re just doing rentals. Boy, what a wonderful career just then. And it only goes up from there because now these people are going to be rolling over every 12 months, maybe moving to another property, maybe they’ll keep renting or maybe make the transition to homeownership. I have a quick, quick question for you. And I’m sorry, I’m cutting Stephanie off and I apologize. Two quick, two things I want to go through before we before we get to the very, very end because I could have you on every single week because you have so much to say. And I love everything that you say. I want to talk about what the role of social media in in your business, and what suggestions you have for agents that are thinking about you know, maybe I should add rentals into my practice this year. Maybe that’s a good idea. So anyway, I’ll let you

Stephanie Spenner 44:58
so I think like That is that is part of the reason why I started my YouTube channel is because I realized not enough people, not just Chicago, mainly outside of Chicago did not realize that you could call a broker, and they will help you find an apartment for free. Yeah. And so that’s why i That’s why I got so into social media because I was like, I can tell so many people that I can help them and they’re not paying me the properties or paying me to bring them renters, you’re never paying me. And like a lot of people can just say that. But it’s like, how can you say it powerfully, consistently and clear and concise so that the client like I can say all I can literally say it five times in one conversation, that my services are free to the client, and that client will still go and like, call the building without me or walk into the building without me or call another broker. Or like I, you have to, like find the right way to communicate. So that it’s very, very clear to your audience, what you do and how you can help them and that you can call me any, like, don’t hesitate to DM me, text me Call me. Nothing. And so that’s leads into social media where like, I no matter what, if you’re doing rentals or sales, you know, don’t just don’t be afraid like be don’t be afraid to show your face don’t be afraid to be authentic. Stop thinking about what your friends back home and the state that you moved from, that aren’t doing shit with their life or thinking about you. Because they don’t care. And and what are they doing? Like, just try something new, do something different. And that’s when you’re gonna see like big like, with big risks come big rewards. And I can’t believe that I almost didn’t do live shy because I was thinking about are people gonna think I’m too hot shit that I’m too full of myself for like, what are people going to? What’s their impression going to be that I’m putting this out there? Like, I’m the rental queen? I’m the rental expert, like, but I’m like, why am I doubting that? Like, I know that I know, rentals, especially professionally managed buildings better than anyone else i in Chicago, like, you know, I know that. And so with with COVID when COVID hit, like there was for me, there was me and my team. Like, and I have never said this any other time. But when we’re candid on an interview, like I wasn’t worried at all. My team was not worried at all. We had no hiccups whatsoever. There was one day where like, it was March 6, march 15. I took a client to a property the next day they said we aren’t offering on site tours anymore any buildings. One half day, we’re like shit, what are we gonna do? Boom, next day, we’re doing virtual tours. And we have it all down pat, we have all the videos on our phone already have all the stuff. We know exactly how to build a rapport with the client, have them trust you right here virtually within minutes, and have them closing with you. Like literally signing an apartment with you virtually right here. I’ve had five deals within the last 12 months, where people have bought from me virtually completely

D.J. Paris 48:06
purchased without ever seeing without or without ever seeing

Stephanie Spenner 48:09
the property. Some of them have never been to Chicago, and none of them were renters of mine before. So these were like either YouTube leads, like social media leads, maybe referrals. But these people are crazy to me that you would buy something completely virtually. But like I you know, I did multiple things sent to her sent multiple videos. So yeah, I just I think there’s a really power power for rentals, because there’s like people are always always always gonna be looking to rent, weather, no matter what their budget is. And buildings, the buildings do come and go like some buildings will be paying one month’s rent one month, the next month, they aren’t working with brokers. So that’s where you really have to pay attention to the market to and also build the rapid like I always say to my team, like your client is not just the renter your client is the property manager is the leasing agent that you’re working with on site, it is the doorman because all those people matter, those people are going to squeeze you in on a Saturday on during the summer when there’s so busy because they know you’re going to close the deal.

D.J. Paris 49:07
How important is it with respect to leasing that the broker or the realtor? Well, I should say the realtor knows the inventory in and out how important is it for you to be the knowledge source of you know, you can’t know everything about every building. But tell me about that.

Stephanie Spenner 49:27
So for me, I would say like, like kind of prior to COVID I would say it was like less as important. Like just to know just the general stuff about the buildings. It’s good enough now because like with COVID and because we do things virtually like a lot more virtually, and we don’t like it’s kind of like 5050 like 5050 people want to tour in person if it’d be fun here like I’m doing everything virtual and they’ll put it right on their job form their rent their like lead form that comes through it. They’ll say how do you want to tour in person or virtual and they’ll say virtual and so

D.J. Paris 50:02
So you have to be really knowledgeable about the inventory, because because they’re coming to you to say, hey, help me figure out the right fit. And you don’t want to be touring the building at the same time they’re touring the building meeting for the first time, right? Like your team, you you pre tour buildings, you guys go in, you know exactly what because, again, Stephanie, really, and I shouldn’t put words in your mouth. But my assumption is, you want people to come to you with all questions, right? You, you guys are the knowledge source?

Stephanie Spenner 50:36
Yes, absolutely. And that’s what I literally on my discovery call with the client. Initially, I say, I know all the buildings like the back of my hand, from Uptown to South Loop street, or build to Logan Square, that’s north to south east to west everywhere you want to be I know, every single building like back in my hand, I can tell you that carpet in the bedroom, I can tell if it was recently renovated, I can tell you, like if it has a electric range or gas range. And that helps me help them like weed things out right away. And now I’ve narrowed it down to two buildings out of 203 100 400 buildings. And I’m like, this is the only building you need to see. And then on top of that, I think the biggest value that I add is knowing every single question that they are going to ask the onsite team and or that the onsite team doesn’t even know. So there’s things that I tell people. So for example, I have I have a client that’s looking to move in September, and they’re like, oh, is the price is is it going to get better. And I’m like, Look, what we can do is you can apply today for your favor, like, we’re gonna go to her four buildings, you’re gonna say, This is my favorite building, this is my favorite unit, you’re gonna apply for that unit, and you’re gonna sign the lease today for September 1, now, you’re going to stock the website. And if something else opens up in that building, before the lease starts, you can switch to any unit in the building with no penalties or fees, as long as you qualify for the unit. And as long as it’s, you give them enough notice to have the apartment ready for you to move in. But little things like that. And like most buildings will do that. I don’t know any building that doesn’t do that. So it just gives them peace of mind that they locked in their favorite building, and their favorite unit. But then if something else better opens up, or like better price better, bigger and or their budget changes in a month, they’re like waiting for a promotion to come through, boom, they can switch before the lease starts. And, and that’s what I did with my place. And I manifested this penthouse for during COVID that like I signed, I applied here four months before my lease was up. And I signed a different lease. And I stalked the website every day and manifested like the unit that I’m in now. So and that’s what I tell people like and I tell these stories, and I know like, and I tell them to like ask, I’m like, when I wrap up the call I go this is how it’s going to work. I explained the process from start to finish. So they know when I’m starting and when I’m going to be handing it off to like when the building takes over. And so they know literally everything and I say

D.J. Paris 52:51
well, we’re talking about what we’re talking about are systems, and you have a really impressive system. And you have this information, that you have so much information that nobody that your clients and your prospects don’t have to go outside of your world to get answers is kind of what exactly,

Stephanie Spenner 53:13
yep. And so at the end of that call, I say, I’m going to send you a handful of options and check all the boxes go through those. I can always send you more based on your feedback, then we’re going to come up with your top favorite options, I will schedule the tours to go see all of your favorites. And then from there, you’re going to apply for one, this is how the application process works. I literally walk them through all of that. And then I explain that you can take if you have a quick question, you can text me anytime. If you have a bunch of questions, just write them down. And we’ll hop on a quick call and go through them together. So then when I send you options, if you want to hop on a quick call and talk through your feedback, so we can talk through, like what I sent you together and help sort through your top favorites together and we’ll narrow it down and come up with a game plan together. And I think that’s a huge takeaway is like so many people are afraid to pick up the phone. And like if a client’s texting you and they’re upset about something they’re like, oh, like I didn’t get the lease yet. Or like what’s going on over here. They said they don’t have parking like yesterday clients like what the hell they have a waitlist for parking for a year, and I just signed a lease, like I need parking by August 1. I am not going to sit there and text him or book back like no just fucking pick up the phone and call them. And as I promised you it’s easier and like every time you’re going to be able to communicate all the points better if you can just pick up the phone and call them. So that just leads right into like me and my team. So like I like with social media and with the knowledge that I have. So social media is very powerful beyond just a lead generator for literally rental people that are looking for rentals or people that are looking to buy. It’s also it shows directly my business culture and how I work and how and what I know so every person on my team has come to me has been proactive. Had DM me has messaged me and has come to the YPN breakfast and talk to me after with a line out there. Doors and I want to join your team. And they have the balls to do that, you know, so I’m giving you a chance, I’m going to meet with you for 20 minutes at least if you reach out and say, I want to join your team, I’m gonna give you that 20 minutes, even if I know you’re totally not the right fit, because I want to let them know that they need to do this again and to not lose that like, you know, and so that’s how every like social media literally so my partner Kira Kira button, she is a absolute powerhouse. She has 24,000 subscribers on YouTube. Okay, we met a bout a year and a half ago, she randomly DM me on Instagram and said, You look amazing. Like you, I want you to be my leasing agent. I actually am a leasing agent. I saw you because I do the social media management for Alta Grand Central, and you’re all over their social media, blah, blah. And I’m like, I’m confused. You’re a leasing agent, like why do you want me to be your agent then? And I like Googled her name, and Kira and YouTube 20 4000s of followers. Before I even responded, I said want to meet for coffee tomorrow. Like, if you’re a leasing agent, and you’re asking me, for me to be your leasing agent, then you clearly are like not happy with your leasing agent role. And if you have 24,000 subscribers and you had the personality to DM me, like I want to talk to you. And literally she joined my team the next day, she was with another brokerage for three months had no idea what she’s doing did not know that she could show the building that she even lived in, which was the professionally managed building, didn’t know she get paid on those deals. She was had no idea what she was doing at the other brokerage because she was not on a team. She said, Hey, how do I pull availability for this and they said ask the CEO of the company ask the managing broker. And she didn’t close the deal. She almost gave up for four months, she joined my team. And after the first day like she joined my team, the first day we met, she closed the deal two days later, her first her first rental. And in her first year she closed 192 rentals, ah and I could literally like cry. Because that just is like it just so for me as a leader. Because I and now she’s I’ve made her a partner of my team, because we are better together. And we have the same type of like, and now we’ve created her YouTube channel to turn more into luxury versus like her niche before was the studio living. And so a lot of her leads were that but anyways,

I she called 192 rentals, one because she did everything I told her to do. And she was consistent about it. And she just literally like wanted to be like me so bad. She saw what I like it’s like, and on top of that COVID. So not like she probably would have done at least 100 deals. But because of COVID She could close exponentially more than I could in my first year because of video tours. She has closed five tours right here in one hour. Right. And it would take me five days to do that. You know what I mean? On top of that, we have compass. So compass is great, where we have so many leads that our team, our team of 13 agents can’t take all them. So then if like when we can’t take them, then we overflow them. And we have this system set up. So like if somebody on my team doesn’t pick up the lead, then automatically like then my assistant pushes that out to this group of like 50 Other compass agents that are like rookies and other people’s teams that are hungry for these leads. And then we get the referrals off that. And then also I’m like all my agents on my team. I’m like, if even if you don’t want to do sales, get your broker’s license so that when your renters turn your buyers, you can at least get paid on the referral. And then we have people that we just like pay to do showings for us. So I’m like, okay, like, I like I’m going to do all the work for this. And I’m going to like put all these options together, I’m going to set up all the tours, I can’t take four people out today, I’m going to take these two that I need to see face to face. And I’m going to set up the tours for the other 2am I have another agent like another outside of my team because my team is busy better off spending their hourly rate is like $1,000 minimum. Whereas I can send it out to another rookie compass agent for $25 for showing like

D.J. Paris 59:05
yeah, it’s it’s it’s really incredible the systems that that you have built and I’m curious too, on how often the relationship transitions from renting to buying I mean it takes years right like I I know people that focused on leasing for like the first two or three years of their business. And then a lot of those people end up transitioning into buyers. What is what is your process to help transition people from renting to buying?

Stephanie Spenner 59:37
I think my biggest thing is that I’m just like super chill about it. Like I look especially because I really don’t care if you like rent again or buy again or like whatever and I think that’s why people feel so comfortable just flooding in the like questions and like and and sending me people like oh, I don’t know if you do this, but you told me anytime like And it might be Schomburg I do not do Schomburg but I can connect with an agent and Schomburg and I’m gonna get paid a referral on that deal. Absolute freakin loosely and everyone knows that I am with Compass and that I, I tell everyone I meet like I can connect you with an expert in any market and like I just I have a buyer under contract right now single new construction, my first new construction deal that is currently being built and that buyer of mine was my I rent it to him at marquee when I worked at marquee. He was my one of my first rentals. And then he then he lived at marquee for three or four years. Then he saw I was an independent broker he reached out I rented to him again at a different property in west loop. Then he’s like Steph, I’m ready to buy now we’re now we’re under contract for a place in Logan squares, new construction single family home. But right in between that he said I want to buy but we need to sell my wife’s house and Nashville, literally in a second connected in with a Nashville agent that agents sold their house in a week. And I made five grand for 25% referral doing nothing. Right. And that just is like the full cycle right there. That’s the full frickin cycle. So yes, like, just really quick touching back like yes, I I was new to Chicago, I did not have this fear that a lot of people do or that that should have had to have nine six rentals in their first year. But I do want to say I worked every single relationship that I had at marquee, like we met CITM the developers we met power the construction team. We met SCP the design team I am I sold a condo to Chiara Santini, who was our interior designer, SCB, who now has their own company like four years later, I am very good friends with the Executive Engineer of power construction, who has gotten me into one Chicago when the glass wasn’t even on the 71st floor. Yeah, I saw that building. Like before any other broker saw that building? I saw as it’s not, you know, it’s just like making those relationships with every single person. The door staff is like the most important person, like and people like people treat those people like shit. It’s like, and I was the door staff. I was the package person. I was the frickin janitor. I had to clean people’s apartments out when I evicted them. And I had to evict people. And I had to like the things that we did. And because this is probably one of the last questions, and just because we’re talking about it, just so I don’t forget, because we have so many great real estate stories. But when you get asked the question on the spot, I go blank. And so I’m like coming up, I’m trying to make notes to remember like, so and, and most of my stories are in property management. They’re like not even like in this side. But one of my favorites is when I was still in Wisconsin, and I managed that first building in the premier property. And there are some resident columns that hey, somebody’s parked in my parking space we had, we had an outdoor lot that was gated within the building that we had a parking garage. And I was like, Okay, let me go check it out. I go out there. And there’s like people standing outside of the car, and they’re like, just shooting the shit outside their car. And I’m like, Hi there. I’m like, I’m sorry, do do live here as it’s your space and like, no. And I was like, Okay, I’m so sorry. Would you mind like moving your car, like somebody pays for the spot, and she just gets all over my face. And she’s pregnant. She’s pregnant, and she’s coming at me trying to bite me. And she’s like, screaming at me telling me I don’t even live here. I don’t even live here. And I’m like, That’s my point. Like, you don’t live here. You know, you’re and we come to find out like so. She had a warrant out multiple warrants out for her arrest for pimping and pandering. Oh, pimping and pandering. In Wisconsin, you can just look up people’s public records. And we found her name because she was a friend of a resident. That’s how she got into the gate. I mean, might not even be my best one. But a pregnant woman tried to find me and she happened to be a pimp, like, Well, that’s all figured Welcome to Wisconsin.

D.J. Paris 1:03:55
I’m glad I’m glad you’re still with us. That sounds like a dangerous position. But I think you’ve given our listeners really a tremendous amount of value, you know, for everyone out there. As the as the housing market is starting to cool a bit and we’re seeing you know, rates going up and, and of course inventory shrinking, or continuing to shrink, when there’s this huge opportunity in rentals and again, and there’s also a lot of people by the way that are selling their homes that don’t have a place to buy right now. Right to right, that’s huge because inventory. So you know, this is it might even be a reasonable strategy for a lot of sellers right now, to sell their property, rent somewhere for a couple of years, wait till the market readjusts and then come back into the in becoming a homebuyer. So there’s a ton of opportunity out there. Stephanie and her team, they do everything. Obviously they do a lot of rentals. They do a tremendous amount of sales too. And they do everything from Luxury to non luxury, they do everything. But Stephanie is also building this team. She has what 13 agents or I guess maybe even, she was telling me just before we started, she’s like, I’m bringing out a couple of new people this really excited. So her team is growing. And I know we have a lot of our listeners are local here in Chicago. So if there is anyone out there who’s like, I like what Stephanie is saying, I want that kind of career, I want to learn about Maven, and compass. And Stephanie, and what she’s done. And by the way, my, we were just talking offline, my girlfriend actually works at a building where Stephanie used to live. And so I’m excited to introduce my girlfriend to you, because you’re going to be interacting with my girlfriend, I’m sure at she’s a leasing agent at this other building. But if anyone out there is like, oh my god, I got to talk to Stephanie, I want to learn these secrets of how to build my business. Or maybe that she might, they might even be a good fit, like you were saying, for your team, what’s the best way someone should reach out to you?

Stephanie Spenner 1:06:00
I would say like DM me on Instagram, that’s probably just the easiest way to find me. I mean, it’s not, you know, Stephanie spinner, that I have three different social media pages, like separately, spinners, my direct page, I manage that page. Then there’s Maven underscore compass, which is my team page. And we have a social media manager that manages that page. And then I have live shy.tv, which is my brand, and my YouTube channel, the show live shy.tv. And that’s another Instagram page that another I have another social media manager that manages that. And so you can email me Stephanie dots [e-mail], or DM me on Instagram, or any which way you want, go to live shy.tv. And you can find my cell phone number on there, that website is more so for renters and leads. So I tell my leads to go there, they can fill out the form to tour with me. And yeah, check out the any new agents. And if you do want to get into rentals, my channel will also help you to learn about the building. So when I met all my new agents, I tell them go see three new properties a week. And if you don’t know, like and watch all my YouTube episodes so that you can learn those buildings and then go see the other ones that are not on there. And now you’re going to start knowing a lot to be able to talk about with your clients even if you’ve never been to the building.

D.J. Paris 1:07:27
And just one last quick question. How often do you receive leads from these videos you’ve put out on YouTube about these buildings?

Stephanie Spenner 1:07:38
Minimum we get about 30 leads a month like minimum that that’s quality leads. I mean, these are like big budget leads Kyra just to like as a nother note, she gets about 200 leads from her YouTube channel that we pass around the team now hers are inching up to be more like, because she focused on studio small living. And so where that’s kind of the difference, but yeah, that’s kind of handle that kind of handle both? Yeah, no, yeah, that’s really cool. Because she her background is actually in influencing. So she’s like an influencer. And that’s why she was got into real estate because she was doing influencing marketing for another property. And so now, now that we have like, I mean, my team is exactly how I want it to be this is everything I’ve ever dreamed of this is like, it’s perfect. And it will continue to grow how it should. And it’s I truly think that her and I together are exactly alike. It’s everything I have ever wanted. And now we are social media. Now we are real estate influencers. We’re not just real estate brokers, we’re real estate influencers, and whether you’re actually good at social media or not. I think we as brokers are influencers and if you think about that, like we truly are guiding our clients and telling them, which, you know, I always say like, I’m your broker. It’s like being your best friend. And sometimes I’m going to know you better than you know yourself. You might think you want this but I’m I’m gonna I know you want this, you know?

D.J. Paris 1:09:18
Yeah, it’s, it’s so it’s so important. I just I love your energy. I love the fact that you have just really dug in to your business and you’re so passionate and excited. And it’s just It’s infectious. And so Stephanie spent her we are so thrilled that you spent an hour with us on the show and we will let you get back to your crazy, busy, busy, busy and productive team. But before we do I want to just ask everyone to do one quick thing. Please tell one friend about this episode. Think of one other real estate professional that could benefit from hearing this great interview in conversation with Stephanie and send them a link to our show, you can visit our website at keeping it real pod.com On every episode we’ve ever done can be streamed right from their orbs pull the podcast app search for keeping it real and hit the subscribe button. I’m sorry, one more thing we’ll ask, please leave us a review. Let us know what you think of the show. Whatever podcast app you might be listening on. Let us know what you think good and bad. We want to hear because the show is for you, the audience and we want to continue to improve to make it better. But Stephanie, on behalf of our audience, we want to thank you crushing rentals and sales and just process and doing so much with with social media as well. Everyone, please go visit live shy.tv l i v e ch i.tv. Stephanie also just brought her dog dying to say hi. Oh, that’s very sweet. My dog is dying to go to the bathroom. So I’m going to, but we want to thank everyone and we will see everybody. Next year. Thank you. And by the way, one last thing. If anyone wants to join Stephanie’s team reach out to her. She would love to talk to you as well. So anyway, I will see everybody on the next episode. Thanks Steph.

Stephanie Spenner 1:11:04
Thanks, DJ.