WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.940 Hey everyone, I had the pleasure of talking with 00:00:01.940 --> 00:00:05.000 Ryan Serhant, an absolute rock star in the real 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.099 estate industry. We talk about a number of different 00:00:07.099 --> 00:00:10.279 things, including a steel cage match between 00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:13.500 him and Robert Reffkin. Who walks out a winner? 00:00:13.820 --> 00:00:16.690 Stay tuned to hear. Hey, everyone. This episode 00:00:16.690 --> 00:00:19.850 is brought to you by Lofty, the agentic AI operating 00:00:19.850 --> 00:00:22.969 system for real estate. Lofty's AI doesn't wait 00:00:22.969 --> 00:00:25.769 to be prompted. It works proactively on behalf 00:00:25.769 --> 00:00:28.710 of your agents to uncover new listing opportunities, 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:32.689 engage leads, schedule meetings, and drive more 00:00:32.689 --> 00:00:35.549 transactions. Lofty turns every agent into a 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:39.490 top producer. Visit lofty .com to see how agentic 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:43.009 AI can put your business growth on autopilot. 00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:45.799 Everybody in the business of home has a pitch. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:48.859 Almost nobody gets asked a hard question. This 00:00:48.859 --> 00:00:51.380 show fixes that. Welcome to Signal. I'm your 00:00:51.380 --> 00:00:54.659 host, Inman CEO Tom Bohn. Each week we sit down 00:00:54.659 --> 00:00:58.060 with top producing agents, industry CEOs, prop 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:01.259 tech founders, and the people shaping the future 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:03.880 of the business of home. Then we break down the 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:06.739 week's biggest headlines and decide what's Signal 00:01:06.739 --> 00:01:14.159 and what's Noise. Let's get into it. Hey, everyone. 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:17.379 My guest built a brokerage from zero to nearly 00:01:17.379 --> 00:01:20.120 a thousand agents in five years, turned a Netflix 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:23.340 show into a recruiting engine, and just told 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:25.200 the industry that the whole future comes down 00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:29.299 to two names, Compass and Ryan Serhant. Ryan, 00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:31.560 welcome to The Signal. Really appreciate your 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:34.030 time today. Thank you so much for having me. 00:01:34.109 --> 00:01:38.569 And we actually crossed on Friday, 2044 agents, 00:01:38.650 --> 00:01:41.530 by the way. 2044 agents. Congratulations. That's 00:01:41.530 --> 00:01:44.310 amazing. Before we get into your incredible success, 00:01:44.430 --> 00:01:47.409 truly in real estate, I need to ask a question 00:01:47.409 --> 00:01:49.430 that's on a lot of people's minds. You start 00:01:49.430 --> 00:01:53.109 as Dr. Evan Walsh on As the World Turns, an evil, 00:01:53.170 --> 00:01:56.469 murderous doctor. How much of the real Ryan Serhant 00:01:56.469 --> 00:02:02.250 is in that role? Oh, gosh. You know, he was incredibly 00:02:02.250 --> 00:02:07.269 ambitious. I think I share in some of Dr. Walsh's 00:02:07.269 --> 00:02:10.830 ambition. But he was ambitious at all costs, 00:02:10.930 --> 00:02:12.509 which is why he murdered a bunch of people and 00:02:12.509 --> 00:02:16.909 then his grandmother killed him. Yes. Which was 00:02:16.909 --> 00:02:20.629 also known in the actor world as being fired 00:02:20.629 --> 00:02:24.770 from a job. That's how they do it. I remember 00:02:24.770 --> 00:02:27.870 getting that script and reading it. And then 00:02:27.870 --> 00:02:30.270 it was like, Evan Walsh takes syringe to the 00:02:30.270 --> 00:02:34.110 chest wrestling with Lucinda, his grandmother. 00:02:35.050 --> 00:02:37.810 And then it's just it. And I'm like, wait, but 00:02:37.810 --> 00:02:40.349 then what happens there? It's like, no, you die. 00:02:40.490 --> 00:02:43.210 Like, OK, but then what about tomorrow? No, you 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:46.449 know, you die. You're done. What about like no 00:02:46.449 --> 00:02:49.509 more work from like it? It took a second. Like 00:02:49.509 --> 00:02:52.229 it was like a little bit. It was it was shocking. 00:02:52.469 --> 00:02:55.430 It was it was that was a hard one. So my son's 00:02:55.430 --> 00:02:57.050 an actor in the Upper East Side of Manhattan 00:02:57.050 --> 00:02:59.009 as well. How long before he's working for Ryan 00:02:59.009 --> 00:03:02.669 Serhant as a realtor? Listen, I, you know, the 00:03:02.669 --> 00:03:06.289 realtor thing for me was not abnormal. There's 00:03:06.289 --> 00:03:10.789 a lot of people who go into arts, theater, music, 00:03:10.969 --> 00:03:14.909 you name it. And they try to figure out how to 00:03:14.909 --> 00:03:17.650 make money on the side so they can serve. five 00:03:17.650 --> 00:03:20.090 and support themselves and buy ramen and do all 00:03:20.090 --> 00:03:22.689 the things. And if their parents aren't supporting 00:03:22.689 --> 00:03:26.370 them financially, and some are some, you know, 00:03:26.370 --> 00:03:29.669 for me, you looked at my checkbook. Yeah. Then 00:03:29.669 --> 00:03:31.270 you have to get a survival job. You wait tables, 00:03:31.289 --> 00:03:34.030 you bartend, you do all those things. But when 00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:36.509 you're you're you're an artist, a big part of 00:03:36.509 --> 00:03:38.610 what you're doing is selling yourself. So as 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:40.430 an actor, you're selling your I'm going to rooms 00:03:40.430 --> 00:03:42.650 with people who don't know me. They don't necessarily 00:03:42.650 --> 00:03:45.729 want to know me. They judge me in three seconds 00:03:45.729 --> 00:03:48.310 just based on how I look. And then second four 00:03:48.310 --> 00:03:50.810 and five is the sound of my voice. So I got five 00:03:50.810 --> 00:03:54.930 seconds to change a potentially poor first impression. 00:03:55.289 --> 00:03:59.669 And then I go to try to convince them just using 00:03:59.669 --> 00:04:04.629 the tool that is my human form that I should 00:04:04.629 --> 00:04:07.449 be worth their dollars and their reputation. 00:04:07.710 --> 00:04:11.189 That's hard. And that is an incredible, incredible 00:04:11.189 --> 00:04:14.629 skill in sales. So whether you're then selling 00:04:14.629 --> 00:04:17.750 real estate or cars or insurance, a lot of artists 00:04:17.750 --> 00:04:21.389 move off to sales. And then listen, like I fell 00:04:21.389 --> 00:04:25.310 victim a little bit to, oh, I just paid my rent. 00:04:25.470 --> 00:04:31.110 I'm with one client for the month. Huh? What 00:04:31.110 --> 00:04:33.569 if I did that tomorrow too? Could I pay next 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:38.089 month's rent ahead of time? That would be insane. 00:04:39.019 --> 00:04:41.259 I don't want to lose this creative. And then 00:04:41.259 --> 00:04:43.860 the power of the cell phone and the power of 00:04:43.860 --> 00:04:46.079 YouTube and Instagram. And then obviously Million 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:48.759 Dollar Listing. I was able to bring it all back 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:50.220 together. But to go back to the original question, 00:04:50.519 --> 00:04:53.139 I am nothing like Dr. Evan Walsh IV, the murderous 00:04:53.139 --> 00:04:56.339 doctor. Other than he looked exactly like me 00:04:56.339 --> 00:04:58.620 because I was him. And he was very ambitious. 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:00.939 He was very ambitious, very ambitious. In fact, 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.519 we're going to drop a photo of you in those days 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.139 here for the thing because we love to share stuff 00:05:06.139 --> 00:05:09.379 like that. So look, I think that once you're 00:05:09.379 --> 00:05:11.759 in the arts, you're always in the arts. So how 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:14.439 much of you is an actor first, a media mogul, 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:18.060 or a real estate tycoon? Which one of those is 00:05:18.060 --> 00:05:20.660 the real passion? You know, I'm a leader first 00:05:20.660 --> 00:05:25.300 and foremost. I really enjoy leading people and 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:29.279 watching them be great. going back to what we 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:33.279 just talked about ambition i think the people 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:37.720 who don't like me i think are rubbed the wrong 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:41.220 way because they don't like my ambition they 00:05:41.220 --> 00:05:44.319 don't like how loud or noisy i might be but if 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:48.939 they truly understood how many other people underneath 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:53.620 me win when i win they would realize that it's 00:05:53.620 --> 00:05:57.629 not actually ambition it is unbelievable responsibility. 00:05:58.110 --> 00:06:00.889 Isn't real estate a loud and noisy profession, 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:03.129 though? Don't you have to be to break through? 00:06:04.009 --> 00:06:08.490 Today, I think I've made that so. But when I 00:06:08.490 --> 00:06:11.029 got into the business, no. And listen, there's 00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:13.509 lots of off -market transactions. There's lots 00:06:13.509 --> 00:06:16.149 of this business that goes completely under the 00:06:16.149 --> 00:06:18.490 radar. I don't think you have to be loud to break 00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:21.709 through. I think you have to do what works for 00:06:21.709 --> 00:06:25.230 you. Like, if I could have at the time. been 00:06:25.230 --> 00:06:28.189 a real estate agent with no platform, I could 00:06:28.189 --> 00:06:31.569 totally have my private life to myself. I could 00:06:31.569 --> 00:06:36.110 just make money and sell homes. I'd probably 00:06:36.110 --> 00:06:38.350 choose that. There's a lot of sacrifice that 00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:40.870 comes personally with doing it the way that I've 00:06:40.870 --> 00:06:43.069 done it. That said, I've been able to move much, 00:06:43.129 --> 00:06:46.170 much, much, much faster doing it my way than 00:06:46.170 --> 00:06:49.430 doing it the other way. So if CBS calls you tomorrow 00:06:49.430 --> 00:06:51.410 and says, hey, Ryan, we really want you to be 00:06:51.410 --> 00:06:54.310 the new tracker. You're our guy. You look like 00:06:54.310 --> 00:06:57.709 the tracker. Let's do it. Yes or no? One, I don't 00:06:57.709 --> 00:06:59.750 know what that is, what tracker is. It's the 00:06:59.750 --> 00:07:03.230 number one show in the country, but okay. Second 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:06.870 to owning Manhattan, of course. I did email for 00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:11.610 the entirety of the World Cup. I just work. It 00:07:11.610 --> 00:07:16.110 is all I do. So the answer would probably be 00:07:16.110 --> 00:07:19.350 no, but I like experiences. I like opportunities. 00:07:19.550 --> 00:07:22.319 Netflix reached out and said, hey, do you want 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:25.259 to come do our new reality show based on Squid 00:07:25.259 --> 00:07:28.319 Game with Dylan Efron and Tristan Thompson and 00:07:28.319 --> 00:07:30.699 Mel B from the Spice Girls? And they were like, 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:33.379 you'd have to come to London for a week. And 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:36.240 that was in February. And I looked at my calendar 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:38.300 and was like, I definitely cannot afford a week 00:07:38.300 --> 00:07:41.519 to go play a reality TV game show. But also, 00:07:41.660 --> 00:07:46.600 listen, when you die, they divide up all your 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:49.560 stuff. The people... who didn't really care about 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:52.779 you say i'm sorry to the people who did there's 00:07:52.779 --> 00:07:55.139 a procession and then everyone gets in their 00:07:55.139 --> 00:07:58.199 car and goes back to work and slowly but surely 00:07:58.199 --> 00:08:00.920 whatever doesn't fit in the eulogy no longer 00:08:00.920 --> 00:08:05.240 matters so who am i to turn down a cool opportunity 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:08.279 one of our agents her whole goal of coming to 00:08:08.279 --> 00:08:11.120 work with me and doing content and etc was one 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.500 make money i want to i want to make money i want 00:08:13.500 --> 00:08:15.540 to help people and i really love real estate 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:18.449 but two if i could ever get on broadway I don't 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:21.149 know, another place in the new world of media 00:08:21.149 --> 00:08:24.389 where I could be a working professional, but 00:08:24.389 --> 00:08:27.350 also create a personality, then doing it at Serhant 00:08:27.350 --> 00:08:29.990 in a professional way. And she did that. And 00:08:29.990 --> 00:08:33.289 she was just cast on Six on Broadway. And she 00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:35.690 starts, I think, August, in the middle of August 00:08:35.690 --> 00:08:37.409 or something like that. So you will see me on 00:08:37.409 --> 00:08:39.610 Squid Game playing these ridiculous games, running 00:08:39.610 --> 00:08:41.629 for my life, being way more stressed than any 00:08:41.629 --> 00:08:43.090 real estate deal I've ever done, by the way. 00:08:43.169 --> 00:08:46.389 That was emotionally traumatizing. I've got to 00:08:46.389 --> 00:08:48.549 love a lot of your team, the Naples group in 00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:51.529 particular. And you do recruit some wildly incredible 00:08:51.529 --> 00:08:54.370 talent. So kudos to you. Last time you were on 00:08:54.370 --> 00:08:57.529 an Inman stage, you made the very interesting 00:08:57.529 --> 00:08:59.389 comment that said there's only going to be two 00:08:59.389 --> 00:09:01.450 players left in the world. It's going to be Compass 00:09:01.450 --> 00:09:04.049 and it's going to be Serhant. How's that going? 00:09:04.750 --> 00:09:09.129 Great. So far. Do you stand by that still? Yep. 00:09:09.230 --> 00:09:12.549 I think that was like six months ago. Yep. Listen, 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:15.639 I think you have to, as a brokerage, If you want 00:09:15.639 --> 00:09:18.539 to be in the brokerage business, you have to 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:21.340 make a decision. You're either empowering the 00:09:21.340 --> 00:09:25.519 property first, and then the person is the byproduct 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.480 to get to the property, or you're empowering 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:32.720 the person first, and the person is the product 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:38.360 to get to the property. And it might be the wrong 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:41.240 decision. I don't know, but I empower the person. 00:09:41.740 --> 00:09:44.779 Like our tech empowers the people. Our brand 00:09:44.779 --> 00:09:47.940 empowers the people. Everything we do, I do this 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:50.720 as a living. I sell real estate alongside our 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:52.960 agents. I'm about to, I get off with you and 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:55.639 I race to the airport and I go to Texas to open 00:09:55.639 --> 00:09:58.200 Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. All 00:09:58.200 --> 00:10:02.840 with agents, by the way, who were paid so much 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:06.039 money to go to Compass, who come to us for free. 00:10:07.789 --> 00:10:12.070 I buy $0 of revenue. All 2 ,044 agents who've 00:10:12.070 --> 00:10:13.909 joined us up until last Friday, I don't know 00:10:13.909 --> 00:10:16.870 what it's going to be today, come not for money. 00:10:17.029 --> 00:10:18.690 Because if you come for the money, you stay for 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:20.710 the money. They come for the opportunity and 00:10:20.710 --> 00:10:22.730 they stay for the results. That's why my GCI 00:10:22.730 --> 00:10:27.049 retention is 99 .2 % amortized over those, what 00:10:27.049 --> 00:10:28.509 has it been, five years that I've been doing 00:10:28.509 --> 00:10:31.429 this. And so we are very, very much about the 00:10:31.429 --> 00:10:34.490 person. I think the brokerage industry. As a 00:10:34.490 --> 00:10:36.570 whole, though, that's why I look at these mergers 00:10:36.570 --> 00:10:40.149 and I'm like, maybe I'm just too dumb to totally 00:10:40.149 --> 00:10:43.350 understand. But I think the industry is massively 00:10:43.350 --> 00:10:47.149 over -agented. I think it's radically underproductive. 00:10:47.409 --> 00:10:51.190 I think the average agent completed 10 transactions 00:10:51.190 --> 00:10:54.350 last year. I don't think that's primarily an 00:10:54.350 --> 00:10:56.570 agent problem. I think it's a market problem. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:00.440 I think it is a real estate industry problem 00:11:00.440 --> 00:11:03.559 because we've created an asset class that is 00:11:03.559 --> 00:11:06.100 not infrastructure the way we all think it is 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:07.740 because we all need to live in a home. But we've 00:11:07.740 --> 00:11:10.419 turned it, we've created it as an asset. But 00:11:10.419 --> 00:11:13.200 I think it's also a broken operating system problem. 00:11:13.379 --> 00:11:17.480 I think the future belongs to fewer. better obviously 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.120 ai powered agents the same way when i got into 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:22.220 the business early on i was competing against 00:11:22.220 --> 00:11:25.399 agents they didn't know how not to advertise 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:27.279 in the new york times that is where they would 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:29.580 get all their their traffic that's where they 00:11:29.580 --> 00:11:32.779 would get all of their open house traffic and 00:11:32.779 --> 00:11:36.399 i was this seems crazy because it was 2008. the 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:38.399 internet had been around for a long time a lot 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.940 of people had dial up 10 years prior but they 00:11:40.940 --> 00:11:43.360 only used it for email everything else was still 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.730 in paper and i think having Hundreds of thousands 00:11:46.730 --> 00:11:48.730 of people manually pushing paperwork through 00:11:48.730 --> 00:11:51.549 disconnected systems is not the way the future. 00:11:51.710 --> 00:11:53.809 Every other firm I see is a subscription based 00:11:53.809 --> 00:11:56.850 business or it's run by a total wacko. So like 00:11:56.850 --> 00:12:01.009 I don't know who else is who else is out there. 00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:05.690 Also, I am very much and I've said this incredibly 00:12:05.690 --> 00:12:08.070 publicly. I say this to all of our agents and 00:12:08.070 --> 00:12:11.389 I'm in the make money business. I am still trying 00:12:11.389 --> 00:12:14.059 to find a CEO of a real estate company. That 00:12:14.059 --> 00:12:17.259 is also in that business. And which means that 00:12:17.259 --> 00:12:19.940 they're making money somewhere. Right. And it's 00:12:19.940 --> 00:12:23.799 on the backs of salespeople. Give me an example. 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:25.820 Can you be specific? Give me an example of what 00:12:25.820 --> 00:12:28.360 that looks like. How much money does real make? 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:33.070 How much money does eXp make? How much money 00:12:33.070 --> 00:12:35.289 does Fathom make? How much money does LPT make? 00:12:35.409 --> 00:12:37.429 How much money does LMNOZ? I don't even know 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:39.429 what the fuck these companies are make. They 00:12:39.429 --> 00:12:41.289 are subscription -based businesses that want 00:12:41.289 --> 00:12:43.049 to grab market share and they either make money 00:12:43.049 --> 00:12:45.929 on the backs of recruiting or on selling services. 00:12:46.429 --> 00:12:48.919 I've interviewed people at like... I've interviewed 00:12:48.919 --> 00:12:51.940 people at Real. Like right when the CEO of Real, 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:54.100 he got in trouble for sexual harassment or something, 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:56.279 or he was dating his own agents or some bullshit 00:12:56.279 --> 00:12:59.279 psychopath stuff. Like a bunch of his people 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:01.080 like tried to leave. And we're always, sure, 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:03.639 let's take interviews. Like, so what's it like 00:13:03.639 --> 00:13:05.059 to be at the brokerage? Oh, no, no, we're not 00:13:05.059 --> 00:13:07.519 a real estate brokerage. We're a fintech company. 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.620 The fuck does that mean? Well, we're trying, 00:13:11.679 --> 00:13:13.840 we're finding different ways to make money off 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:15.480 of our agents. We sell them different services 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:17.340 and different fees and different this and different 00:13:17.340 --> 00:13:19.509 that. And then they ask me, they're like, how 00:13:19.509 --> 00:13:23.409 do you operate? You're so expensive. Me? I don't. 00:13:24.190 --> 00:13:27.789 I'd rather have a brutally honest agreement and 00:13:27.789 --> 00:13:29.590 conversation with the salesperson who's willing 00:13:29.590 --> 00:13:32.970 to work with us and not secretly nickel and dime 00:13:32.970 --> 00:13:36.950 them forever. And maybe that's just because I 00:13:36.950 --> 00:13:41.129 do this and I know how the business works. Yeah. 00:13:41.610 --> 00:13:44.250 But, you know, a lot of the agents that work 00:13:44.250 --> 00:13:46.490 for us, one, we get a lot of flack because they're 00:13:46.490 --> 00:13:51.169 young and they are. We have agents who are older 00:13:51.169 --> 00:13:54.110 and I love it. So I'm like, great, please, please 00:13:54.110 --> 00:13:57.870 help train these kids who are growing up in the 00:13:57.870 --> 00:14:01.090 industry and they've grown up with me. Yeah. 00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:05.210 And I think there is no better brand platform 00:14:05.210 --> 00:14:08.269 to build an incredible opportunity for yourself 00:14:08.269 --> 00:14:11.639 and for your career. than us, which is why we're 00:14:11.639 --> 00:14:14.419 moving so fast. Less agents, more tech, which 00:14:14.419 --> 00:14:16.779 brings me to your simple platform, which you 00:14:16.779 --> 00:14:19.440 call the DoorDash for work. Tell me a little 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:22.480 bit about that, but also tell me, is it a productivity 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:26.360 tool that lets agents do 3x more or is it a way 00:14:26.360 --> 00:14:29.379 to reduce headcount or both? It's a way to reduce 00:14:29.379 --> 00:14:33.860 headcount. I mean, my agent productivity, I think, 00:14:33.860 --> 00:14:36.580 is already the highest. in the industry because 00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:38.159 we don't we don't take agents who do less than 00:14:38.159 --> 00:14:40.240 10 million dollars a year in most states and 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:42.000 we don't take principal agents who do less than 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.240 50 million a year and i'm not trying to build 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:46.919 the biggest company to then figure out what to 00:14:46.919 --> 00:14:49.279 do with people i'm trying to build the best brand 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:51.919 reputation is incredibly important there was 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:53.799 an agent we just apparently we hired on friday 00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:56.659 one of those 2044 so maybe we're 2043 right now 00:14:56.659 --> 00:14:59.779 who you know i got a dm this morning at 7am from 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:03.360 somebody screenshotted something awful that this 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:07.279 person that we just hired, apparently, said to 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:11.379 a potential client over text. And we immediately 00:15:11.379 --> 00:15:13.019 checked into it, immediately went through it. 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:15.120 He had a whole defense and he was in the moment 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:17.799 and he had a rough weekend, this, that, the other. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:21.419 100 % fired immediately. One strike policy. I 00:15:21.419 --> 00:15:22.919 don't care. And he does a lot of business, came 00:15:22.919 --> 00:15:25.480 from another big firm, a lot of business. I'm 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:28.019 like, that's the way you are two days before 00:15:28.019 --> 00:15:30.120 you officially start with me. Imagine the way 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:33.450 you've been as a human being for the last. 20 00:15:33.450 --> 00:15:36.210 years, let alone for the next two years going 00:15:36.210 --> 00:15:41.210 forward, absolutely not. I think the, you asked 00:15:41.210 --> 00:15:44.149 about simple, not about behavior, but listen, 00:15:44.250 --> 00:15:47.090 I think the last 20 years are about who could 00:15:47.090 --> 00:15:49.669 scale agents and listings. And I think there's 00:15:49.669 --> 00:15:51.389 a lot of firms who are still trying to do that, 00:15:51.450 --> 00:15:53.889 scale agents and listings. I think the next 10, 00:15:53.990 --> 00:15:57.090 at least, we'll see about 20, are about who owns 00:15:57.090 --> 00:15:59.350 the underlying AI layer of that customer journey, 00:15:59.490 --> 00:16:03.799 from first search to final signature. My mission, 00:16:03.899 --> 00:16:07.679 other than just helping people move forward, 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.059 we help our buyers move forward, we help our 00:16:10.059 --> 00:16:11.799 sellers move forward, our agents move forward 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:15.580 in their careers, our staff move forward, is 00:16:15.580 --> 00:16:18.720 to create, one, the only AI -native real estate 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:21.059 firm in the country, which we are, but then also 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:23.840 a platform, which is what Simple is, that automates 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:26.710 operations, enhances pricing and marketing. gives 00:16:26.710 --> 00:16:30.330 every salesperson the leverage of a full agentic 00:16:30.330 --> 00:16:35.529 support team because technology powers the process, 00:16:35.889 --> 00:16:39.210 but people drive the outcome. And I don't think 00:16:39.210 --> 00:16:41.250 that changes. Do you ever see that product being 00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:44.269 a standalone? You can sell it into other groups 00:16:44.269 --> 00:16:46.330 or is it always the secret sauce that you build 00:16:46.330 --> 00:16:49.909 at? We get asked all the time. Potentially, we're 00:16:49.909 --> 00:16:52.649 releasing Simple 2 in September. It's been a 00:16:52.649 --> 00:16:57.659 huge amount of my... my time and work, but it's 00:16:57.659 --> 00:16:59.679 also just been fun because it's just a different 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:02.879 part of my brain compared to what I've done over 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:05.619 a long period of time here. So potentially, yeah, 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:08.740 I think we have to see how it goes. So you are 00:17:08.740 --> 00:17:11.339 obviously incredibly successful, brilliant, and 00:17:11.339 --> 00:17:14.140 you have an opportunity to advise the CEO of 00:17:14.140 --> 00:17:16.920 Inman of what the hell he should do to make Inman 00:17:16.920 --> 00:17:20.519 the most relevant, high -performing media network 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:22.680 related to residential real estate. What would 00:17:22.680 --> 00:17:25.089 you tell him? I think you're already doing it 00:17:25.089 --> 00:17:28.210 by doing this because now you'll have this. And 00:17:28.210 --> 00:17:29.769 I think you're banking these episodes before 00:17:29.769 --> 00:17:31.650 you put them out. And so you're controlling narrative, 00:17:31.789 --> 00:17:34.069 which is really important. And you're also connecting 00:17:34.069 --> 00:17:37.230 to the characters that you write about, right? 00:17:37.289 --> 00:17:39.789 News is great if you connect to the characters 00:17:39.789 --> 00:17:42.210 you write about. But if the news now doesn't 00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:45.369 have perspective, then it's just news, you know, 00:17:45.369 --> 00:17:47.529 and you don't need it. So I think you're doing 00:17:47.529 --> 00:17:52.009 a great job of bringing perspective to... a very, 00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:56.769 very respected news brand. And you're also doing 00:17:56.769 --> 00:17:58.369 something. I think we talked about, maybe, maybe 00:17:58.369 --> 00:17:59.990 I can't remember when we first met the first 00:17:59.990 --> 00:18:02.390 time in building out your advisory board. Yeah. 00:18:02.470 --> 00:18:04.230 Like around yourself, you know, it's one of the 00:18:04.230 --> 00:18:06.130 first things I did when I first started, because 00:18:06.130 --> 00:18:08.809 I don't know, I have no idea. Like when we started 00:18:08.809 --> 00:18:11.609 serving at man, like I, I was like, what I had 00:18:11.609 --> 00:18:14.849 to talking to agents in California and Atlanta. 00:18:14.890 --> 00:18:18.109 I was like, wait, how do you do deals? You what? 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:22.799 Really? So we built a, you know, we built in, 00:18:22.839 --> 00:18:25.119 we continue to update it and this, that, the 00:18:25.119 --> 00:18:27.799 other and advisory board of just great salespeople 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:30.420 around the country. Now it's around the world 00:18:30.420 --> 00:18:32.779 because of sellit .com. And I think it's really, 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:34.759 really important. You got to hear from your constituents, 00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:37.279 you know, what they want to see, what they want 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.400 to hear. And I think you're doing a really, really 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:41.690 great, great job with that. Well, I appreciate 00:18:41.690 --> 00:18:43.450 that. So let's talk about Sell It for a minute 00:18:43.450 --> 00:18:46.029 because I find that really fascinating. You obviously 00:18:46.029 --> 00:18:49.230 have a multimedia approach to everything you're 00:18:49.230 --> 00:18:51.730 doing here. Sell It is a place where people can 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:53.750 get trained and credentialed. How does that sit 00:18:53.750 --> 00:18:55.589 against the Tom Ferries of the world and some 00:18:55.589 --> 00:18:58.089 of those other players out there? Where do I 00:18:58.089 --> 00:19:00.690 even want to start? I think Tom Ferries is awesome. 00:19:01.549 --> 00:19:04.569 I think he's the man I've known him for a long 00:19:04.569 --> 00:19:07.369 time. I think anybody who devotes their life 00:19:07.369 --> 00:19:10.509 and their career to educating others, I tip my 00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:12.849 hat to you because you could be doing other things. 00:19:13.150 --> 00:19:15.730 I learned a lot from Brian Buffini when I first 00:19:15.730 --> 00:19:17.930 got into the business. I think I still have those 00:19:17.930 --> 00:19:22.970 DVDs somewhere. Sell It, for me, initially, was 00:19:22.970 --> 00:19:25.789 an extension of the book. I wrote Sell Like Sir 00:19:25.789 --> 00:19:28.289 Ant. People bought that thing all over the world. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:30.480 It's like, all right, so what do I do? So I did 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:32.440 a TV show called Sell It Like Sirhan for Bravo 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:34.980 that ruined my life for four months. And that 00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:37.319 was like, that was an exercise I can't ever do 00:19:37.319 --> 00:19:40.380 again. Like that took me out of selling and that 00:19:40.380 --> 00:19:42.680 hurt that year for me. I'm like, well, how do 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:45.380 I connect to all these people? Getting hundreds 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:48.259 of emails a day at that time from people reading 00:19:48.259 --> 00:19:51.240 the book and wanting to work with us. And I don't 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:53.740 work with these people all over the world. And 00:19:53.740 --> 00:19:56.380 so I guess they could just follow me on social. 00:19:57.109 --> 00:19:59.390 I can add them to my mailing list. I can try 00:19:59.390 --> 00:20:02.150 to save everyone's contact, but how do I create 00:20:02.150 --> 00:20:04.549 a community? And there was no Patreon back then. 00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:06.930 There was, you know, in 2018 and 2019, you know, 00:20:06.930 --> 00:20:08.569 none of these kinds of community apps. It's like, 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:11.490 okay, so you know what? I really do like encouraging 00:20:11.490 --> 00:20:14.490 people. I do like helping people. I love, dude, 00:20:14.589 --> 00:20:19.049 I love, like I may like get teary eyed, but like 00:20:19.049 --> 00:20:21.390 I, one of our sell it members, Paulina Mattson. 00:20:21.789 --> 00:20:24.950 Okay. She was one of the earliest adapters of 00:20:24.950 --> 00:20:26.829 sell it. you know, back when it was like Serhant 00:20:26.829 --> 00:20:29.349 before it became sellit .com and stuff, you know, 00:20:29.349 --> 00:20:33.450 a mom in Arizona listened to everything we taught, 00:20:33.609 --> 00:20:37.410 like took it all to heart, did the actual work, 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:39.890 then said, whenever Serhant's got to come to 00:20:39.890 --> 00:20:42.390 Arizona, we were only in New York City. It's 00:20:42.390 --> 00:20:45.779 like, Arizona? What's the temperature? Eventually 00:20:45.779 --> 00:20:48.140 we started expanding. The temperature is hell. 00:20:48.259 --> 00:20:50.579 That's the temperature. We tap on everyone's 00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:53.240 shoulder. She becomes a founding member of Sirhan 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:55.640 Arizona, one of our founding agents. And she 00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:59.720 just sold two weeks ago now, the single most 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:02.099 expensive single family home to ever sell in 00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:07.779 the state of Arizona. And like I, that, that 00:21:07.779 --> 00:21:10.759 is the difference between sell it and. everybody 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:13.240 else. One, it's led by a guy that actually does 00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:15.220 this because when she was doing that deal and 00:21:15.220 --> 00:21:17.400 calling me, you know, we have a broker of record. 00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:20.539 She can call anybody and asking about how, you 00:21:20.539 --> 00:21:22.160 know, different ways to negotiate and what's 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:24.079 happening in the marketplace right now, not just 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:27.039 from an educator, but from an operator, from 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:30.240 an executor. And we are incredibly helpful that 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:35.400 way. And two, we give people a path towards career 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:39.880 brilliance here at Sell It and not just scripts 00:21:39.880 --> 00:21:42.880 and information. I think a lot of the real estate 00:21:42.880 --> 00:21:47.220 educators, just like most digital education and 00:21:47.220 --> 00:21:48.880 coaching right now across the board, you see 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:50.240 this with a lot of these companies, are having 00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:53.059 a really, really hard time in the era of Claude 00:21:53.059 --> 00:21:58.279 and ChatGPT. For 20 bucks a month, you could 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:02.940 go into an LLM and ask it to coach you. It's 00:22:02.940 --> 00:22:06.299 not the same. It's not. It's wildly different. 00:22:06.420 --> 00:22:12.500 Yeah. It's not. Not. not so far off sometimes, 00:22:12.759 --> 00:22:15.200 but we have great coaches. We have an awesome 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:17.759 app, a huge community, and there's a ton of referral 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:19.980 business. And so that's really our community 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:23.900 angle. So for me, it's content to community, 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:27.619 to code, that's simple, to commerce, that's the 00:22:27.619 --> 00:22:30.180 brokerage. That is my flywheel and I just spin 00:22:30.180 --> 00:22:33.900 it all day long. It's studios to sell it, to 00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:36.829 simple. to surhand the brokerage and then round, 00:22:36.869 --> 00:22:39.369 round, round. Love the flywheel concept. Absolutely 00:22:39.369 --> 00:22:41.670 love the flywheel concept. Use it all the time. 00:22:41.809 --> 00:22:44.029 You know, one of the things that really fascinates 00:22:44.029 --> 00:22:45.690 me about you, and it shouldn't because obviously 00:22:45.690 --> 00:22:47.849 you're successful and it should be. part and 00:22:47.849 --> 00:22:51.210 parcel to it, but you are incredibly dialed into 00:22:51.210 --> 00:22:53.549 the day -to -day business. I used the example 00:22:53.549 --> 00:22:56.569 of the Naples Fort Myers team and, you know, 00:22:56.609 --> 00:22:58.730 they're talking about how we're getting, we're 00:22:58.730 --> 00:23:00.490 getting DMs and we're getting calls from Ryan 00:23:00.490 --> 00:23:03.069 Serhan at nine, nine 30 at night recruiting us. 00:23:03.329 --> 00:23:05.789 You're not passing this off to your team. You 00:23:05.789 --> 00:23:08.490 are literally hands -on. What is the discipline 00:23:08.490 --> 00:23:10.869 underneath the speed and how do you keep that 00:23:10.869 --> 00:23:13.009 going, you know, with, with, with you at the 00:23:13.009 --> 00:23:17.759 head of it? I have awesome people. I just, I 00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:19.759 surround myself with people that are so much 00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:23.279 better at things than me so that they can make 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:27.500 me look good. So that, that story, like, you 00:23:27.500 --> 00:23:30.119 know, is, is not just me waking up and saying, 00:23:30.180 --> 00:23:34.440 let me just do all the things. No, it's Yasser, 00:23:34.519 --> 00:23:36.579 Yasser Ponce, who runs the state of Florida. 00:23:36.920 --> 00:23:40.619 It's Tiffany McQuaid in Naples. It's our individual 00:23:40.619 --> 00:23:43.759 leaders and managers and just great people around 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:47.180 us who are helping guide me. And they coach me 00:23:47.180 --> 00:23:50.359 as much as they coach and work with all of our 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:52.359 salespeople to sell more and more and more. I've 00:23:52.359 --> 00:23:56.559 got an awesome, awesome team here from finance, 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.880 which I'm very, very close to, to our operations 00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:02.339 team. My chief business officer, Jen Elise, has 00:24:02.339 --> 00:24:04.619 been here. Today, actually, I don't know when 00:24:04.619 --> 00:24:07.380 we're going to air this. Today is Jen's 11 year 00:24:07.380 --> 00:24:11.200 anniversary with us. And that's when I had a 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:14.259 team. She started in 2015 and then helped us 00:24:14.259 --> 00:24:18.240 start the business. And so I'm incredibly loyal 00:24:18.240 --> 00:24:22.539 to my people, potentially to a fault, but I really, 00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:24.519 really appreciate it because you can work anywhere 00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:27.339 and they just make me better. You know, owning 00:24:27.339 --> 00:24:29.799 Manhattan is without a doubt a recruiting and 00:24:29.799 --> 00:24:32.660 lead gen engine, right? And what happens when 00:24:32.660 --> 00:24:35.099 that gets the call that, hey, sorry, Ryan, we're 00:24:35.099 --> 00:24:37.200 good. We're moving on to something else. Does 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:39.740 that slow you guys down or can you keep the juggernaut 00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:43.220 moving? Owning Manhattan is like a magazine for 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:48.180 me. Like it is a ton of work. It's a ton of production. 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:53.779 And you do this annual magazine and you put it 00:24:53.779 --> 00:24:56.029 out there. And it's there and people are either 00:24:56.029 --> 00:24:58.349 going to read it or not read it. And so it's 00:24:58.349 --> 00:25:00.049 definitely, definitely helpful. But in terms 00:25:00.049 --> 00:25:03.029 of our operations, I think if Instagram shut 00:25:03.029 --> 00:25:06.130 down or TikTok shut down or LinkedIn shut down 00:25:06.130 --> 00:25:09.470 or YouTube shut down, we'd have like a problem 00:25:09.470 --> 00:25:12.109 and we'd have to pivot to whatever the new platform 00:25:12.109 --> 00:25:15.109 would be. Our ability to drive share of voice 00:25:15.109 --> 00:25:22.329 across agent and consumer mindshare 24 -7 across 00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:30.359 social platforms. from Tokyo to Toledo is unlike 00:25:30.359 --> 00:25:33.039 anything that exists in this business. And it 00:25:33.039 --> 00:25:35.319 drives not just lead flow for salespeople, but 00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:40.460 also like real deal flow. You know, I like, you 00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:42.279 know, there's a reason. I mean, I do green screen 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:44.440 sessions three days a week. I've yet to figure 00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:48.279 out how AI can fix that. I've tried. I've tried. 00:25:48.380 --> 00:25:53.099 It's like robot Ryan. Like, welcome to 123 Main 00:25:53.099 --> 00:25:56.210 Street. And it just is. I'm like, man, I got 00:25:56.210 --> 00:25:59.789 to do this by myself. I have an idea. OK, this 00:25:59.789 --> 00:26:01.789 is going to be the probably the biggest fundraiser 00:26:01.789 --> 00:26:03.730 in the history of residential real estate. OK, 00:26:03.789 --> 00:26:06.829 very media savvy. This is this decision here. 00:26:06.910 --> 00:26:08.670 But you got to tell me two things. Whether you're 00:26:08.670 --> 00:26:13.009 in and who walks away the winner. OK, we go WWE 00:26:13.009 --> 00:26:16.150 style. We do a steel cage match in Madison Square 00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:19.849 Garden with you and Robert Reffkin. Who walks 00:26:19.849 --> 00:26:29.769 out the winner? That shouldn't take that. I like 00:26:29.769 --> 00:26:33.750 Robert too much. I have a good relationship with 00:26:33.750 --> 00:26:36.789 Robert. Unfortunately, I think we'd probably 00:26:36.789 --> 00:26:40.490 just hug it out and then split the proceeds. 00:26:41.069 --> 00:26:43.799 That's probably... That's probably what would 00:26:43.799 --> 00:26:47.319 happen, you know, or we would set up, you know, 00:26:47.319 --> 00:26:49.880 if it's WWE or F, like we'd set up a thing. I'm 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:52.180 like, all right, so just like kick me in my right 00:26:52.180 --> 00:26:54.119 knee because it kind of hurts. I'll go down hard 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:56.880 and then we can. You'd script it all out ahead 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:59.019 of time and walk away with the proceeds. I love 00:26:59.019 --> 00:27:04.819 it. No physical violence for me, unless you come 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:07.559 at my people and then I will. And then I will 00:27:07.559 --> 00:27:09.380 fight back. I agree. He's a great dude, but that 00:27:09.380 --> 00:27:11.839 would be a fun scenario. So when are we going 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:14.259 to do owning Fort Myers? Because last time you 00:27:14.259 --> 00:27:16.299 made the comment about Fort Myers being where 00:27:16.299 --> 00:27:19.200 Brooklyn was 20 years ago, my house values went 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:22.559 up about 5%. So let's do more of that. My God, 00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:24.059 I said something the other day. When was it? 00:27:24.119 --> 00:27:27.559 Or the other month. Bluffton, South Carolina. 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:32.000 I saw that. And I get equal parts. Thank you 00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:34.240 so much for putting Bluffton on the map and equal 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:38.480 parts. dare you. I can no longer get a table 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:42.640 at my favorite restaurant now. I have no pick 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:44.420 in this battle. I just really appreciate the 00:27:44.420 --> 00:27:46.380 drop growth in Bluffton. I think there's easy 00:27:46.380 --> 00:27:48.220 access to the Savannah airport. And so it's just, 00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:50.640 I think it's, you know, it's a great, and I get 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:52.640 very excited about Waymo. You know, when we opened 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:54.559 in San Francisco, one of our meetings was sitting 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:57.839 there and it's like looking around and all these 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:01.359 development sites and spots are no longer going 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:03.519 to be buildings. They've all been bought by Google. 00:28:03.960 --> 00:28:06.579 And they are Waymo parking lots. If Google's 00:28:06.579 --> 00:28:09.140 not buying land for data centers, they're buying 00:28:09.140 --> 00:28:12.259 land for Waymo parking lots. Just like Amazon 00:28:12.259 --> 00:28:15.420 buying land for logistics centers so they could 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:17.799 get prime and put a toothbrush in your hand in 00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:20.519 two hours. You want to be able to have a Waymo 00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:22.299 outside. You need to have the actual car there. 00:28:22.519 --> 00:28:24.880 And I think the real estate values on the fringe 00:28:24.880 --> 00:28:30.599 become incredibly valuable. So my eye on once 00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:33.559 that comes into your standard car. That is a 00:28:33.559 --> 00:28:35.819 major, major, major game changer. I don't think 00:28:35.819 --> 00:28:38.059 it's too far away. And I actually was in Phoenix 00:28:38.059 --> 00:28:42.400 and did Waymo. And it was it definitely tightens 00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:44.380 you up a little bit, you know, worried about 00:28:44.380 --> 00:28:47.319 it. OK, what's something almost everyone in real 00:28:47.319 --> 00:28:49.519 estate believes today that we're going to be 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:51.839 laughing about in 10 years and go, wow, we were 00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:56.059 wrong? I could be totally wrong, but I think 00:28:56.059 --> 00:28:58.579 everyone believes that real estate starts with 00:28:58.579 --> 00:29:04.890 search. And. This battle over Zillow and the 00:29:04.890 --> 00:29:07.789 battle over the consumer and the battle over 00:29:07.789 --> 00:29:12.289 search. I think search was solved. I think the 00:29:12.289 --> 00:29:16.230 transaction was not. And I think everyone fighting 00:29:16.230 --> 00:29:20.690 for search is not the battle that I would be 00:29:20.690 --> 00:29:22.750 in. I think consumers can find almost every poem 00:29:22.750 --> 00:29:25.309 from their couch on any platform and they're 00:29:25.309 --> 00:29:28.140 not going to go to one specific place. not just 00:29:28.140 --> 00:29:30.440 going to go to Surhant or Compass or Zillow or 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:32.359 whatever the heck the next thing is going to 00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:35.779 be, right? They're going to be told where to 00:29:35.779 --> 00:29:37.880 go. Does Google change that? Google's leaning 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:39.539 in heavily now. Do they change that? Because 00:29:39.539 --> 00:29:41.839 they went on Google. Google was in it before. 00:29:42.019 --> 00:29:44.839 They had their listings there before. What made 00:29:44.839 --> 00:29:48.500 Zillow so powerful wasn't just the data. It was 00:29:48.500 --> 00:29:54.900 the quality and the policing of the data. Like 00:29:54.900 --> 00:29:56.859 you can have all the listings you want. Sure. 00:29:56.940 --> 00:30:00.400 Set up a API like everyone set it up like you 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:02.339 can do it. You can search anywhere you want. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:05.180 But if they're not real or if they're fake or 00:30:05.180 --> 00:30:07.500 if they're messy or if that actually sold already 00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:09.500 or if there's no one on the other side of that 00:30:09.500 --> 00:30:13.119 phone call, like you have one shot with the consumer. 00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:15.920 They're going to try your thing once. Nah, it 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:16.980 didn't really work. And then they're going to 00:30:16.980 --> 00:30:18.759 go back to what they knew best. That's why it 00:30:18.759 --> 00:30:21.059 was the first time you took your iPhone out of 00:30:21.059 --> 00:30:24.079 that magnetically sealed box and you turned it 00:30:24.079 --> 00:30:26.000 on. You saw the little apple and everything just 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:32.000 turned on in 30 seconds. You're like, whoa. You 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:35.980 weren't used to that. So I think the next great 00:30:35.980 --> 00:30:38.839 real estate company, and maybe people just aren't 00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:40.980 focused on this right now, well, it's not going 00:30:40.980 --> 00:30:42.680 to win by showing consumers more listings. It'll 00:30:42.680 --> 00:30:46.829 win. It'll win by actually removing steps. You 00:30:46.829 --> 00:30:49.230 know, I think that listing portal was the defining 00:30:49.230 --> 00:30:52.990 product of brokerage 2 .0. I think that transaction 00:30:52.990 --> 00:30:56.950 layer will be the defining product of 3 .0. OK, 00:30:57.029 --> 00:30:59.769 this is our rapid fire segment of this. I'm going 00:30:59.769 --> 00:31:01.450 to throw out some topics and you're going to 00:31:01.450 --> 00:31:03.710 say whether there's signal or noise, signal or 00:31:03.710 --> 00:31:06.430 noise, one word answer. And then if you want 00:31:06.430 --> 00:31:08.390 to elaborate on why, well, we can talk about 00:31:08.390 --> 00:31:12.109 that. OK, you ready for this? Billionaire bunkers, 00:31:12.109 --> 00:31:16.619 signal. or noise signal signal why is what do 00:31:16.619 --> 00:31:18.839 they what do they know ryan can you hang out 00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:20.579 with these types of people now do i need to tell 00:31:20.579 --> 00:31:23.160 them yeah no it's land maxing no of course you 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:24.500 know what else are you going to do with your 00:31:24.500 --> 00:31:30.220 money like as a hedge in 2022 we did significant 00:31:30.220 --> 00:31:34.519 land max billionaire transactions everywhere 00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:38.059 around the country and it was it was more of 00:31:38.059 --> 00:31:40.309 a hedge against inflation which is what happened. 00:31:40.490 --> 00:31:42.869 And they were smart, those property values. I 00:31:42.869 --> 00:31:46.250 sold a house in 2021 in Palm Beach for $133 million. 00:31:46.930 --> 00:31:50.769 I think today, maybe it's worth $300 million. 00:31:50.950 --> 00:31:52.809 That was a hedge against inflation. That was 00:31:52.809 --> 00:31:56.950 also land -maxing oceanfront in what is the only 00:31:56.950 --> 00:32:03.829 oceanfront state with the best tax policy. It's 00:32:03.829 --> 00:32:07.430 just that one state. That's it. Texas is good, 00:32:07.549 --> 00:32:09.460 but like... There's not a whole lot of people 00:32:09.460 --> 00:32:13.140 getting excited about the Gulf, you know? Yeah. 00:32:13.819 --> 00:32:16.680 You know, it's... Except for Fort Myers, Ryan, 00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:19.500 right? Fort Myers is great. We were 50 % sold 00:32:19.500 --> 00:32:20.819 to one Fort Myers, by the way. Yes, you are. 00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:23.519 I love it there. I love that. And the Chionis 00:32:23.519 --> 00:32:25.539 is sold to Penthouse. I mean, they crush it. 00:32:25.579 --> 00:32:27.119 They're the best. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Okay, 00:32:27.460 --> 00:32:31.299 costarhomes .com, mega merger with Zillow. If 00:32:31.299 --> 00:32:34.180 it ever happens, is that signal or is it noise? 00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:41.309 Noise. Absolute noise. Could it happen? Sure. 00:32:41.470 --> 00:32:44.769 I don't think the board of CoStar will let them 00:32:44.769 --> 00:32:48.470 get into the residential space ever, ever, ever 00:32:48.470 --> 00:32:50.730 again. But again, that is a fight for search. 00:32:50.789 --> 00:32:52.009 It's going back to what we just talked about. 00:32:52.349 --> 00:32:54.630 Like, instead of spending all of this money, 00:32:54.710 --> 00:32:58.049 time, and effort on protecting where we've been, 00:32:58.230 --> 00:33:01.849 why not invent something new? Why not build for 00:33:01.849 --> 00:33:05.130 where we're going? Like, why? I just don't get 00:33:05.130 --> 00:33:09.900 it. I don't. I just don't get it. AI will replace 00:33:09.900 --> 00:33:14.160 the agent. Signal or noise? Noise. Noise. Oh, 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:18.200 it sounds so stupid because it's so obvious. 00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:21.559 But AI doesn't replace the real estate agent. 00:33:21.640 --> 00:33:23.420 It replaces the real estate agent that doesn't 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:26.579 use AI. That's it. Yeah. The internet didn't 00:33:26.579 --> 00:33:29.680 replace fidelity. It didn't put investment bankers 00:33:29.680 --> 00:33:32.279 out because you could go and invest. What it 00:33:32.279 --> 00:33:36.779 does is it creates more investors. AI, what I'm 00:33:36.779 --> 00:33:38.660 seeing, I'm not seeing a slowdown in the growth 00:33:38.660 --> 00:33:41.599 of agents or opportunity for us. That's why we're 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:44.460 opening in so many markets. You know, one reason 00:33:44.460 --> 00:33:48.519 why you're seeing the opportunity for more, like 00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:50.440 the barrier of entry was a little bit higher 00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:54.990 prior to. It's a lot of work. Even before social, 00:33:55.210 --> 00:33:58.089 you know, to get into real estate, like you had 00:33:58.089 --> 00:34:00.369 to know people. You had to create relationships. 00:34:00.609 --> 00:34:03.130 And you still have to do that. But now, like 00:34:03.130 --> 00:34:05.630 what we do, I have agents, their entire lead 00:34:05.630 --> 00:34:09.650 flow is through DM. We have agents here who are 00:34:09.650 --> 00:34:12.289 here, but they are based a significant amount 00:34:12.289 --> 00:34:13.590 of their business, I would say like north of 00:34:13.590 --> 00:34:17.590 80 % is all in Asia. They repurpose Serhant branded 00:34:17.590 --> 00:34:22.380 content, put themselves in it. and push organic 00:34:22.380 --> 00:34:25.280 storytelling on Redbook, I think it's called. 00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:27.739 We're the most followed real estate brand in 00:34:27.739 --> 00:34:31.400 Asia and it drives all their leaflet. I mean, 00:34:31.420 --> 00:34:34.380 they make millions and millions of dollars that 00:34:34.380 --> 00:34:38.820 way. So I think it's the agent who uses the current 00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:41.639 technology and they innovate wins over everybody 00:34:41.639 --> 00:34:44.079 else. Okay, last question. We're gonna get you 00:34:44.079 --> 00:34:47.260 to your next meeting. Simple becomes sentient, 00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:51.659 okay? Oh, I hope so. and starts closing deals 00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:54.440 better than you, do you fire it or name it as 00:34:54.440 --> 00:34:56.719 a partner and put its name on the door? It will 00:34:56.719 --> 00:35:01.900 close deals. It will. Oh, 100%. It will. Like 00:35:01.900 --> 00:35:04.219 what I have seen from our engineering team and 00:35:04.219 --> 00:35:06.619 what they've been able to build. And we have 00:35:06.619 --> 00:35:09.960 some of the best minds in the industry that I've 00:35:09.960 --> 00:35:13.780 pulled in part huge credit to our CTO, Greg Chan, 00:35:14.000 --> 00:35:17.250 who spent the first 20 years of his career. Microsoft 00:35:17.250 --> 00:35:22.449 and Amazon. And he is assembled like the Avengers. 00:35:23.449 --> 00:35:26.570 Simple, we'll be able to go from discovery, it's 00:35:26.570 --> 00:35:30.510 not search, discovery to close. And you just 00:35:30.510 --> 00:35:32.869 were never able to do it before because you didn't 00:35:32.869 --> 00:35:38.969 have agentic AI to lead the way. Everything was 00:35:38.969 --> 00:35:41.070 push and start, push and start, push and start 00:35:41.070 --> 00:35:43.869 previously. But yeah, I think so. And I think 00:35:43.869 --> 00:35:47.929 that in 10 years, um five years actually i think 00:35:47.929 --> 00:35:50.469 that'll feel incredibly normal and we will laugh 00:35:50.469 --> 00:35:52.889 at the time when agents do contracts we will 00:35:52.889 --> 00:35:54.530 laugh at the time when you'd have to follow up 00:35:54.530 --> 00:35:56.829 by email with inspectors or with lenders or with 00:35:56.829 --> 00:35:59.250 attorneys and you're coordinating everything 00:35:59.250 --> 00:36:02.230 if you buy a house right now how do you know 00:36:02.230 --> 00:36:03.630 where you are in the point of your transaction 00:36:03.630 --> 00:36:10.380 yeah yeah and then and it's 2026 It's crazy. 00:36:10.579 --> 00:36:14.639 I don't know. Ryan Serhant, a rock star in the 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:16.599 industry. You still have the best hair in the 00:36:16.599 --> 00:36:19.099 industry and I still hate you for it. So we're 00:36:19.099 --> 00:36:21.739 going to end on that. But we love having you 00:36:21.739 --> 00:36:23.739 and love your involvement and appreciate everything 00:36:23.739 --> 00:36:26.059 you're doing, man. You're the man. Thank you. 00:36:26.480 --> 00:36:28.559 thank you thanks for listening to signal 00:36:28.559 --> 00:36:31.659 follow us on instagram at inman news for more 00:36:31.659 --> 00:36:34.340 conversations and industry insights and be sure 00:36:34.340 --> 00:36:36.739 to subscribe wherever you get your podcast so 00:36:36.739 --> 00:36:39.699 you never miss an episode i'll see you next time