Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Alex Miller, Realtor with the Jordan Terrell Group at Real

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

About Alex MillerAlex Miller is a Realtor who works with buyers and sellers to win and make the process EASY.Alex believes he is an extremely hard worker, that is very knowledgeable and patient and loves to help his clients.He has worked with all types of buyers and sellers and prides himself on always giving a luxury experience.Alex has been awarded with being one of the top 3 producers in 2021 and 2022 selling 40 houses in 2022.Learn more:https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-miller-8413a8153/https://www.linkedin.com/company/jordan-terrell-group/mycompany/https://www.jordanterrellgroup.com/agents/alex-miller/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCmrtPYqGowjJGWWkdzuk6QColorado Real Estate Leaders https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/colorado-real-estate-leaders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-alex-miller-realtor-with-the-jordan-terrell-group-at-real

Welcome to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders Podcast, brought to you by Trailstone Insurance Group, bringing you interviews with Colorado's best real estate and mortgage professionals, empowering you to understand the current trends in the housing market so you can make the American dream your reality. Enjoy today's episode. Well, it's a great day in Colorado and welcome to the Colorado Real Estate Leaders podcast. Today we have with this Alex Miller, who's a realtor with the Jordan Terrell Group at Reel. Alex, welcome to the program. Thanks for having me, Mike.

Hey, you're welcome. I'm looking forward to talking with you, learning how you serve your clients, but get us started with your story. What's your background and how did you get into the real estate industry? Yeah, so I grew up. I'm a Colorado native. I've lived in Westminster and Broomfield and kind of within, you know, a pretty close radius of there.

So, I mean, this is this is my home right here in Westminster. And, yeah, so when I went to school, I didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do when I got out of high school. And, you know, my parents, I grew up with them, you know, they had some rental properties as I grew up and stuff. And so went to college for a little bit, tried to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. And, you know, I actually ended up going through kind of a rough time. I grew up with a brother who had pretty severe bipolar. And so growing up with that was pretty challenging. But as I grew up, when I was right out of high school getting into college, there was an

incident where my brother unfortunately had a big episode and ended up getting shot and killed by the police. And so that definitely, you know, definitely. derailed my life for a while and went down honestly a pretty pretty rough path for probably four or five years and just trying to figure out you know at that point it was like do I even really want to be living and so thankfully I had kind of a look in the mirror moment was like hey I you know if I'm going to do this I got to give this one last shot and so I signed up for a gym challenge and and ended up losing weight and through that ended up, you know, getting sober and getting back into

relationship with my parents and, you know, going back to church and that kind of thing. And so, you know, had a rough time coming straight out of college. So it didn't really know exactly what I wanted to do. And first started out just doing marketing and, you know, did an internship with that. And then kind of realized that I wanted to start to get into real estate. estate. And so I ended up getting my license back in 2019 and I started just doing property management at first. And so, yeah, that's, I really kind of got in just because I loved, I loved helping people. And I watched, you know, everything that my parents were doing with, with real estate and their rental properties and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, real estate

tends to be such a relationship driven business that your story you just mentioned, you can just have such a huge impact on people that you are working with because whether they have the same type of struggles that you have worked through or similar ones, well, you can be a motivating encouragement to them. And I think that that adds to the reward of working with them in the real estate transaction. Yeah. And I think it's, you know, it's one of those things where my, my greatest, you know, struggle that I went through is, you know, it took me many years to get through it, but it actually ended up being, you know, one of my biggest blessings. And I think I've realized, you know, growing up with a brother who dealt with those kind of struggles, I think it really

helps me connect with people and really empathize and connect with people. And I think it's just really helped me being able to, you know, connect and help people. And yeah, it's been great. So, yeah, that's awesome. Hey, so what type of clients do you work with when you're helping them with real estate? Yeah. So I work primarily, you know, with with first time home buyers. Definitely help with people who are looking to sell, also looking to move up. And then I do a lot of business with investors as well. The other people that I, you know, I've really loved working with is reload people who are relocating to Colorado. So I actually have a YouTube channel called Living in Boulder. And that all kind of started.

early on in my career right after the pandemic and kind of went down to rabbit hole and learned how I could be helping people and showcasing Colorado and, you know, just helping people showcasing what Colorado has to offer and being able to explain, you know, what the different areas are like. And so that's, that's been really fun to help people relocate to Colorado from other states. Yeah, you almost feel like at that point, like a tribal agent, you know, showing the people around town or, you know, showing them the hot spots and things like that at the same time as helping them choose a place. So I think that's really a neat touch. Yeah, yeah.

It's been, it's been pretty cool. And having, you know, people reach out from different areas of the world and, you know, all across the nation that are looking to possibly move to Colorado, which is cool. So when people are looking to relocate, do you find that their needs are any different than someone who is a, for, time home buyer that is living here currently? Yeah, you know, I think there's such a different dynamic. You know, people don't necessarily have a feel or they, you know, might not know the area. So it's helpful for me to be able to give them, you know, kind of showcase and show them what, you know, hey, if you enjoy, you know, nightlife and, you know, all the different restaurants and the hustle and bustle,

then Denver's going to be great for you. And then if you're more into the nature and the outdoors and kind of like a more chill vibe, then, you know, Boulder is a good place. And if you're looking to like move, like if your, you know, work is in Boulder, but you don't want to pay those costs, you know, giving them some different alternatives like, you know, Broomfield and Superior and Westminster. And so I think it's super helpful for me to be able to kind of guide them and show them different areas.

But, yeah, I mean, I definitely think it's very helpful for them to be able to come out here, experience these different areas that I talk about, and then they're able to make that decision where I think people who currently live in Colorado have a better sense of like where they would like to be. So I do think that's a lot easier for them. Yeah, that's a good point. Whenever people say to me, oh, you're in Colorado, what part, you know, you don't really say Arvada because typically people don't know the tiny areas, but you know, you'll say Denver. And then if you do here that they know the areas like, oh, well, then are vet and they know it. So that's a really good distinction there.

It made me think to when people are moving from another place, they're typically not necessarily first time home buyers. They may have a house they're selling and then moving here, maybe for job or something like that. What are some of those nuances that someone that has a current house? They've got to sell it before they can buy the other house and they're moving to a new part of the country. What are some of those things that you help them work through?

Yeah, absolutely great question. So I have referral partners all across the nation. We just joined a new brokerage a couple of years ago, and it's a super fast growing brokerage. And I love the collaboration between all the other agents. And there's just a really high level of agents. So it's great to be able to just jump on there, you know, let people know where my clients are looking to move from. And then I get them connected with a great agent out there. I always know that they're well taken care of. they go out there, they take care of getting it listed, and we just make it seamless on the, you know, sell aside and being able to buy. So it's great to just be able to iron out all the details and help our clients make a smooth transition. Yep, that's a good point. Are there any, like, tips or things that you find

that makes it easier to make that transition, like, you know, hey, you've got a house that's listed for sale in whatever state. We need to get your offer accepted on this house in the Boulder area. how do you make sure that their offer is going to get accepted if they have that contingency? Yeah, just really great communication with, you know, listing agents and just communicating with all the parties involved. The other thing is we do have a few different programs that allow people to be able to buy before they sell. So that's, you know, always a great option. So, yeah, it depends on each seller's preference.

But, yeah, we just, you know, good communication and making sure that everyone, everybody's understanding the situation and just make that as smooth as possible. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, because in reality, sometimes it's just like being transparent with everyone and saying, here's the deal. They're moving from this state. They've got their house listed or, you know, the market there is hot. So we feel confident it's going to move, things like that. What are some of the things when you get that house under contract here in the Denver, Boulder area? what are some of the things that you're working with your client on to help make sure that they come to that closing table really, really smoothly without any hiccups?

Yeah, so I think the biggest thing that I always, and I learned this early on in my career, but I think I've done a great job. And I always say when I'm, you know, when I first meet clients and when we're showing properties is, hey, look, like my goal is for us to, you know, take a look at this property. And all the properties that I look at, I've always looked at. I'm always looking at, you know, the big ticket items, making sure that there's no cracks in the foundation, making sure that the, you know, checking the age on the furnace and the water heater and making sure that the roof's in good shape. And I always say, like, my biggest goal is for us to,

the only two things that we don't know about in a house is the sewer line, because we can't see that and the radon levels. And other than that, like, I want to make sure that there's not too many surprises that are, you know, not behind the walls when we get the inspection. Because that's typically going to be the biggest hurdle is, you know, things coming up during inspection. So I always want to make sure that I'm pointing everything out to my clients. They're well aware, hey, like, you know, this furnace is old. You might have to replace it soon. Hey, there's a possible foundation crack. So I always want them to be very educated and know what's going on with the property. The other big thing is always making sure that I get them connected with a

our preferred lender. They just do such an amazing job and they have different creative financing ways. So, you know, they take a look at the overall, you know, situation with my clients and what their financial goals are and, you know, put together a really clean strategy and make sure that they are hitting their goals. So I think with those two things, you know, it makes getting to the closing table really smooth and easy. Yeah, you know, I think that's a big piece that also whenever there is a slight hiccup that gets fixed, doesn't it make you think, okay, when this happens, if it happens again, here's how to fix it, and then here's how to prevent it. So there could be a whole lot of things like that where it's like, ooh, this caused a problem. And here's how I fixed it. Well, next time, I'm going to do it

this way ahead of time so that nobody even feels the issue. So it's just like a whole learning experience that you're able to provide your clients as well. Absolutely, yeah. So, I mean, it's been very helpful. I mean, I've done, you know, over the last few years, I think I'm probably pretty close to about 90 to 100 transactions in the last three years. So, you know, there's definitely things that I learned early on in my career, you know, with, you know, electrical, anything before the 19, roughly 1970s,

making sure that that's been taken care of, you know, looking for different things like polybutylene piping, which nobody would really know to look for, except for I ran into it on inspections and I know, you know, what I'm looking for to make sure I'm taking care of my clients. Yeah. So what about other types of clients? We've been talking about people relocating as well as people who are, you know, buying the home locally for the first time. Do you work with investors helping them to buy investment properties? Yeah, you know, I certainly do. I've helped a few my clients buy long-term rentals and I've also helped my clients, you know, by by short-term rentals. So that's been really great. It's been very cool to be part of those transactions. And

with a with a background in property management, it's, it's been cool to help clients with those investment properties. Yeah, it probably brings some of that experience in to help you guide them to the right property. Probably we'll have some people that you help to buy a property. and then they come back in a series of years to go, now I'm going to keep that property, but let me save it or keep it as a rental or buy another property as a rental. So you just kind of start stair stepping in because a lot of times people get that bug and buy their first investment property and then it keeps building and building, right?

Certainly. And that's one of my biggest things. Every listing appointment that I go on, I mean, my first question is always, hey, can you keep this as a rental and be able to purchase your next property? obviously, you know, a lot of people don't want to deal with that. But I also explain, like, you know, a lot of people think that they're going to have to be dealing with their tenants at 2 a.m. And that kind of thing. And I explain, you know, either property management or you just put something in the lease where it says, hey, this is our preferred plumber, reach out to them directly.

So I think there's different things that, you know, just talking through with people like, hey, I understand your concern. Talking through, you know, doesn't make sense to keep it as a rental and go. over the thoughts that people have of, you know, their concerns. And I've definitely had a lot of people where they ended up keeping the property and being able to purchase their next house, especially in this kind of environment where, you know, people have those two and three percent interest rates. Yeah. You don't want to lose that. Yeah. Yeah. Holding on to that property is so important. So. Yeah, that's a really good example of what we're just talking about, like hearing something and then

having a response that will better it in the future, meaning, you know, people don't like to get the 2 a.m. calls about the toilet. So to fix that, we recommend, hey, why don't you consider a property management company because it takes all the headaches out and it costs a buck or two, but it's well worth the investment. Or here is the people that, you know, electrician, preferred plumber, things like that. So those are the kind of things that you look at and you hear here are the typical pushbacks or objections or concerns, here's the solution. That's exactly what it takes to build long-term relationships. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, and it's been super fun to watch my clients that I've purchased, or they purchase multiple investment properties with me. And it's just cool for me to watch the journey

and what they end up doing with the Airbnbs and, you know, just hearing the stories and just realizing that I'm having an impact and helping somebody, you know, grow their long-term wealth, which is really cool. 100%. Well, it's been such a neat time chatting with you, Alex. If someone is interested in learning more and reaching out and connecting with you, what's the best way that they can do that? Yeah, so I'm very active on Instagram.

So if they wanted to reach out to me on Instagram, my handle is Alex Miller, all one word, and then dot real. Dot estate. And so once again, that's Alex Miller. Dot real. I'm also on YouTube living in Boulder and you know you can call me at 303-587-9-4-4-0 and would be happy to help any way I can. Excellent. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a real pleasure talking with you today. Yep. Thanks, Mike. Appreciate it.

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