Business Innovators Radio - Lessons from Seventeen Years in Real Estate: Janet Wingrove’s Insights for Aspiring Agents

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

In this episode of Agents Lounge, hosts Nathan Gaylor and Francisco Bermudez Jr. interview Janet Wingrove, a successful real estate broker with Keller Williams Heritage, and Andrea Garza, owner of San Antonio Quick Dry. Janet shares her journey from being a stay-at-home mom to building a thriving real estate business. She discusses the challenges of transitioning from part-time to full-time and the importance of constantly growing her client base.Janet emphasizes the value of building relationships in the real estate industry and shares her strategies for nurturing her database. She highlights the significance of holding events for her customers, such as casino nights and pie giveaways, as a way to connect with her clients and maintain long-term relationships. Janet also talks about the benefits of working in a team-oriented brokerage like Keller Williams Heritage, where she can foster a supportive and motivating environment.Andrea, on the other hand, shares her experience as an entrepreneur in the cleaning business. She explains how she transitioned from running an escape room to starting her cleaning company, focusing on carpet cleaning, air duct cleaning, and tile and grout cleaning. Andrea emphasizes the importance of networking, especially among moms, to grow her clientele.Throughout the episode, Nathan, Francisco, Janet, and Andrea discuss the significance of delivering exceptional service and building trust with clients. They also touch on the challenges they’ve faced in their respective businesses and the lessons they’ve learned along the way. Listeners will gain valuable insights into the real estate industry and the importance of building relationships to drive success in any business.Tune in to this episode of Agents Lounge to learn from Janet and Andrea’s experiences and discover powerful strategies for building relationships and growing your business in the real estate industry.https://janetwingrove.kw.com/About Janet Wingrove:Janet Wingrove is a highly experienced real estate broker with a career spanning over 17 years. She is currently affiliated with Keller Williams Heritage and is passionate about helping her clients achieve their real estate goals.Janet initially entered the real estate industry in 2007 as a part-time agent while being a stay-at-home mom. As her interest and success in the field grew, she transitioned into full-time real estate and has since built a thriving business. She has worked with various brokerages throughout her career, including Kimberly Howell Properties and Remax, before finding her home at Keller Williams Heritage.With a strong focus on client satisfaction, Janet strives to provide exceptional service to every individual she works with. She believes in building long-term relationships with her clients, starting as their agent and ultimately becoming lifelong friends and advocates for her business. Janet understands the importance of effective communication, negotiation, and attention to detail in helping her clients navigate the real estate process successfully.In addition to her dedication to her clients, Janet also values the power of networking and building connections. She actively engages in her community, attending events, and participating in local organizations. She also leverages her presence at the gym, where she goes early in the morning, as an opportunity to network and generate referrals.Janet’s expertise extends beyond traditional real estate transactions. She is also well-versed in real estate investing and encourages her clients to consider real estate as a means of building wealth. By sharing her knowledge and experiences, she helps her clients make informed decisions about their investments.Overall, Janet Wingrove is an experienced, dedicated, and highly respected real estate agent who goes above and beyond to ensure her clients’ success. Her commitment to building relationships, providing exceptional service, and empowering clients with knowledge sets her apart in the industry.About The Show Sponsor:The Agents Lounge Podcast is proudly sponsored by Airtegrity Comfort Solutions, your trusted HVAC experts in San Antonio, TX. With a commitment to exceptional service and top-notch comfort, Airtegrity is dedicated to keeping your home or business cool in the scorching Texas heat.Visit their website at https://airtegritycs.com to discover the range of services they offer. From professional air conditioning installations to reliable repairs and maintenance, Airtegrity has you covered. Their team of skilled technicians is equipped with the knowledge and expertise to handle all your HVAC needs efficiently and effectively.Whether you’re looking for a new system installation, need repairs, or want to schedule routine maintenance to ensure your HVAC system is running smoothly, Airtegrity Comfort Solutions is just a phone call away. Reach out to them at 210-446-0105, and their friendly staff will be ready to assist you.Experience the comfort and peace of mind that comes with Airtegrity’s exceptional HVAC solutions. Trust their reliable service and enjoy the benefits of a well-functioning heating and cooling system. Visit their website or call them today to schedule your next HVAC service. Airtegrity Comfort Solutions, your go-to HVAC experts in San Antonio, TX.Agents Lounge Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/turbopassusa-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/lessons-from-seventeen-years-in-real-estate-janet-wingroves-insights-for-aspiring-agents

Welcome to the Agents Lounge Podcast, where we talk all things real estate with the industry's top performers. Join us as we dive into the inspiring journeys of successful agents and uncover the secrets to their success. Whether you're a seasoned agent or just starting out, we've got the tips and tricks to help you navigate the world of real estate. Brought to you by Eritory Comfort Solutions. So grab a seat and join us in the Agents Lounge. So this is episode 10 of Agents Lounge podcast. I'm your host, Nathan Gaylor, co-host Francisco Bermudas Jr. Hello, everyone.

Hello. Ms. Janet Wingrove with Keller Williams Heritage. Yes. How are you doing? Good. And Ms. Andrea Garza with San Antonio Quick Clean. Quick dry. Quick dry.

Oh, my God. I'm so sorry. We can edit that off. It's not live. Sorry, quick dry. Oh, that's embarrassing. I'm so sorry. Anyways, thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here.

Janet. Yes. So if you could just start this off, but what did you do before you got into real estate and what actually pulled you into the real estate game? Okay. So I got into real estate back in 2007 a long time ago. I had to do the math. I know.

That's like almost 17 years ago. And yeah, thank you. So the reason I got into real estate is I was a stay-at-home mom, and I was looking for a way to have a business while my daughter was in school where I could still pick her up in the morning or drop her off at school in the morning and then pick her up after school. So I decided to get my license and did it part-time for many years. When the money started coming in, I was like, ooh.

I can do more of this. And so that's how it started. Yeah. So you started part time. Was that difficult to manage from going to like part time to full time? Did you have a hard time like actually getting a client base started part time? Or was it pretty easy for you? Well, the goals were very different when I was part time.

At that point, I was just looking for more a something to do while my daughter. was in school. So whether I made money or not wasn't a big deal. So when I, my daughter got into middle school is when I decided to really buckle down and change my business. So it's essentially I started all over, right? Because I went from part time to full time. So yes, I had to, it was, it wasn't as easy. I had a, I had a database because I've been working the business. but to really make the money I wanted to make, I had to build a bigger database. So, yes. So it changed dramatically from working a couple hours a day to...

Non-stop. Yeah. Working more than eight hours a day. Yeah, right. Yeah. Was it part-time were you with Heritage? How long has that been, no? No, I started with an independent broker, Kimberly Hall of Properties, for many years.

When I went full-time, I went to Remax, and then I, move the team over to Heritage in October of last year. Okay. Oh, wow. So it's really new. Yes. Keller Williams is the newest part or brokerage that we've been with. Nice.

How's that going? Is it? Actually, it's excellent. And let me tell you why. So before, when I was with Remax, a lot of the business day-to-day operational stuff was done by remax. I didn't have to worry about any of that. So moving over to Heritage, Keller Williams Heritage,

they're more focused on the entrepreneur and building your own brand and business. And so essentially the operational part of running a business fell on to the team versus having the broker do it for you. So we had to revamp that part of. of our teams where we could pay our own commissions. Yeah. You know, we have our own bookkeeper.

We hire a separate admin, our own transaction coordinators. So essentially we're a business within a bigger company. Right. So which is great. Yeah. That's interesting. It is interesting. We've had a couple of people on from DXP.

Uh-huh. So really what they value more than I feel like somebody like you might is they're just free time. They don't have to go into an office. They usually like work from home. Right. Do you find any like, I guess the enjoyment of the team. You like get to team build more regularly. I'll meet.

I'm sure like you have an office, right? Keller Williams, I know this. But yeah. So what do you think like the pros of? meeting with your team is more often than somebody who's doing just like they have their own yeah well i love the concept of ex p and their model their business model because they they have different ways for you to make income through their brokerage um through creating downlines so the vision for the empire real estate team is something similar to uh ex p but we couldn't do that at remax right

And so I wanted to find a brokerage where it would allow us to kind of expand our team structure and compensation structure. And so I shopped around. I did look at EXP, but they didn't have break and mortar. And I'm, I guess, more traditional old school, I love a place to go in and work, see the hustle and bustle, see the people moving around. Yeah. You know. See Eddie going crazy with his camera. Yeah, I know.

And so when you walk in. to the building, I mean, there's people that you see real estate. I mean, there's action everywhere, right? And to me, that's motivating. And it's important to me to separate business from my home life, because I did it part-time from home for a long time. And I just didn't want that same environment. I want to be able to go in and do what I need to do, then go home and kind of shut. Oh, yeah. So you actually have more of a, like, dry cutoff. off. You're not, like, always in the office if you were working from home, right?

So, like, there's not when you, for me, when I go to the office, there's not as many distractions as versus working from home. Yeah. Which, um, you have to be very disciplined to do that. And I know I can do it, but it's just for me to build what we want to build, we need a separate, like I need people coming to the office. Right, right. So, yeah. No, I can. completely a few on that one.

There are so many distractions that you had at home. Exactly. You mentioned that you did something to go from part-time to full-time, to build your database. What were some of the strategies you used to build it?

Well, when I changed companies, I had a goal in mind of making X amount of dollars by the end of the first year. So I just started reading and then learning from other people that had done more than me or that were producing more than me. And I started kind of duplicating what some of these other people are doing and implementing

it into my day-to-day. And I've done everything from a lot of cold calling, running ads for properties online. I've door-knocked. The biggest thing is connections is working your database. and then making new connections through the people you know. Yeah. And building those relationships. And I also see that, I mean, you're always holding events for your customers, right?

You do casino night and the one for Thanksgiving, which is a pie giveaway. How does that help you? So one of the things, as the business grew, we can't be in front of everyone in our database, I guess, on a daily basis. So one way to nurture our sphere or clients is to hold these events. And it's kind of, there's a big purpose behind it, right? It's from what you do before the event to what you do during the event and what you do after. And of course, we love our clients, so that's part of it. Like we want an opportunity to mingle with everyone that comes and we try to do that.

But what it does is from the invite, you're calling, sending an invite, sending an email or even texting your database. So it's a way of staying in touch with them prior to you. You do really well with that, actually, because after casino night, you and Brenda had sent the actual video to people. Like, I got one. And I thought that was really cool. Just like as a follow-up, it's a good idea.

It's just a, and then during the event, of course, you mingle with everyone, right? And then after you send your thank you. So it's just another way of staying in touch with your database. and the events are just one event, a good way to focus on a lot of people at one time. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah, because we do the pie giveaways every November, and sometimes we've done it at the same time where we've tried to,

you do it for your customers and we do it for ours, but there's customers that we didn't go out to serve this year, and they still get the invitation, and they come by and they swing by. Yeah. And they get very excited just because they got a pie. Yes, and it's fun. And one thing that I've also, we've tried to include our referral partners like you guys. Like even though you're a referral partner, we still try to include you in some of these events because we want you to continue to be our referral partner.

So it's another way as well to utilize events and things to stay in contact with you guys. Yeah. Yeah. What about you, Andrea? What are some of the things you all are doing to build your database? Well, I have been in business a little over a year. So as a new business, you know, you have to get your name out there. Takes a little bit, well, everybody knows, a little bit more effort at first.

So right now we're still, you know, doing the paper leads. But I'm trying to focus more on networking. I think, like you mentioned, you know, relationships go a lot. Yes, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Yes. So that is super important. That was one of my goals this year.

So I actually have a question. When we were talking earlier, you mentioned that you have a couple of properties, right, that you own? Have you ever had a bad experience with a realtor? Not to put you on the spot. You can plead the fifth if you want, but I feel like this is a good topic if you have one. You never had a bad experience. No, no. You're one in a million from what I've heard.

Yeah, no. I don't know. Maybe I'm a good, I usually pick them. Yeah. Like by referral. Based, yeah. That's usually a good video. So, no, no bad experiences here.

Well, that's good. What did you think about your realtors? Me? Yes. I've only had one. She helped me for a couple of times. And she was super sweet. I think that something that I'm never going to forget is that she didn't let us buy the house that we wanted originally

because she thought it was not a good fit. And now after seeing like 20 homes, This was for our primary home. After seeing 20 homes, I was done. I was like, that one is fine. And she was like, no, no. And she just took a lot longer. She never submitted the paperwork.

Yeah, she just like took a lot longer. And then, like, the next day, we, you know, we found the actual home that we wanted. Awesome. Yeah, that was very thoughtful. Because, you know, a lot of realtors. Well, not a lot. think that a lot actually care about their customers.

But, you know, there's always someone that is just there for the money. Right. Just quick, you know, sale and you don't want to be seeing 20, 30 properties, you know. Right. Yeah. What do you call it, buyer's remorse? Buyer's remorse, yes. Do you see that often in the industry?

I think sometimes, so you have to learn how to navigate the client through that. because sometimes, especially like if you have first-time buyers and it's such a huge purchase, that sometimes they'll put an offer in and then the next day they're like, oh my gosh, what did I do? So you have to learn how to kind of break it down like, you know, from their monthly mortgage payment to what their closing costs are going to be. And then the value like, well, this house, it's in a great area, you know, just giving them the benefits of owning that home. And then sometimes they don't want to do it. And you've got to let them, if they don't want to, I mean, you can't.

You have to be able to ride that out with them until you find, like you, the next house. Right. And the right one, correct. So my favorite question that asked, do you, if I say what is a bad experience for you or like a customer that gave you at like a hard time, do you have one that immediately comes in mind? Yes. Really?

Yeah. Thank you. I can't wait to hear this. I think, well, over the years, because I've been in, what, almost 17 years, so I would love to say that it's been 100% super easy, but it's not. Like, real estate, I feel, is it's very glamorized on TV. Oh, yeah. Nothing like that. So they are in.

You have to have difficult clients in order to develop and become a good agent and learn from those experiences. but my very first client, I cried at my brokerage. Because it was so hard. He was trying, he had properties. All he wanted to do was seller finance, these properties. And then so, and I actually got them, I had, on one of them in particular, I had a contract, and it wasn't a seller finance deal. Well, he was, he wouldn't sign the paperwork.

And, you know, the poor buyer was. Like, but, you know, I have a good contract. And he accepted it, then wouldn't sign the contract. What is? Yeah. So he was probably like one of the harder ones that I've dealt with. I've had a couple others, but he was, he, it took him forever to sign. And the buyer, I just felt bad for him.

They had their earnest money ready and things like that. How do you mitigate that? Like outside of, you know, I would probably cry too, I think, at that like, just like, because you're the middle person, right? And you try to mitigate. Well, he was very, he was nasty. He called my brokerage and was saying bad words and stuff. And so, yeah, so I cried.

That was like my very first deal, and it was a bad experience. But then, you know, you kind of, you learned to navigate through that with the help of my broker at the time. And we made it through and everything, but yes. Yeah. But, yeah. It was hard. So, like, how many, do you deal with, like, returning customers often? Is that a big?

Repeat clients. Yeah, yeah. Yes. So one of the things that, because our, one of the things that we say is that we like for each client to begin as a client, but we, they end up being lifelong friends and advocates for our business. And so we're very in tune to that because with each client, it's not about us, it's about the client, right? And sometimes what we want is not what the client wants. And so just like you know, you have to learn how to, I guess, respect that because in the end,

it's a big purchase and they're spending a lot of money, right? And so we just try to advocate for the client and do the right thing. And so with that in mind, it's you build that relationship throughout the transatlantic the transaction with the client and with the hope that the biggest the biggest return for us is a referral right they're going to give you you know their family member that wants to buy a home or their neighbor or their work colleague right yeah because that's how we make money and so the way you treat that client is super important and with that being said we try to do the best job that we can and we do end up with repeat clients from me.

investors that continue to buy properties from us for many years. That's awesome. Yeah, it is awesome. Yeah, that just reminds me of Rita. It's about a relationship, right? Yes, Rita from our group. Yeah, yeah. That's interesting.

Well, that's kind of like you guys, right, with your repeat clients? Yeah, yeah. We were very big on that. If we do a superb job with a client all the way through, and that goes between, like communication before the job starts, doing the job cleanly, and then having a good exit. And yeah, that's what we get a lot of clients from that. Well, I will say that like with you guys, I know when I met Francisco, the, you're not, what I would typically say is an AC company.

So I feel like Francisco, like, he, the way he's built integrity as far as the work, the ethics, the integrity, makes such a. a big difference with your clients. So even if you're not the least expensive when the call, but then you guys do so well that people want to do business with you, right? So it's kind of the same thing. That's a good way to put it. Yeah.

For sure. So for our listeners, a big question is what is something that you wish you first knew when you first started, I guess? Like, what is something that you can look back and you're like, oh, man, I wish I would have done this different maybe or I wish I would have known this. Do you have anything that's... Actually, one of the things I always tell young agents and is I wish I would have started real estate when I was fresh out of college because... Really? Yes.

Because it's such an inexpensive business to get in where if you put your head down and do everything that you can to make it, you'll... you can make very good money at a very young age. Yeah. And the other thing is taking some of the profit and putting it into real estate, like investing into properties because real estate is an awesome investment that grows over time. Isn't it? Yeah. And you can get paid really well through residual income or passive income.

Yeah. Didn't you say you got your daughter in part-time? Is that right? No, I want her to. She, when I was, when I was, when, I was working the business, she would go with me to showings and things like that since she was little, and she knows it's a grind. And so she doesn't have the interest in it yet, but she does like the investment side of it because she sees what Dr. Murray does. And she's kind of following his path.

Oh, really? Yeah, she's going to be a chiropractor. And she's like, Mom, I think I'll become an investor instead of a real estate agent. This is kind of just like an open question. Do any of us have hobbies that lead into good referral partners? Like, I know you're up at the gym like 5 o'clock every day. I see your Snapchat stories, like when I'm getting up and it's been like three hours since you posted it.

I'm like, oh, my God. I know. So, yes, I love going to the gym early and I'm there by five. And so what I learned, it's a great network. I get a referral business from the gym. I close, I don't know, five, six houses. year from the gym. Yeah.

And the reason I started going early is so that I wouldn't miss a workout because if you try to work out in the afternoons and then you're trying to show houses, sometimes you can't do that. Oh, yeah. The a AM works well for me. Plus, it's a time when a lot of people go that have to go to work and they're there. Oops, sorry. Oh, that's okay.

They're there early, right? So I'm working out with the people that, you know, sometimes maybe the decision maker. and so it's a great tool for networking. A lot of the most when people are up in the morning at the gym. That's right. But while everyone else is sleeping, you know. Nathan, and what time do you go to the gym? It just depends on the day of Mr. Bermitas.

They need to get you in at the 5 a.m. Yeah, all right. Yes. What about you, Ms. Garza? Me. Well, for me right now, probably mom groups, honestly. I have two little ones. So I do a lot of networking with moms.

And that's how I get the business, you know, out there. Facebook groups. I'm always, you know, at parks and playgrounds. Yeah. It always comes up. Right. For me, that right now. Yeah, that makes sense for sure.

So you mentioned you do cleaning for homes, right? Can you tell us a little bit more about that or how, like what a lot of service? Well, we specialize on carpet cleaning, air duct cleaning, dry vents, towel and grout. We also do upholstery and mattress cleaning. We also do, of course, move in, move out, regular house cleanings, commercial cleanings. But our main focus is floors. like I mentioned, carpets, all of that. How did you get started?

Well, in 2007, well, I've always liked businesses. My husband and I, we've always kind of like had that entrepreneurial side. And in 2017, we had an escape room. But, of course, the pandemic happened. The landlord sold the building. We shut down. And after that, we were. were kind of like thinking, okay, what else can we do? That's not brick and mortar. That cannot get

shut down. And that's probably more of a need. So that's why we fell into the cleaning business. It's a need. It's repetitive. And yeah, I mean, it's once you get the system, you know, down, it's pretty easy. And you mentioned that you and your husband work together? Well, not right now. No, I run the business by myself pretty much. I mean, he helps me with if there's any issues with equipment or anything like that. But, yeah, I do most of the bulk of the work. My wife and I tried working together.

It didn't work out. Yeah, no. We better, whether each have our own projects and don't worry about it. That's funny. Sometimes he works, sometimes he doesn't. Before we close out, I usually do this as an icebreaker for the opening, but I just ask a random question. Let's see. If you had a superpower for a day, what would it be?

And why? Yeah, just a day. You have 24 hours, 24 hours. Superpower for a day for 24 hours. hours, what would it be? I don't know. What would yours be? I don't know.

Francisco, do you have one? I mean, I would like to be able to play soccer really good. 24 hours? Play 4 hours. Manchester United or, I don't know. Right. I'm like, guys, if you put me in today, we'll probably win. Yeah, just the ability to see like Powerball numbers.

If you could time it right. Oh, that was awesome. That would be it for me. Yeah. I was thinking something money related. Like if I could have something like a way to make all this money in 24 hours and be able to keep it. Right. I think that would be kind of cool.

Yeah. But I don't know what kind of power that would be. Printing money for 24 hours. Printing my own money. Yeah. Yeah, counterfeit many ways. Do you have one? For me?

Yeah. I, honestly, I don't know why I always have dreams about flying. Oh, that'd be kind of cool. I do. I don't know why. Just flying and just taking off anywhere, really fast. Yeah, that would be fun, too. Yeah.

You get to see a lot in 24 hours. Yeah, that would be excellent, actually. Yeah. Just don't fall asleep in a foreign country. You're going to be like at the 24 hours. hours. You stuck there. Yes.

The last guy we had on, Zeke, he was interesting. That's the most original answer I've ever heard. He said that he just would like people to answer the phone whenever he called. For 24 hours. Yeah, he's like really into just like cold calling and stuff. So he's just like, I want them to answer every time I call. That is hilarious. I don't know.

That's funny. But Janet, thank you for coming on today. You too. I appreciate the input. And yeah, I guess that'll wrap it up for today. All right. Well, thank you. It was fun.

Thank you for having us. Yes, thank you. Of course. You've been listening to the Agents Lounge Podcast brought to you by Eritory Comfort Solutions. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or to listen to past episodes, please visit agentsloungepodcast.com.