KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Changing Lives at eXp - Interview with Jason Bosch

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

We've gotten through it before. We will continue. Homes still need to be sold. Buyers and sellers need help with that. Quite possibly more than ever before. Homes are more expensive than they've ever been. Loan programs are complex. Yes, we're going through some change and that change may be uncomfortable, but on the other side of that, we're still selling homes. I would focus on the task at hand, helping more people get through that process more often and do a better job. You do that, I think everything's going to be okay. Jason, thank you for making some time to come hang out with me today.

Thank you, absolutely. The goal of this podcast is to story tell for agents because they see a finished product. You're the broker of brokers in California and Illinois and the man with all the answers, but there was once a day you just passed the test. For sure. And you hadn't done your first transaction.

For sure. If you can take us back to, you know, tell us who you are, So the folks that may not be from California that don't have you on speed dial, but then also how you started in the process. Yeah, absolutely. Jason Bosch, director of the Californias, as we call them now, since we're regionalizing and Illinois, and have been licensed in California now 31 years, just completed.

Started originally as a loan officer, an apprentice loan officer, for an operation not far from here in Riverside, California, that did FHA finance. for HUD-owned homes to Spanish-speaking buyers. And that's how I started. And most of them at that needed homeowner's assistance, down payment assistance, because they were low to moderate income earners.

And I did that for five or six years before actually going to work directly for HUD. HUD at that time used to sell homes. There's a lot of foreclosures in Southern California. And HUD would sell homes directly to the consumer online. online it was it was kind of a new concept and then they they found a company that did their marketing and their management for them and I took that opportunity at you know I was a not a college student

when I started so I took that opportunity to go back to college get to work learn kind of the the process of sales and mass and that was that was my start that's how I started that was the first 10 years of my career got it and then how do you did you transition to self-employment? I did. I did. Working for the M&M contractors they were called back then, I kind of worked my way up the rants. And as I was going through my college career, that got me into leadership. And I got a broker's license during that time. And so when that contract came to an end, a local franchisee, a prominent individual that sold a lot of HUD homes,

kind of recruited me over to be the manager of his office. And that's how I transitioned over. from that corporate world, if you will, over to sales, still in leadership and management, but at a more local level. And again, not far from here, Riverside, California. Got it. And then how did that progression go? Were you ever an agent in the field

or were you mostly managing agents? Mostly managing, mostly managing. The mother of my kids and I at the time had kind of a team. And so she would do sales. We had the start that we both did in loans. So our typical client remained during that time. So I was in leadership and management and she was in sales and we would do the loan.

Again, Spanish-speaking audience, first-time homebuyers. Many of them remained foreclosures. Then at some point the market shifted into the regular market, the retail market, and then it shifted again into the short sale market. And while I was mostly on the leadership side, there was a lot of dabbling with the team since the wife and I at the time did that.

And so it sounds like you've seen markets change. A number of them. What would you say to do agents who are experiencing probably what could be their first shift in their career, right? Well, you know, that's a great point and a question I get offered and the reality of it is that individuals always need to buy and sell. A home is something that is always needing to be adjusted because the family grows or the family changes or there's a job move or there's a job loss and so however it's sold and whoever

sells it, the government or a bank or a seller, those transactions need to take place. And what I've seen during the different markets that I've been involved with is that we adjust. We adjust accordingly. Programs come up. People get co-signers. They get adjustable rate mortgages or buy downs or what have you. And individuals find a way to purchase the properties. And we are in their transitioning that, helping them more.

with that. So similarly enough, I feel the same way of what we're going into now. The industry will find a way to get through this transition. What are you seeing that agents need to be paying attention during the shift we're experiencing? And again, depending on when people watch this, I'm saying the shift of the NAR settlement implementation and how it's going to affect everything. You know, my opinion around this is that the educated agent, the agent that is informed and can articulate what's going on and how business will be done moving forward, the agent that can articulate that at the hyper-local level will remain very valuable.

Homes still need to be marketed. Homes still need to be promoted. AI, we were talking about that. What's going on with technology that the local representative will use in order to put that home in front of more individuals. All of that will remain. And the individual agents that are able to best articulate that value to their buyer or their seller is who I think is going to win. Talk to me about how you manage so many things at a high level, right? I think most agents have struggled sometimes managing a couple transactions, and you're in charge of supervising lots and lots of transactions. I'm curious to know how you organize your day, your weeks, your months.

How do you stay on top of what's important? Well, first off, I learned this long ago. If it's not in your calendar, it doesn't exist. So we plan things out at the different state operations pre-planned as best as possible. Now, of course, well, Jason, what about, right? What about when this happens? And it does. And yet we, the operation is so large with so many agents.

alone we have about 11,000 of them. The thousands of transactions that take place, we really have to have systems in order to run an operation that large effectively, and for the most part, Leo, remotely. So systems, following the schedule, following the calendar, and having some flexibility. That's the other part about it. You got to have fun.

You can't be too rigid, right? You've got to be able to have some flexibility with things with things because there's always something that is adjusting and if you're too rigid then you're going to have a harder time with that and so that's kind of my personal philosophy around that. No, I mean you're being humble there with the amount of things he supervise. What do you say to an agent who's starting, you know, this week, right, this month, and you know you've been licensed 31 years, I've been licensed 23 years, things are different. For sure.

What things would you tell them to get expertly versed in right now? Yeah. My belief is around what goes on in the hyper local market remains valuable. The companies out there that provide data, sales data as it's happened and all that, that will remain and that will continue. But there are other things that continue to require your insight into what's going on locally. I'm talking about things like the school districts, the difference between a traffic at this part of town, during this time of the day versus that one. I mean, I remember selling my own home,

and we lived on a major street, and the traffic that took place with the elementary school and junior high required me to leave 30 minutes earlier every day to my commute to here at Orange County to one of our offices that I didn't know before I bought the house. See, that's an example of information that is hyper-local and dad-eastern,

doesn't tell you that. Where you do your shopping, your access to transportation, freeways, trains, what's going to happen? You know, we got a big train coming up in, for example, here in California that's going to go up to Las Vegas. And that is going to potentially create some commuter traffic between Vegas and LA, if you can imagine that. Those are the things that I think an agent that is, I keep using this term, hyper-local in their knowledge, will remain an asset to every client that they service. And that's where I would start, if I'm starting in the business now,

is really getting to know those things, working with individuals locally that are already doing it, following them, following good mentors. I think that's the place to start. I wholeheartedly agree, right? With all the conversation with AI, I think people say, you know,

the agent's going to go away. And I said, well, if the agent was going to go away, they would have already. Right? We've seen $50 billion worth of private capital invested into disrupting our industry in the last 10 years. And, you know, we've seen most of those companies either go out of business or shift to a business where they partner with agents, right?

The ones that said, we're going to disrupt agents. And now they need the agent to do the last mile, as I call it. And the reality is real estate is infrequent, right? So if any of the statistics used to be we moved every seven years, it's up to nine years now. So the average family moves six times in their life. Three is a renter, three as a homeowner. First time home buyer, move up, move down. And so when you think about it, you only do it three times in 30 years.

Not that much. You know, every time you do it, it's completely different. Right. Right. And so having that local expert hold your hand and walk you through the process, super important. And the other thing that you said is super interesting is I've seen agents have been in the business two years. three years, one year, I don't know where do 50, 60 deals in the first year as a solo producer

with one strategy, which is hyper-local knowledge on YouTube, which then targets relocation buyers, right? Because you become that local expert. Sure. And again, translating that on the internet, which as a concept is super cool to me because you know how long it takes to sit in a car and go on a listing of pressure appointment. But imagine you create one piece of content. and then that gets consumed 5, 10, 20 hours a day.

You're not having to be in appointments all over the place. And so that continues to be evergreen content. I moved to Miami almost five years ago. And, you know, I've sold a couple homes. And same with my wife. And when we moved to Miami, we needed a realtor, which I tell people that. I'm like, I know this business.

I'm a broker. Yeah, of course. I've been in this business my whole life, but when I moved to a city I was not familiar with, I needed a local expert to tell me where I was like, hey, my only two requirements were lifetime and whole foods. And then they were the ones who guided me. It's like, okay, if those are your requirements based on your kid's age, the schools you like, this is where you should be. And I think people, especially when you're moving locally, it's not as important, but for me, it was super top of mind, having been someone who had done so many deals to say, you know what, I need local expert.

Sure, for sure. You know, as you're saying that it's reminding me of some of the other things that I think are very valuable, and that's being able to guide someone through this sometimes very delicate and highly emotional transaction that they only go through. Yeah, I didn't even think about it the way you said it, two or three times in their lifetime, right? And there's so many moving pieces. Where are the down payment's going to come from? You know, things that they need to pay off and potentially they're qualifying. And, and, and, and, potentially, they're qualifying. And, and, and, and, and, what's going on with interest rates. And there's a lot of emotion that can be attached to that. So the other piece is, in addition to that knowledge, right, working on yourself, your sales skills, being able to present somebody effectively and many times calm them down during the transaction and make sure they know you've got them. Hey, it's all right, Leo, I've got you through this Miami move. It's going to be all right and help them through. It's a skill set. I've actually said, I think that part of the value of a realtor is to keep the buyer and the seller from suing each other right because you know and there is actually data to support

that sure it's not just a kind of tongue-in-cheek comment there is data that shows FISBOs with no representation end up in higher percentages of litigation right because there's nobody there to calm people down and say you can't have that how dare you ask for that and the agents play referees for sure on both sides though there's a pretty interesting comment there yeah it is highly emotional it's highly complex and it's infrequent. Yeah, it's, it will remain a very skilled profession with potentially more tools than they've ever had,

Leo, they, agents, right, the salespeople, the folks right on the front lines, potentially more tools than you've ever had to handle clients, that skill set will remain. And irrelevant of what goes on in the market and with technology and all these new developments, that knowledge and that ability to help people through it, I think is probably now higher. The requirements to have those skills is higher, perhaps, than it's ever been. So, you know, getting to spend time together is fun because you understand the inner working. If an agent just joined DXP. Yes.

And I think for the folks watching, United, we're just on a different call together where I was talking to folks. And I actually gave the analogy that between agents and staff were almost 90,000 people, which is the size of, you know, larger than probably the average American town. Very. And so when you move to a town, you know where your house is, the school, and maybe, you know, the grocery store and a couple of things. But until you need something, you don't know where the hardware store is or the, you know, concert venues are, if I'm brand new to EXP in California and you could wave a magic wand,

what kind of either essentials do we just need to know about or kind of you know surprises that are fun that are not you know essential but just as cool in your opinion so to give us the like must-habs and then the nice to haves yeah must-habs I would definitely get involved in our broker training that is in the cloud if you will and I use that term very loosely because I want to say every brokerage nowadays in the cloud, right? Prior to my joining EXP for the franchise that I was involved with prior, the way to catch me was in my cell phone because that's where I was most of the time driving from office to office.

So in the cloud is really just getting involved with your individuals that are going to help you with the contracts and the inner workings that right now are transitioning but are very important. So for a new agent, I would ensure that they know where to go to for that. And sometimes there's miscommunication from our competition that we don't have enough of that or it's hard to get to. It's more simple than it really is for, I would say, most operations. Another thing that I would, so that's number one. Number two is I would, if I'm just starting out, I'm a coach at heart and I really believe that my different roles have always had me really coaching individuals. You need to find somebody that's going to coach you through or mentor you

through this part of your career to the next part of your career. And that could even be or include modeling, right? But really find individuals in your marketplace or surrounding that are doing the next level for you and get with them. I mean, invite them to. Invite them to you. a cup of coffee, follow them, copy them, look at what they're doing, get coached by them, right? That's another thing. Some folks are afraid to somehow invest in themselves and the industry. That's the second part that I would highly encourage somebody to do is find others on the sales and business side that are going to help you and make sure that you follow their advice. So that's the must-haves, I feel like.

Yes, okay. So what are the, you had no idea we have this? Like what's kind of like the Easter egg, you will. Well, internally we have toolkits that we're providing to our agents that are really helping them navigate, especially right now, this changing and dynamic space that we're going in, right? So there's a lot of internal systems and pieces to help you as a new agent that we provide as a brokerage as a company that I would also get with your local team, with your state team, that can help you navigate through some of that.

I know that in the last two years we've really improved the process. Yes. And you know, talk about agent care desk and 24-7 and broker direct line and, you know, how, you know, once upon a time you would have to call a couple places to get answers and now we've really, really streamlined that. Sure. You know, we're an international company now, Leo. We're not just a company that has is in different states or even just in the United States.

And so that reality has probably forced some of these operational changes for us where really we have staff around the clock that is working to support our agents and our brokers. And that could be anything from internal things like how to move my license or how to transfer from one MLS to the other or referral agreements or, you know, I'll go down the list. Or it could just be, you know, how to adjust your internal corporate email address or how to help you with your online accounts. We really have that now and it's continuing to develop around the clock which you know is exciting and the other thing is that it's no longer only in English. We're doing so much including our training in Spanish because so many of our clients,

agents and their clients are in those Spanish-speaking communities and so there's a lot more there that's going to take place as well. Got it. So if if if You could talk to an agent who is struggling right now, right? Because, and that's, you've heard me talk about this. I recently was on a big stage and you heard me say this. It's like, one is remembering we're in a very low transaction count year, right? Actually, like the lowest probably in 30 years. And there's that inman poll that came out that like 54% of all agents are thinking

of switching companies right now. And I personally think that's a, you know, byproduct of that scarcity. And so people are like, is something wrong with me? Should I go somewhere else? What do you say to folks who we're probably struggling? They're doing less than they were a year ago or two years ago. What do you say to that person who's questioning themselves or questioning being in our industry?

Yeah. And you know, that's a reality for many. Certainly for some, potentially for many. You've got to remain a professional in your craft. And the reality of it is that in our industry and sales, that includes a number of things. It includes your market. It includes your prospecting. It includes understanding what's going on in your marketplace.

Those things cannot stop. Arguably, if business is down, some of those things need to be ramped up, right? Like if we were any other business and businesses down by 20%, well, we're probably going to have to look at some lead generating activities to make up for the 20%. If we were doing, you know, X number of dollars or next X number of hours into our lead generating activities and our businesses dropped, well, that's going to likely have to go up. And for whatever reason, many agents, maybe that's an uncomfortable space for them, but they're slow to that.

So I would get back into what we know works, getting in front of clients, looking for ways to perhaps spruce up your open house. I mean, I don't need to get into a coaching session with our audience, but there's multiple tried and true ways that we know can get you in front of a client this weekend. And I would go and do that. And if you're not doing enough of that, I would do more of it. And then hone my craft, get better at it so that my at bat's that I'm at, I'm actually hitting the ball more often. And that gets into your scripts and dialogues and, you know, your mindset and all. all of that. So that's where I think a lot of agents right now that are struggling, they need to get back to

those basics. That's a good point because I talk about that a lot, dollar productive activities, right? One thing I've talked about at other events and keynotes, I say going from employee to self-employee is a completely different world. And nobody actually cares if you run out of food. Sure. Right? Because if you have a job, you have KPIs to do. Sure. If you don't do them, you get fired. Sure. But once you're become an agent, you don't have to do anything, nobody cares. Your worker doesn't care. Right. Right.

So you were the only one that needs to care because you are the only one who can control your time. Yeah. Ultimately, your clients will be who fires you, if you will. And so many times agents, I think, are slow to that reality. And coming back to working with a coach or a mentor or a group of individuals that could support you, you need to have an environment that people. are going to be honest with you and help you make those corrections sooner. Not when I'm two months late on my car payment, right?

When I first realized, hey, my quarter has gone down. I did less business this quarter than my previous quarter or the same quarter last year. That's looking at your business like a business. And we really need to be doing that. And you know, as again, as the tools get better and the The agents get sharper with them, the disparity, perhaps Leo, between the agents that are doing that effectively and those that don't might even get greater. I would completely agree with you and actually kind of emphasize it, right?

Where I think all of the controversial conversations right now around the settlement is actually fear-based. Sure. Because, you know, I think you've heard me say this. I think everyone's a listing agent now. Right? Because a buyer consultation is now- It's like a listing. It's like a listing.

It's like a listing. First you assume it's competitive. Right. Assume their interview in several people, just like sellers always interview a couple of people. To find the best services at price that you're willing to pay. Then also, you better come in a presentation. Right. Like this is what I'll do and this is what you'll charge you. And then, you know, there's a beginning date, there's an end date, right?

You wouldn't take a listing forever. It's like, hey, you have to be realistic on price. on fee and everything else. What do you think about that subject? Do you think it's going to change dramatically or think it's going to stay the same? Well, I think some parts of it, the buyer's agents are going to have to get comfortable with the,

for whatever reason, uncomfortable conversation of talking about their labor and their fee to their client. It reminds me of recently I had some work done on my house and I had a couple of different bids and the contractor, each of them told me what their price was going to be. It included, right, what they were. were going to do, how long it was going to take, the quality of their work, the referrals

of people that had used them before. And some of them had a strikingly different price estimate to do the same work that quite honestly between us wasn't even that large of a job, like a two-day job, something that could be done in a weekend. If an individual doing construction work on my home is willing and knows that they are going to not only have to give me their estimate for their labor and be willing to compete for it, why not us? Why not us with usually or many times, I should say, a much larger ticket item?

And as we just said a minute ago, an item that has all these complexities to it that we're guiding them through that they only do once every nine, ten, however many years it is. So our industry has been very comfortable all of this time at the buyer's side not having to have that conversation, right, wrong or indifferent. That's going to change now. Yeah, I heard an agent say this in a room the other day, again, not speaking to what I feel about the case. Right, right.

But an agent said, hey, now that we're here, it isn't fair that an agent who passed their test two weeks ago and someone who's 30 years of negotiation. experience charge the same. Sure. And I said it's a good point of conversation. Right, right. Not a bad point. Look, I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, but like on the listing side, experience makes the difference. You get treated depending on how many homes you sold, what your experience is like and so on and so forth. And that's kind of the case with any industry, right? I mean, you take a paralegals, a dentist, doctors, dentists, an engineer or an architect. Surgeons. Absolutely. So why not with us? Again, conversation.

that you would think we would be having because of what we do and for whatever reason we haven't and yet here we are so yeah so we're gonna have to get good at that so parting thoughts for agents and then also you know what should you know because again one of the things that I actually am quite proud of is is how flat organization is right I think your agents are shocked when I call them out of the blue where I return their messages or workplace or text them back sure and the same thing goes for you what what should agents reach out to you for and how to connect with you and then any party thoughts you have. Yeah, a couple of things in the state of California

or the state of Illinois, and sometimes we're changing this, right, because the operation grows in that. I'm involved with items that have to do with the operations. So anything broker-related, anything legal related or things that come up that are unique. We're also helping a lot with the recruitment of teams and offices, dare I say, that are looking to join us. Those are all of the things that I'm involved with in the state of California, or the California's, as we're calling them now, the state of Illinois, and sometimes states in between.

Parting thoughts. Parting thoughts for our community. We're going to be okay. We're going to be all right. We get through it. We've gotten through it before. We will continue. Homes still need to be sold.

And people, buyers and sellers, need help with that, quite possibly more than ever before. Homes are more expensive than they've ever been. Loan programs are complex. So I would keep that at the forefront. Yes, we're going through some change, and that change may be uncomfortable, but on the other side of that,

we're still selling homes. The marketplace, in many instances, has given us a boost prices. are sometimes in many cases more expensive. And I would focus on the task at hand, helping more people get through that process more often and do a better job. You do that, I think everything's gonna be okay.

Thank you for everything you do for us and thank you what you do for the agents. Appreciate you, Leo. Thank you. Thank you.