KGCI: Real Estate on Air - New Construction Mastery: The Ultimate Lead Generation Hack for Struggling Agents

Episode Date: August 29, 2026

Summary:In this episode, host Kathy Burns interviews agent Randy Justice to discuss how agents can navigate a challenging real estate market by focusing on new construction. They explore how to disclose builder bonuses, leverage 2-1 interest rate buy-downs, and partner with on-site builder reps to market inventory homes. The conversation also covers the necessity of independent inspections on new builds, identifying hidden lender costs, and transitioning from expensive legacy lead generation platforms to cost-effective AI-driven lead systems.

I just heard recently that for the first time ever, new homes are selling for less than used homes. Because the reason for that, I think anyway, is because they have a one-year builder loan, they have to sell it. They're motivated. And people with used homes, sometimes they're motivated if they have to move. But those people that are just seeing if they can sell it, they're just not selling. Hey, everybody.

It's Kathy Burns here with Real Estate Riches. And today, my guest is my good buddy, Randy Justice, who I'm partnered with on many ventures, especially in our business, which is EXP Realty. So hey, Randy, how are you? Well, how about you? Great. Randy and I meet along with some other agents every Tuesday morning, and we like hold each other accountable and things like that. We were talking about something that Randy's been doing and found great success in, and that's with new construction because so many agents are struggling and there's a bonanza right there. And that's why I wanted to have Randy on. on start to talk about that. So Randy, talk about, because today we have to disclose when we get bonuses,

we have to disclose our, you know, our rate. That's the new mandate. And sometimes when you got a new construction person, you know, you're taking a client and they see you're going to get paid $2,000 and, you know, over and above your commission. And they get a little anxious, you know, how did you handle that with your particular people? Well, you have to have them, off on it. You have to be completely up front about it. And basically the bonus that I got on the last one was for a completed construction and close it by the end of that month. So if the month passes, the bonus is gone. So it has to close. It's for a quick close on a finished new home. So there's a way to present that to your client. Say, listen, you fit this mold. They're going to

pay me a bonus because I found someone like you who could close in this time frame. And so I'm being rewarded from it. It has nothing out of your pocket. The builder's paying me. So there's definitely a way to phrase the different scenarios. Oh, there's something. You got to make it something in it for them too. And that's what I did.

I got them a new washing dryer, refrigerator blinds in the whole house. I got them everything that I knew from experience. you know, that they had to offer. And so it was a win-win. Yeah, it really is. You know, that so many people don't realize what we do and how we bring, we bring so much to the table. I read this one Facebook post. This guy was saying, hey, I'm trying to sell my house by myself. I don't want to pay those realtors a dime because they just, they're just the middlemen and they just capture all this check. And I go, said, oh, wow, how naive are you? I'm thinking all the work that we do. per client.

It's immense. I've heard it's an average of 100 hours per transaction. It has to be. And sometimes much more, right? Yeah. It depends. But average is 100 hours. And they just don't see us

the amount of paperwork we're doing for hours and hours and hours on the computer. They just see us with a photographer, see us put a sign in the yard. And we call them when they got offered. They don't realize all of this work. in the back end, right.

To be able to present this often. And that was why I wanted to have you on here because you had that success with that. And it got me thinking. So I went on Grock and I said, do research on all the new construction. What's going on in the new construction world for agents who are struggling right now? Maybe that's a path that they want to pursue, right? And was it you that was telling me that you can go to build a relationship? I think you have it with D.R. Horton, where you can go there.

you can promote their listing as, you know. They'll let you brand it to yourself. And, you know, we use Bold Trail. So, yeah, you can go to Bold Trail. As a CRM. Yeah. The CRM. And brand it to you.

And with their permission, of course. And most of the builders will let you. They just want to sell them. You know, they don't mind paying the buyer's agent to sell them. So even for agents that don't have any listings or good listings, things and you know the market's slow and you know I just heard recently that for the first time ever new homes are selling for less than used homes because the reason for that I think anyway is because they have a one year builder loan and they have to sell it they're motivated yeah and people with

used homes sometimes they're motivated if they have to move but those people that are just seeing if they can sell it they're just not selling they're not motivated yeah yeah basically I've heard lately that sellers of used homes are chasing the price lower. So the price is going down, down, down, and they have to lower, you know, below that next stair step down to get attention and get sold. And most sellers, you know, a lot of sellers that I work with the used homes, they're like, well, just wait for the market to come back. We're just not that moment, which is fine. You want to get the most you can, but also if they're buying and selling, I try to help them understand it's a good buyers market now.

So you may, you may come out not as well as you wanted to on the selling, but you're going to get a deal on the buyers. So it all really kind of comes out of you. Yeah. That's a valid point, Randy. Well, and I was thinking with this new construction, especially if you go build a relationship with the builder and you market it yourself. And you do like you're using, what's the name of that company you're using for the AI?

videos yeah it's called virtual tour. ai yeah and that's just one of them but that they caught my eye the other day when you had this house and it was like it pops out because it's different yeah it's different you gotta do today just took a headshot and put me standing in front of the door as if i were there like i had spent couple hours in a photo shoot and it was 20 seconds for AI to do that with the listing pictures yeah and it was it was it popped and it was unique. And that's the marketing piece of what agents have got to do to start getting better. And that's really the goal of this whole podcast today is to talk about what agents can do in a challenging market where there are opportunities and how to be different that cost you

the least amount of money. Exactly. Yeah, because we're all watching our pennies. AI has really helped because paying a photographer, videographer, was several hundred dollars per listing, And this virtual tour.ai is $39 bucks a month for 10 per month. Which is great. And not many people are doing 10 per month right now. No, no, I'm not. Yeah. I wish.

I hope. So I think what the lesson here is, number one, you need to be going to the new construction sites in your area and finding out, you know, if they have incentives for the agent, as all, as well as having incentives. for the buyer because you were talking about the buy down rates and let's talk about that a little bit. Sure. Yeah, most of them have the two one buy down where it's like 3.99 for the first year, 4.99 for the second year and then 5.99 for the third year. A lot of the big builders are

have relationships with banks that will discount it or some of them, the real big ones, play the bank themselves so they can they can do the rate whatever they want, regardless of what the rate is out there in the marketplace. So, you know, that's one of the reasons I think that that new construction is more appealing. What I've found is it's a lot of, a lot of times it's young couples and the lady wants to move in Ritty House and the guy wants 100 acres, I say jokingly, he wants land. And but, you know, at the end of the day, a lot of times, they just, it's nice. And it's usually small lots, but they usually have a small HOA that's not too expensive.

and they have a clubhouse and they have a pool. And it's real nice for young couples with small children. Well, the way I see it is they got their foot in the door. They got their foot in the door to the buy opportunity where, you know, historically, the values have gone up. So now they've got where they're in a position to be earning equity. Now, yes, their rate is going up. And they do have to be prepared for that and plan for that.

I like it better where it's going up one year at a time. So right. Gives them a little time and hopes the rate will go down, but no guarantee. And the, yeah, there is no guarantee because it's only for three years that it's doing that. And then the fourth year, what happens? It's whatever the rate is. You go back to market rate. Okay. And that really has to be discussed. Like, you know, you talk to me like I'm a high eye on the personality style, which means I don't pay attention as much to the details. So all of a sudden year five is here and I'm like, or four. is here and I'm like, oh, I didn't plan for that.

That has to be a- Most people are looking that they can swing the pace payment to get in, but that's the first year at 3.99. They really need to look, can they squeeze three years from now, what the payment would be at 5.9 because it's going there. Unless they get lucky and the rate does go down. Right. It could go up.

It could go up. We got down to 5.9 right before the war started, and now I hear we're averaging around 6.7, I don't know. I'm not positive on that. Of course, that depends on credit and all that. Yeah, all that stuff. But the truth is, what I did also read with Grock is that the builders are holding their value of the price of the home. They're not reducing the price of the home per se. Some may, but the majority are kind of holding that from because they don't want the values to drop in the neighborhood, which affects everybody's thing. And now the one they sell is the comp for the. next one. So that's important piece. And I think as the agent, those are your little catches that you want to watch. You not only do you want to educate your client, like here's our reality of where this can go. If you can't do this, don't do this. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yes, I do get paid a bonus. In today's world, there's a lot of extra things that we're working on. I'm going to negotiate as much

as I can to help you get more. But the other thing is, one thing I read it was about the lender. So the lender sometimes can have points within it and it appears like they're giving away all of all the deal, but they're actually charging more. What did it say? Right. One point is one percent loan rate, right? Yes. Like buying the rate down? Is that what you're talking about? Yes. Yes. Preferred lender trap. Demand. a loan estimate from the builder's lender take the LE to an independent lender, a loan estimate, to the independent lender for stress test.

If the builder's lender is charging two points in fees to give a one point rate credit, the incentive is a mirage. See, my last fire did that. They were very savvy and they got the loan estimate from D.R. Horton. and then they went to a local lender that I recommended. And he admitted he couldn't be because they were giving them $5,000 and sell to pay closing costs on top of a real cheap rate. And he's like, I can't, you know, and they weren't taking advantage of him on points.

So, you know, whenever I did, I haven't done new construction in ages. But when I did, I always suggested that they go to an independent lender just to see. And there was never a time that the builder's lender wasn't better. So my guy. It's sad to say. And in this case, it didn't happen because this buyer wasn't pre-approved yet. But what happens a lot in the past is, you know, you connect them with the lender. The lender's worked.

And then they drag them away from them because they can beat it. And they're like, and they try to beat it and they can't. And, you know, no buyer's going to stay just because they liked them if it's going to be thousands more. and you can't blame them. And that's that's kind of a downside to what happens a lot. But it didn't this time. They didn't have a pre-approval. So that's right.

And it kind of works out good. Usually you want them to, but in that case, it's really better if you're not dragging them away from a relationship and time spent with a lender. Yeah. And with new construction, I always insisted on full inspections of the house. I want it, especially the roof,

especially the roof, because they're building them so fast. because they've got a time when you get done. They are. And it's, the mistakes happen. And that's how you get them honored right away before the closing. Right. And they will fix it if you find it.

And they will fix it. They have to stand by for a year and structurally for 10 years. But I've heard the numbers on that. On a used home, 90% get a home inspection on a new home, only 50%. But I always, I always highly recommend because I've done new construction where the 220 was wired wrong and the stove didn't work and the hot water heater didn't work. And yes, if the person didn't do the home inspection and didn't know that, they would have made it right. But picture this.

You're moving into your dream home and everybody's so happy and you can't cook your first meal. Your reins doesn't work. You know, and you just need to know up front. That's the best $4,500 you could ever spend in life. Especially and the roof because they're doing the roof. I've had more issues with the roof. I want that because you get water leaks. Now you got bigger deals that yes, they'll fix it.

But now you got maybe stuff you stored in the roof that's now got damaged. And who wants a negative. A lot of them are doing the cheap three tap roofs on the new builds. Which is another thing. Yeah. You're not architectural singles on a lot of the, you know, like new builds. Yeah. It's a 15 year roof and architectural is a 30 year roof, a metal roof, which isn't as pretty, but it's a 50 year.

Well, and I started learning, I think it was really early last year, about the insurance situations with roofs. Like if I got a listing and the listing was 14 years old, the roof was 14 years old. Right. I tell them before we even make an offer on it, we got to call some insurance companies to find out would they insure this roof. Because if they're not going to insure that roof, that has to be part of my negotiations. They're getting more picky. Insurance companies are, yeah. North Carolina, it's 15 years is pretty much the mark.

Well, they're tired of everybody getting roofs for the insurance companies paying for them. So my son got a message from his insurance company. you're like, you need a new roof. We're going to, our insurance guy's going to come by within the next couple months and see that you got a new roof. You know, yeah, and he got a new roof. See, I don't know if you know this. You know how you have a credit score?

Every person has an insurance score. You know, I've heard that, but I never paid any attention. And your insurance score is, you get tagged if you're the person that gets a free roof every time there's a hail store. Oh, sure. And your insurance rate is higher than somebody that's, says, I'll just take care of it myself and less the place burns down. Yes.

And because they have to assess their risk. Sure. Makes sense. And charge you accordingly. And I know people don't like it. And we want everything three. But yeah. Business and they're looking at their numbers.

I think the bottom line is for the realtors out there. I think you need to go check out new construction. Deer Horton with someone you were working with that's here in North Carolina. But there's plenty. Century homes is a big one. Yeah. True homes. And the thing is just build a relationship with the person sitting in the model.

Yes. Because they're bored because the market is slow and that friendship will go a long way. And most of them will let you market them as if they're your listings. And that's a big deal. Yeah. And a lot of times they have a house to sell. And if you've got a relationship with that guy or gal in there, they may let you know that, hey, they got a house to So you may want to try and get that done because it sounds like they got to sell that first before they can move in here.

Most do. Yes. So that's an opportunity there. So, okay. Now let's switch gears. Let's talk about leads. Let's talk about agents that are paying because I know you paid for these for years. I did it in the beginning.

And I just never found results with the leads. So but you've been. Well, you're right. It all comes down to cost for lead and conversion rate. And I learned that in one of the, the EXP world classes years ago. So how much are you paying for that lead? And what, the average realtor closes 3%. In other words, if I give you 100 leads, you're going to close three.

And that's somebody that's working it pretty good. Zilloflex teams are expected to close 30% or they get kicked off the team. Wow. Yeah. Oh, and I was on Zillow Flex and got kicked off the team. because we didn't send enough people to the Zillow homeowners people. We were doing the 30%. Yeah.

So, but yeah, I've got five charged up credit cards to prove it. I've bought everybody there is to buy from. And yeah, I started out in 2012 with Zillow. I could tie up my little town for $150 a month and built the business that way. But now it would be thousands and you're not even allowed to buy leads unless you join Zillowplex. And then they take 40% of your money besides your firm split. It's just not worth it. Oh, I didn't know it was on, I didn't know you got double whammed.

Yeah. Yeah, well, everybody that had, they had their credit card and they were just charging them for leads in the big towns, including Charlotte, not everywhere, but in the big cities. They're like, we're not doing that anymore. We want experienced agents that will close these, that will take care of our customers. and we only want seasoned agents. And the seasoned agent is allowed to be on the Zillofx Flex program. And the new agent, like I was in 2012,

they're just not allowed to buy because they're just not experienced enough to even. Now, Realtor.com still sells them, you know, and I told you that, $60 a lead and shared with another agent. Homes.com has a little different approach since they got bought out by CoStar, which is a commercial company.

they send the lead back to the agent. They're not trying to get dual agency. They just think that the listing, and you probably knows more about that listing than anybody else. And it's the best person to call and then people that partner with them. And I still, that's the only thing I still do besides the Jay Kendra thing, which I think you're probably going to talk about here in a minute.

But yeah, I do with them because they go on websites and they retarct. In other words, when you're looking at one of my listings, and it follows you around and they they pay a lot of money for that. And so I buy into that. And it's worth it. Did any of those train you on how to do the calls? Yeah, they all have classes, but I don't know if I've ever sat through too many.

That EXP class I did sit through. To be honest, I've always been motivated by poverty. When the checkbook gets low, I hit the phones. So yeah. Yeah. I think that's what a lot of agents are, scared to do that right now. They're looking for an easier path. And that's something that you and I have tapped into just two weeks ago. Really, really excited about it. We have an opportunity to

introduce agents to this. And what I'm excited about it is it's AI driven. So they had a proven funnel lead system that was already working. Then they brought AI into it first. And you just experimented with this yourself where you used AI to figure out the territory that you live in based on your niche where should you be working in your own little area and it completely switched you over to a couple different towns because that's where the business was and you've been working in a kind of dead zone and that's why there's not as much business so just like AI piece well this is something they've not only incorporated into for the agents that are going to choose to participate in this.

But the price per lead, wasn't it around $3 a lead? $3 to $4 is basically giving, he said he can give you 100 leads a month for $300. That's the ad spend. The $300 is the ad spend. Right. Yeah, exactly. That's not money to him. That is money given to metal, basically.

Yes. Is where it's at. So it's amazing. He's basically figured out what we've been trying to figure out and have to some extent, but got it figured out, got the people to get you there and work with AI to know your niche and get you there quickly. And work with your own CRM. They were talking primarily with Bolt Trail.

However, within Bolt Trail, there's all this AI interaction. So you're not necessarily beating the phones like you were. It's a lot simpler process because of all the funnels that they're doing. So people, if you're interested in that, Randy's information is going to be in the description. So it's mine, of course. Either one of us can help you with that. So whoever you feel. And it's exclusive to certain agents that, you know, have production.

Yes. And yeah, you have to have hustle. This is about energy, hustle. and commitment as in anything that you want to succeed in those are your components and your attitude right so if this sounds like you've been paying for leads and you don't like that you need to reach out to one of us because right you can explore it and decide do you want in and if you do man they'll train you they'll do everything it's amazing so go ahead well it's a no-brainer for me

because I was spending 350 a month with realtor.com and getting 11 leads so and sharing them with another agent. Yes. So do I want to continue that or do I want to do this for 300 a month and get 100 leads and have AI driven things to where people know like and trust you already from when you already, you successfully did this. You got further than I did. You completely cloned yourself digitally.

It looks like you're sitting there walking, talking and it's AI. Yeah. So that's what he's helping, you know, his people do. Yeah, and it was his son that kind of brought that piece to him. And so that's what's happening. AI is integrated into everything we do and it can be much more efficient than us. It can make things cost less for us. And that's it.

We need savings right now. We need real quality leads of people who really want to buy and sell because it's not just buyers. It's buyers and sellers. It's however the niche is set up. And if you told them, hey, I want this kind of niche and the AI comes back and says, there's not enough leads in your area for that niche, we need to fine tune this. I love that. That's the integrity of it all.

Because like, let's say I wanted to sell waterfront homes that all were like $5 million and above. And I was hoping for 100 leads a month. He would tell you up front, I can't get you 100 leads. Yeah. But he said you could get 100 leads a month for anybody anywhere. But yeah, you may have to, you know, loosen up your. your niche, you may not be able to just do one subdivision.

You might have to, you got to branch out enough to have enough of an audience. Well, we have a webinar that we can invite you to and that's the only way you're going to find out about it. So you've got to reach out to either one of us for the webinar. I'm not going to put the webinar link in here. You got to reach out to us personally. We got to interview you and see if you're a fit for this. And if you are, it may be great.

It may be great. Well, Randy, this has been awesome. I appreciate having you on here and talking about the new construction because the goal is to help agents through challenging times. It can beat you up. This business can beat you up. Yes. A lot of people got out and what 70% didn't sell anything last year. Yes. We can we don't have it all figured out, but we're still here and we can help you stay here instead of get out. Yeah. And we survive COVID. So you can survive.

Right. You do anything. Well, I'm a mentor, as you know, and the first thing I said, I asked them what their plan B is. And if they say, I don't have one, I say, good. And if they say, they have one, I said, well, you probably should go do that. This is going to be way harder than you think it's going to be. I love that, Randy. I love that.

Well, thanks again for being on here. Really appreciate it. And I love the buffaloes in the back because, you know, the mission of a buffalo is when they get a storm, they run to it, where the cows are away. Those guys are both. That's us. And that's why you have the Buffalo herd group. Yep.

And you are up in your Airbnb up in. Yeah. And coincidentally, yeah, those are Buffaloes here because I have an Airbnb where the Hatfield McCoy trails are and they ride four wheelers here and it's on Buffalo Mountain, the Buffalo Mountain Trailhead. Yeah, there's a little swing overlooking the town of Williamson. That's the most visited spot in the whole trailside. and that's like a 20-minute trail ride from here.

It's a large house that I rent. It's called Buffalo Playhouse. So look it up if you're a rider. And thanks, everybody, for joining us. Please subscribe below. And don't forget, you can reach either one of us in here and check out these leads. If you're not the hustler, but you know somebody who is that could benefit from that, tell them to reach out.

We'll see if we can help them. Let's book a strategy call and see how it would look in your eyes. And if you're thinking, man, I'd like to have a conversation with you. Kathy Burns maybe I'd like to be part of this EXP company and see what it's all about that sounds good to me let's book a strategy call and let's have a talk no pressure but man it's worth the conversation the links in the description