KGCI: Real Estate on Air - Secret To Securing Multi-Million Dollar Listings (with Tracy Tutor)

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

Welcome back. When Carl's Baranetchi here, founder of Goldbar, and you are tuning into another episode of the luxury real estate podcast. On today's podcast, we have a very special guest, as we always do. But this time, it's even more special because we have Tracy Tudor, star of million-dollar listing, L.A. More special. The building.

Oh, okay. Very, very special, yes. So super excited for this podcast because not only have I been following your content, everything you've been doing, but I just love how willing you are to give back to the real estate community. as far as education and training and coaching. Let's just start up by giving people a little background on who you are and what you do. Well, I've been in real estate for almost 24 years selling primarily in California. Most recently I've expanded into the Texas market, so we're sort of taking Dallas and Austin by storm.

I'm a mother of two teenage girls and a fierce traveler, and that's really it. You know, I mean, I've been doing this a long time, obviously. So, you know, I love real estate. I love design. I love architecture. It's always been a passion of mine. But, you know, I just happen to make a really good living doing it. So that helps.

I love it. A lot of our listeners are very interested in breaking into luxury. They're either just getting licensed or maybe they've been doing this for five, 10 years, but they can break into that higher price point. What would be your advice to them? I think always, you know, working for someone that you admire and the market that you want to be in is a great place to start. I think, you know, attaching yourself to people in luxury markets that you can't break into is the easiest way to do it. So, you know, I always have people, for example, because they want to sort of get over that $3 million or $4 million price point and start doing $8, $10, $15 million.

And you don't just land those deals on your own. You know, it's a very competitive world that we're in, particularly in real estate. So when you're going out on listing appointments and you're competing against someone like myself, it's going to be difficult for you to land it. So I always recommend to people, if you don't think it's in the bag for you and you know you're going up against four or five people, partner with someone if you're not on their team. I love that. You know, pick up the phone and call the broker who, you know, might not be going in on that listing

appointment and say, hey, would you come in with me? 50% of something is better than, you know, zero percent and nothing. So you're a big believer in co-listing for your first group. Absolutely. Love that. Absolutely. And, you know, if you can be on someone's team and you're lucky enough to be able to work, for someone that's doing this super ultra luxury deals, then wonderful.

But if you can't, co-list. I love that. I love that. And now, as far as you going out there as a new agent and finding that lead and really just building that relationship with that high net worth client, where would you recommend you do that or how do you even do that? I mean, again, it's spend time in places where you know those people are going to be. Not everybody is going to have wealthy friends or a wealthy network.

You know, it's not by accident that we end up in this place. you put yourself in the right rooms, at the right restaurants, on the right vacations, and eventually you'll be sitting in front of someone that might have something to offer you. And at that point, it's your job to take it and run with it. I love that. So surround yourself in places where people are going to be transacting that are high net worth, country clubs, meeting with financial advisors, people in that regards. Once you get the actual appointment, let's say you are at that point where you want us to do this on your own,

what's your advice for listing strategies and presentations and stuff like that? Well, have a good one. Is there a secret sauce? Is there a formula? Do you bring anything with you? Always. I mean, I always show up prepared. And more often than not, I don't even open the listing book.

And my listing book is like a cocktail book. You know, I mean, it's huge. But rarely are you going through a listing book during a pitch. I mean, it's boring. It's not interesting. It's about connecting. So, you know, you want to be able to get in the room with that person and ask them questions because more often than not, they can't wait to talk about themselves. So if you're just in your pitch and in your zone and you're like, and here's the comps and here's what I can offer you and you're just talking about yourself, they're checked out.

So, you know, know the room you're walking into. Know the people that are going to be at the table. Do your diligence ahead of time on who they are, whether that's on social media or, you know, by virtue of using Google. like do your homework on the person you're sitting down with so that you know how to approach them. And there's a lot of things that you can do ahead of time before you get into the room to make sure that you're present. I mean, if they've got dogs or they have three kids or they love to play soccer, like know that shit before you, you know, you walk into the room so that you have an organic way to connect with them. Hey, everyone, real quick. Today's episode is sponsored by Real Messenger.

Real Messenger is a real estate super app designed to put agents back in control of their listing. I think of it like the MLS meets Instagram, but global. I'm on it and I can instantly chat with other agents and find new leads in any market. Want to check it out? Download real messenger in the app store or Google Play today. So be an expert on the market, on the property, on the seller. What happens when it comes to the actual pricing strategy? Is there a method that you use or is it just more based on intuition and you're just being in that local area?

Pricing strategy is never intuition. I mean, you know, obviously there's niche markets all. over Los Angeles, for example. So walking into the same size house in Brentwood that was built in the same year and as a traditional is not going to be the same as walking to that house in Bel Air. So you've got to know, you've got to know your market, you've got to know the comps, you've got to know the off market trades. And then when you're sitting across from them, I always say, you know, what do you think the value of your home is? And more often than not, maybe 90% of the time, it's somewhere between 20 or 50% higher than what you had initially

Sometimes 30% and then you kind of start crying. Yeah. So at that point, you have to have an honest conversation with them because, you know, I've walked away from listings where we just weren't on the same planet when it came to pricing strategy. And I'd rather be, you know, what they say, first child, second wife, third agent. Yeah. You know, that's where I want to be.

I don't want to sit on listings for a year and a half, you know, and not. Will you pass on listing with the two over price, let it go into the next agent, and then you kind of get it on the back end or? I have been known to do that. I'm just, I'm a big believer in being absolutely transparent when it comes to market value. And more often than not, unless it's something super specific that is not, you know, a one-off property, it's very easy to say, okay, the property's going to trade somewhere between, it's usually a 10%. Yeah.

I never want to be more than 10% over what I think the market can bear. Yeah. And, you know, at that point, it's just about figuring how you're going to get them to sign, right? And that could be, you know, sometimes when I've disagreed with them on price, but we're close enough, I'll say, look, I'll take it at X. Okay. But 30 days in, I want written into the contract that we're going to have a discussion about a price reduction. Correct. If we're not getting the traction that we need, I don't want to sit on your price for six months.

Good, good. And then let's say you go ahead and you price it right. You take amazing photography. You put on the MLS. What else do you usually do to sell these higher-end homes, especially the $10, $15,000, our properties. It's different for every single property. It depends on, you know, is it a spec? Is it vacant? Do we have the opportunity to do content in there? Is the client private? Do they not want any social media out there? Do they not want press on the property? You know, I have opportunities

all the time to do a big press piece in the Wall Street Journal or something in the New York Times or whatever it is. And more often than not, they want to speak to the actual owner of the house. You don't have a client that's willing to do that, then you're not going to get press on property. So, you know, it really is clients dependent, in my opinion, on how you're going to bring a property to the market and how you're going to market it differently. So you've got to have that conversation in the pitch as well. I love it. And then you're known for starting your team. You're very successful with expansion. Can you talk a little about that in terms of like when is the right time to expand? I don't know. Teams are tough. You have to be, you, that has to be

something that you want, right? So there's expanding into different states and there's two different animals, right? So when you're talking about maybe expanding a team and you've been an agent for 10 years, you have to figure out if you work well with people. If you're like a one-man show and you're accustomed to being a one-man show and you're not used to delegating, then the team scenario is not going to be for you. It was hard for me initially to start a team because I wasn't great at delegation. I have since learned that I can't be in 30 places at once, and I've had no choice but to delegate. So it's finding the right people that are not only going to be great agents, but also keep the team functional and that you all have a good, you want a good rapport. You want

them to be on brand for your brand, but you also want to make sure that everybody's getting along and playing well in the sandbox. Yes, absolutely. So that you have, you know, a solid, healthy working environment. I love it. Tracy, you've been absolutely incredible. I'll just kind of end off with this. Knowing what you know now, and you're obviously very successful, and you're only going to become more successful, if you can go back in time and do one thing different, what would it be? I would definitely say I would have joined a team starting off. I would have gone to work for someone. I thought I had it in the bag. I was like, I know so many rich people. This is going to be a piece of cake. Not a piece of cake at all. And I learned the hard way. I mean, it's part of the reason I'm

successful. But I think I would have joined a team much earlier and worked for someone that I admire, which is why I always give that advice. Tracy, thank you so much. That was incredibly valuable. How can people find you? Website, www. www. tracytutor.com or on Instagram at Tracy Tudor. Same with TikTok, LinkedIn, all the things.