Our Latest Podcast Episodes

“It was actually a transaction that my dad went through that made me look at the real estate industry.”

Inspiration can come in many ways and for Maritza Williams seeing the care one agent gave her father put her on the path to where she is today.

“The agent that we had was very patient, diligent, and just wanted to make sure that we were well-educated on how the process goes.”

Episode 42 of The Smart Agents Podcast features our conversation with the California-based agent who left a career in massage therapy to make a name for herself in the real estate industry. With the mentorship of that same agent who worked with her dad, Maritza is now into her second year as a full-time realtor.

“The longer you wait to pursue your dreams or just reaching out to a mentor, you're prolonging your growth and your development.”

“I just have that "no-fail attitude." I still keep that attitude today, that no matter what, I'm not going to fail! If the market crashes, I'm going to figure out what I need to do in the market to still make money.”

Episode 41 of The Smart Agents Podcast features our conversation with Tennessee realtor, Jason Anderson. After more than 20 years in law enforcement, Jason made a complete career change and entered the real estate industry. 

“Was it scary? Absolutely!”

“I'll say that all day long. It's scary when you get into something like this and you've been a 22-year career veteran of police, firearms, EMS.”

To say his decision has paid off would be an understatement. In just his third year, he did over $13 million in business.

“I can go 120%, endlessly. There's no one to stop me. The only competition I have now is myself. I set a goal, I break it.”

“If you’re good, people will refer business to you all the time. By being ethical, by being honest, by being hard-working, by being the expert.”

Selling ultra-high-end properties in one of the most exclusive markets in the country, Myra Nourmand of Nourmand & Associates is now known as “The First Lady of Beverly Hills Real Estate”.

“I started before computers, before MLS, before Iphones, before fax machines, before emails. I started with basic hard work and then honed my skills because today the world is very different.”

Myra joins us for Episode 40 of The Smart Agents Podcast to share how her tireless work ethic and passion for giving her clients the best possible experience have led to her success.

“My model is what's old is new again. I know people like to text and email. I like to present my own offers in person.”

“A lot of the things you used to do to gain ranking on Google if you did that now you would be dead in the water.”

Chris Audette is a master of website optimization and Real Estate SEO, topping search results with his https://www.real-estate.ca/. The Calgary-based real estate professional joined us for Episode 39 of The Smart Agents Podcast to share his top tips for getting your real estate website ranked at the top of Google Search.

“Those top-three results are really where you want to be… First page results don’t really mean anything because that number 10 spot will get maybe 1 out 100 searches and the number one spot is going to get probably 95 out of 100.”

As Google’s algorithm has changed over time, Chris says gaining mentions or backlinks to useful content on your website is one of the most powerful tools for climbing the rankings.

“If you’ve got a link to your site with CNN saying this is a great website to search for Calgary real estate, you're going to do very well."

When it comes to optimizing the text within your website, Chris says you want to be a descriptive as possible and avoid one key mistake.

"A lot of people wonder why they don't even rank under their own name, but they never mention their name on their website. So how is Google supposed to know who you are?"

For more examples of Chris's top-ranking websites check out https://www.calgary-real-estate.com/altadore.php

“Everything that I do, I want to be the best. You have to be the pillar of your community. You have to be one of those agents that new agents can reach out to.”

Episode 38 of The Smart Agents Podcast features our conversation with Cincinnati-based Holly Maloney. As a three-time ICON Agent Award Winner with EXP she says that after 17 years in the industry, 98% of her business comes from referrals.

“So many people are buying leads and these leads don't care about you. If you don't call them back in two minutes, they're going to go on to the next agent and the next agent and the next agent. They might be a one-and-done person. They're not going to be loyal to you.”

A big reason why her clients continue to refer business her way is because of how connected she is in the community. You can find Holly on various boards from the state level all the way down to the local community level.

“You need to know what's going on in communities. I don't want to sell anybody, anything at their expense... I want it to be a business investment.”

“If you're sitting at home watching Netflix, nothing's going to happen.”

Episode 37 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Mitch Drew, who after a long career in television advertising entered the real estate industry in Western Canada. 

“Just make sure that every single day you're doing some work, some days you might do more work than others.”

Drawing on his understanding of marketing, Mitch knows that while the results of each avenue of marketing might not be immediately visible, it’s the cumulative effect that fills his pipeline. “

If I go spend a couple of hours a week doing door hangers, I'll meet probably 10 or 15 people. Who knows where that's going to go in a year and a half.”

Whether it be those door hangers, social media  advertising or even bus stop benches, Mitch explains how he is growing his business during our conversation.

“You're your only ceiling. There's not a lot of opportunity like that and real estate is definitely one of them.”

Episode 36 of The Smart Agents Podcast features our conversation with California-based realtor Kim Hogue. Just six years into her real estate career, Kim is coming off a 2020 that saw 400% growth. Her diverse background has certainly made a big impact.

“I've done a lot of things… became Chamber of Commerce CEO, I was a general manager of a fitness center, a kickboxing instructor, and I was also in the military.”

While 2020 was a major success, Kim explains her real estate career was not always that way but she was able to push past early failures with a strong will and mindset of perseverance.

“You got to be able to push and perseverance, because it takes a little while to gain some traction. But, what I would say to a person is if you really love it, if you like it, if it's what you want to do, then persevere, keep learning, do everything you can to learn.”

“If you’re the one that can turn them from being a failure, to being a success and put them in that first home, they’re going to send everybody that they know your way.”

Undoubtedly, if you’ve spent any time in residential real estate, you have come across hopeful homebuyers in less than ideal financial situations.

Episode 35 of The Smart Agents Podcast features our conversation with St. Louis-based attorney and President of Phoenix Credit Consultants, Charlie Scanlon. With a passion for helping people recover from financial and personal hardships, Charlie shares how those in the real estate industry can earn life-long clients. 

“The first part of the process is to encourage them, to take a look at the report and see what's actually there. People are, especially if they got bad credit, they're hesitant to do that. So, the realtor can help them to pull the bandaid off.”

While working with this group of clients takes more time to see the final payoff, forming relationships with attorneys like Charlie cements you as the home buyers go-to-agent.

“When the people are done, I send them back to the realtor and I send them back with rave reviews for the realtor.”

“No one is making a half-a-million-dollar decision with someone they just found on the internet.”

Episode 34 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Sam Eligwe, who recently launched his own team after ten year in the real estate industry. 

“I felt like, ‘Why not? Why not start my own thing? Why not venture off and give my sphere of influence confidence in who they can use for the foreseeable future?’"

Based in the Washington DC area, he shared how he has been able to fill his business pipeline without having to spend money on online advertising.

“My marketing guy was like, ‘You don't really need to do it. You get so much engagement from your social media.’

For Sam, a big part of his success comes down to being authentic in everything he does.

“I think the personal aspect is key because when people know who you are when things come up, they know how you're going to react.”

“I just thought, ‘Well, gosh, someone's getting 3% to just do nothing?’ And I just didn't think that that was the way it should be.

Episode 33 of The Smart Agents Podcast features Raechelle Anglin Kay, who after multiple bad experiences with real estate agents of her own, decided it was time to get her own real estate license.

“I wanted to be an agent so that I can actually be an advocate for my clients.”

Based near Houston, Texas, she saw immediate success and eventually started her own all-female team that shares a common goal.

“We just want to do the right thing and encourage people to not just purchase a home, but purchase a home that they can sustain, that they can grow equity from.”