WELCOME LISTENERS

[00:00:00] Hey listeners like to welcome you to the show today. I’ve got a very special guest on with me, Mr. Brock Thompson, an amazing realtor who spent nine years in the public school system. Married got four wonderful kids and he is currently the team lead of Brock Thompson real estate team Brock. Welcome to the show today, man.

Thank you for having me. It’s great to be on the show. Yeah, absolutely. I’ve been wanting to talk to you here for, for quite a while. So, and, and not really, just because you’re a Clemson guy and I’m a, I’m a Virginia tech guy. We’ll get into that later. I think. So we’ll get into that. At least it’s all in the ACC, so we’re okay.

Gotta put that out there. Absolutely. So so Brock, let’s just start off, I’d like to start off with guests and just find out a little about your road, how you got here. I mean, it seems like you know, selling real estate is quite a, quite a distance away from being a school. It is, and it isn’t. So I’ll kind of get to explain there.

I mean, I was a teacher, like, as you said, for, for nine years, loved it. And my wife actually was a VP [00:01:00] at interior design or an architecture firm as an interior designer from Virginia tech, graduated from Virginia tech with their program. And, but she wanted to be able to stay. and to be with our, you know, as we started having children.

And unfortunately it, these days teaching is just not gonna quite. Cover those bills to be able to make it. So I knew I wanted to do something that I could still teach. And so I took my teaching philosophy from my classroom into my, basically the teaching philosophy of real estate. Because I feel like too often, we come across people that are agents that, you know, we’re getting into it, but they don’t necessarily have that teaching and that caring, you know, that I wanted to bring that caring background into it, to like, Hey, just like I would teach my students.

And I care about. I wanted every client that I have not to be a one time deal, but a lifelong friendship and somewhere that I could literally teach them, how does it go? What does it look like? What can you expect? So that way they’re [00:02:00] empowered as they’re going through the process and not just a, oh man, I have a house now, what do I do?

Or how did I even get here? I wanted to be able to be able, bring what I took from teaching and that commitment to my students into real estate. And that’s kind of how I ended up here is I just knew. That I had to do something that I could be an active part into people’s lives and not just kind of off to the side.

And so I didn’t want a desk job. I wanted something that I could actually be a part of their lives and hopefully for years to come. And thankfully to this point, I have been able to accomplish that. But that’s why I say that teaching did, you know, it taught me what they needed to do to move in and still continue to be with.

And they know, like, there’s, there’s a lot of salesman out there. A lot of people out there, but I wanted to bring a little bit different cuz unfortunately our industry sometimes gets a, the used car salesman, you know, rap and it’s like, well, we’re really not, you know, as a whole, we’re not. And then I wanted to bring in that we do really care about you, you know?

[00:03:00] And. I wanted to change that idea of what realtors are as a whole, not just me. And so thankfully I’ve had that opportunity and been very blessed as it’s gone along. No, that’s awesome. That, that actually is a really good point. You know? I, I, I’ve been involved in the industry since 1998 on the, on the lending side and I, it just amazes me.

how, how, you know, many pieces there are to this whole process. Mm-hmm . And particularly if you’re dealing with people that have never bought a home before, I know you spoke, you specialize early on with first time home buyers and there, there, this is a big step behind your first house, right? Yes, absolutely.

And, and they’re, most people just don’t they only see what they see on TV from HGTV or anything else, and they don’t understand. The process. And even in those shows, they normally isn’t really much with the agent. They show ’em three houses and say, Hey, pick. It’s like, well, that’s not exactly how this works.

It even kind of nice sometimes if that was easier, but [00:04:00] that’s not really how it is. And so with buyers, it is really gonna be a connection. You’re gonna have to get to know them because many times as I’ve learned, they may send me a list. And by the time we actually find the. 90% of what was on their list, that, that they wanted really, isn’t what they liked when they actually got there.

But they had to see it and you have to be patient and understanding and say, Hey, this is a really important part. This is just something paint. We can change a paint color. Don’t not pick the house because it was. You know, an ugly color. We can change that, but we wanna make sure that the house itself is gonna be good for you.

And yeah, it’s a, there’s a lot more pieces than just that jump in and say, oh wait, let’s show three houses, make your choice. And congratulations. You’re a first time home buyer. Let’s go. So, yeah. Yeah. I tell you it’s it’s like, yeah, TV there, you know, I always get a kick about, you know, reality TV. Right.

There’s nothing real about any of it. Nothing reality about it. my favorite was the the, the fix and flip people, you know, they’re all, at least in the beginning, they’re all in California. They walk in this [00:05:00] house. Yes. And they were like, Hey, if we put a, a, a new. Piece up here, we can sell the house for a hundred thousand dollars more and I’m like, exactly.

Hey, really? , you know, and you know, I’m having my kitchen redone right now and it’s like, this is a long drawn out process. And then TV, they get that stuff done in like two days. I’m like, wow. Yeah, it’s done real fast. It’s amazing how fast they get that stuff. So, yeah, I agree. well, I, I would say that that’s a, that’s a huge value though.

I mean, in terms of really the, the, the teaching piece, because you’re not, I mean, I find great sales. People are not, it, it’s not the used car, slick approach. Mm-hmm, , it’s, it’s building that relationship. It’s understanding your client. It’s educating them on options, cuz you know, for you, you probably don’t care which house they choose.

Right? You want them to have the best house for their particular situation and needs. Exactly. And I mean, and people see that because I’ll talk to ’em about their budget and we’ll kind of, kind of try to dive into some things that [00:06:00] they don’t necessarily want. 

So what you were saying there Brock was that the you really wanna help educate these first time home buyers. So they don’t get themselves in a situation that we used to call house poor, right? Where they’ve got this beautiful house, but now they’ve got, wow, this, this power bill. They wanna, you know, they gotta take care of the yard.

They’ve got maintenance and, oh my gosh, you know, there’s a lot more involved to buying a home and, and actually maintaining a. So that you can really position yourself in the future, just not, not to only have a place for your family and all the things that, that, you know, the school system, everything that, that goes with that, but really the first block on wealth creation for your future, right.

Is home ownership. 

Absolutely. And I think that’s, I mean, normally this is one of the largest purchases. Most families are, people are gonna be making. And so you want to treat that. Like you’re truly an advisor in that role to help them. And it’s, it is people are scared. They’re nervous there there’s all those [00:07:00] emotions all the way up to the day of closing.

And honestly, after closing, when they start to realize that, but if you’ve laid that really, that foundation with them and, and really let them know that you’re not. Gone. Like, I’m still here to answer questions and I get plenty of calls, you know, calls that are like, Hey, do you have a plumber? Do you have this?

And so I’ve worked to build that network. Mm-hmm so that way it does, they have one stop, one person to go to, and not a whole bunch of different people to try to figure out that they have, you know, that I’ve vetted people. And so it becomes, it truly becomes a friendship and a bond. To help them grow into their home and enjoy their home for what it truly should be and build that wealth off of that home, where, you know where I’m located.

We have so many military that they’re here for three, four years, and then they’re gone and it’s so crucial to put them in a house, in a position that they can enjoy the house while they’re there. And, but they have either the option to sell it when they have to go or turn it into [00:08:00] a rental. And that continues to build that, that wealth for them.

While they’re serving our, you know, our country, no matter where they’re at. And so I always tell people, I’m like, Hey, I’m looking at today, but I’m trying to look at down the road for you too. So that way I feel like if you call me tomorrow and say, Hey, Brock, they actually just call me up and I’m deployed, you know, I’m leaving in three weeks.

I have a, I already have a game plan that I’ve already thought of. Even if you weren’t thinking of it, I’ve tried to think through it. So that way I put you in a position that’ll be for future, not. This day right now. And it, so it, it is, you know, again, but it’s called the relationship. Everything comes back to building that relationship and if they trust you there they’ll believe in you.

Yeah. They’ll, they’ll they’ll follow that. Yeah. 

Yeah. And, and it’s it, you know, and sometimes there are challenges on, on buying the house too, right? I mean, so you have to navigate that, you know, the, the, the pitfalls along the way, and man, if you’ve never done it, I just remember back when I bought my first house, it’s been a few years ago, back in the nineties, but I, I, I didn’t know [00:09:00] what I was doing.

I had no idea what the questions to ask, you know? Exactly. What’s it look for. And and so that, you know, that’s that, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. And so, You, you help these customers get in, but then you’re also talking about the long term. So you mentioned investments and things like that. So do you also help them, you know, with investment properties or, or.

What do you do there? I, I do. So that is another area, especially because crazy enough, when I first got into this, my mentor actually I did a lot of research when I was kind of, to kind of find a company and a place that I wanted to come into and my mentor was. Repeatedly brought up when I kept asking for names about being not only a fantastic realtor, but one of the top investing agents in the area.

And so I was actually reached out to her, specifically asked for it. And so when I was training, she was also teaching to me like, This is what the investment world looks like. And this is how you can help people grow into [00:10:00] that investing. And it honestly was probably one of the best ways that this started, because it taught me to way a different way of looking at the house.

Because I was always looking at them and investors telling me, you know, contractors saying, Hey, these things are expensive. These things look expensive or real cheap. And so now when I walk through a house with a. I now look at it from the investment side and not necessarily just simply like, oh, this is really pretty well.

No, what other things are there in this house? And, but it has taught me now to help them, Hey, this may not be your forever home. This may be a great investment, or it may be an investment that we can use money out of it to go get an investment or get you a rental or purchase a rental that will help you continue to supplement your income.

And because I had both sides of those, especially coming. You know, it has helped me grow an investment portfolio for people to help them, you know, really turn that wealth. And as a little bit of when they’re growing, [00:11:00] instead of just, you know, not knowing what to do with their money, as they grow, it’s like, Hey, come back to me, let’s turn it into, we’ve spent money, but now you’re getting a monthly return on that money every, every month.

And so it has having that knowledge and having that starting point has truly been. An incredible blessing, cuz I just wasn’t necessarily what I thought it was, but it has turned into a really big help for my first time home buyers all the way through to my home buyers that have been doing things for years and doing that investment properties, I can help that whole spectrum of clientele.

Did. Are you also a property manager? I mean, when they decide to turn that property 

into a. we do, we do property management. I try to keep that on a smaller scale. And it’s just because it is a, like, I’ll look at it as if I, we have people in place that if there’s gonna be a long term or they want it to be that way, I have, I’ve partnered up with a couple, another people that work for my team that they kind of handled that.

But as a team, [00:12:00] we can handle it for you as well. But yeah, I kind of trained them and then now I’m like, they can take care of that way. So we have them taking care of that every. If there’s that random call, we have somebody ready to take it and address it right away. So yes, now we we’ve do the investment, we manage it.

So we kind of do all the full spectrum of it. 

So it’s a full circle thing. Well, that, that that’s awesome. Correct. And so yeah, I mean, investment properties is what a great way to, to build wealth. We have a lot of clients that do that as well. And you know, the tax advantages, the cash flow. Exactly.

Particularly in an inflationary environment like we’re in right now. I mean, home prices go up. I mean, even, you know, even with the craziness of the last two years, if you take that out, you know, if you look at an average appreciation rate in our area of maybe 4%, you know, that really adds up over time.

It does. So it does, you know, if you have a 300,000 house and, you know, gosh, that’s 12,000 in free equity every year, that’s just gonna. 

Exactly. And so, and that’s what I try to teach ’em to see this [00:13:00] is see the long term game, not always, you know, tomorrow, but it may be, you know, over 3, 5, 10 years, what are you changing your family’s future for?

And, you know, again, talking about as we started with college, Some of these people, you know, that’s how they’re paying for their, you know, kids’ schools is, you know, what they’re making off these rentals is now turn around and going to help provide for their families in another way. So they still have building equity in their house yet they’re still paying for bills, you know, to help other family members or their children.

So it is a great wealth building possibility for people. 

And, and the most awesome thing about it that I love is that somebody else pays the mortgage. exactly, 

exactly right. 

that bill doesn’t come to me every month. It’s the, it’s the the people that are renting the homes. 

So, 

Now tell me this, you mentioned, we were talking here before we got cranked up that, that On the other side of this, we’re talking about like helping people buy homes and then maybe, you know, turn them into rentals or acquire rentals.

But, you know, I [00:14:00] let’s say I’m leaving, I’m gonna go to the area. I’m gonna sell my house. I’m outta there. You talked about there’s, there’s an art to how to, to list that home. And, and to get, to get my, get top dollar for my house, but also be competitive. Right? Cuz I mean, if you price it outta the market, nobody pays, nobody will buy it.

So talk about that a little bit. So this is, and this is where you come into wanting to experience agent because we’ve now seen things for a longer period than the last few months. And the last two years have kind of been, they’ve been almost like a unicorn as you know, as over the last 10 years. So when we start to really go in there, we need to look at your house.

And this, you know, up to three months ago, We could really almost throw your house on the market. And it was immediately gonna be picked up because we, the inventory was so low. The people were going crazy with these interest rates. So low. And that’s, that’s not the normal market and people, you know, but really getting in there and the same kind of thing it’s [00:15:00] talking to your client or potential seller and setting expectations.

So when we’re, as we’re kind of shifting markets a little bit, now, again, it’s going in and talking to them, looking at them and saying, Hey, this is the data, but let me break down data. It’s not just simply a numbers. You know, it says your house is, you know, three 50. Was that because of the house down the street, you know, six months ago sold there or are we looking at what’s going on right now?

And it may be, but it’s looking at what needs to be, what, and I, and again, we kind of go back to the HGTV. Sometimes people go overboard when you may look at it and I say, Hey, look. Really, if I, you give me, do you let me update some of your fixtures and do some painting that may be your biggest bang for your buck without going crazy on anything yet, I’ve now made your house look fresh and they’re like, oh really?

Like I don’t have to go. No, not necessarily. Like if I there’s things that I can work with you and [00:16:00] I’m very hands on. Like, you know, sometimes my wife claims that I’m too hands on with my, you know, like to do things, but I like to get in there and show. Hey, some of these are not hard fixes. Let me come over.

I’ll walk you through. This is what we can do to, you know, clean up your yard. Let me come over and help you. Let’s make the curb appeal. Come back again to your house where yes, you liked it. It was privacy on your, you know, bushes that grew up, but they may need to be trimmed down so that we can actually see there’s a window behind that Bush, you know, things like that, right.

It is. But it’s being willing to get in there with them and not just say, Hey, you go do this. Well, explain why they’re doing something. And when you do those, a lot of times, those fix. And I mean, even I’m amazed in our industry, how often I, I, I get professional photos on every listing it’s because that puts your house in the best light too often.

I still see. And again, it’s not every agent by any means, but there’s, you know, the photos off their, I mean, we have great, you know, cell phones [00:17:00] now, but that isn’t necessarily gonna give you the same image for your house. And so it’s little things like that. Just help you, you know, getting in there, talking to ’em, walking a house with them and saying, Hey, this is what I see.

And I, and I tell people all the time, I’m like walk into your room, walk back outta your room, take a second, and then walk back in it and tell me what you see most of the time when they do that, they can say, oh, I, I forgot that I didn’t ever put that outlet cover over there. Or, oh, I forgot that I never painted that corner that you know, or my blinds.

Oh yeah. That Blind’s broken over. okay. Now you see what a, buyer’s gonna walk through the door and see, and they’re like, oh, well that’s easy fix. That’s 10 bucks of my, you know, blinds. Yeah. Okay. But you didn’t think about that until just now. They it’s things like that. That can stretch. The dollar a little bit further and, you know, we kind of, and again, it’s building in and having people that I know that I can trust that are competitive in what [00:18:00] they’re gonna charge.

If they can’t do it themselves, a lot of people can do it themselves. And I will tell ’em do these things yourself, and then let’s have a professional do here, because if it happens to come up on a home inspection, I’d much prefer us to have a professional or. Literally just changing out outlets or things that they could do themselves or a running toilet, you know, let’s do it yourself and let’s fix it now.

Or that’s $25 fix from home Depot instead of having a license, you know, plumber have to fix it at a home inspection. So those kind of things is where we really focus on saving them the, the large amount of money up front. And then also. Later on in the game where they’re not getting nickel and dimed to death.

And they’re like, oh my gosh, I didn’t realize it was well, if we took care of it ahead of time, it’s a whole lot cheaper. Cause we didn’t have to do jump through as many hoops. So my team and I really work at getting in there, walking every property, talking to you about what’s going on in your neighborhood and setting realistic expectations of.[00:19:00] 

You know, two months ago, three months ago, the average listing was six hours. Now we need, it may be, you know, three, four weeks. And let’s not panic over that. And let ’em know, Hey, I’m gonna call you every Monday. So, or I have, if I have an update, I’ll get you the update, but we’re, you know, you’re gonna hear from us on a communication level at worse, every this so often.

And people were like, wow, okay. Like I never had communication from somebody else. where that’s, where we’re trying to be different is just setting that up where, you know, when you can expect to hear from us and it’ll be all we’ll call, and then you will answer those questions. But again, it’s starting from the day one.

When we walk through the house and talking to you, and again, I, the more I’ve seen people, they, when I’m willing to jump in there with them and our team is they have a whole different, they get more money for their. They trust us on what we’re suggesting on things and our, you know, our actions produce at the end of it.

So they can say, not only did they tell [00:20:00] me to do it and work it with me, it wasn’t on me. Now he’s produced the results that we said we were gonna work at. And so it becomes, again, that relationship from beginning to end, we were there. We were hands on, we were a partner. Not just a sign in the front yard, we became that partner of you.

And it really does, you know, make a difference on what value they’re getting out of that house when it, when we finish out. 

Wow, man, I, there there’s a lot there to unpack that. That’s awesome. I mean, a couple things come to mind. It’s like, it’s like, you know first impressions are lasting impressions, right?

Absolutely. So, so if I come look at that house, whatever that first impression is, is gonna be, is gonna set my tone. Yeah, no nose blind, right? It’s like you can’t smell, you don’t know that you got some VO going on cuz you stink the whole time, right? yeah, exactly. Okay. Yeah. It’s like, somebody needs to tell me, you know, I gotta, I need to, you know, take a shower.

But that is, you know, but it is true. We, [00:21:00] you know we have these hap we get, so like in our world we don’t realize we’re just so used to it. Right. That it’s just kinda normal. But somebody else, like yous comes in and you’re like, Hey, I know what people want. I know what buyers want. I know what sells.

Yeah. And the other, the other thing is that the 80 20, I mean, I, I try to live my life by 80 20, you know, what are the small things you can do to get big return, you know, everywhere, right? Yes. So that makes sense. So you’re, so you’re, you’re really getting in there. You’re, you’re just all in, it’s not, you’re not just signing a contractor.

You’re like, okay, I’m gonna make my commission and we’re gonna throw it up on MLS. 

Correct. Like we are, we are, you know, it goes back to my connection with my, my love beloved tigers, you know, our, our thing is all in. We I’ve always been all in on everything, whether it was. Whether now with real estate or when I’m there, like it is truly, you know, I have clients just as an example right now that they removed they’re in Texas.

That was where family got called, but they, things needed to be done here. And [00:22:00] some things, again, I was able to pass off to contractors, but one set of lights, they didn’t show up one time we order ’em they didn’t come. It’s just kind of the world we’re in right now. Things don’t always. But I couldn’t wait.

We, my wife and I went and my kids, we went and put all the lights in and installed them and we had and got ’em in. So that way for pictures, they were there. We couldn’t wait, we didn’t wanna delay it. They needed it. Yeah. And those are kind of things that, you know, they’re small and they may not necessarily go recognize, but the client realizes like, man, You saved my, you know, butt because you jumped in there and were willing to do it and be hands on, you know, they’re out of town.

Yeah. I would go by and check on their house every couple days to make sure everything’s the way it was that there’s no lights left on. Yeah. The little things that just mean that you took care of their property and that the neighbors see it they’re there. Cause they, they originally got calls like, Hey, there’s a guy in your house.

And I walked out and I said, yeah, it’s me guy. You’re gonna see me all the time. Like I know it’s not normal, but I will be here every couple days. So say hi, like [00:23:00] that’s it. And but now the neighbors, who’s this guy in the 

Clemson, the Clemson t-shirt yeah. 

Why does he keep coming on? My Clemson P. But that gives to you that that feel that, you know, I’ve had my clients say, you know what?

We really appreciated. We couldn’t have accomplished the things from Texas that you were willing to just jump in and do, we didn’t even have to ask you. And I’m like, no, that’s I want you to be okay to live your life where you’re at, like life called you that way. Enjoy it there I’ll take care of what’s on the home front here.

And that’s, that’s our, my team and I motto is we’re here to take care of you. So hopefully you don’t have to stress. There’s always stress in every deal, but hopefully there’s a lot less stress when we’re dealing with it to take care of you. 

Wow. That’s yeah, that’s awesome. I mean, you’re truly going to bat for the client and, and you’re serving ’em, it’s all about se I was told a long time ago that he, who wins, wins the most in business, serves the best and you know, absolutely the most, and you can never go wrong there.

And then people keep coming back [00:24:00] and, and it’s just, and that makes it nice. Right? You’re not, you’re not having to lose sleep at night over something that you didn’t do, or you didn’t do 

correctly. Right. Yeah, I don’t. I like to go to bed and be able to rest . 

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, particularly with all that work you’re doing absolutely.

so, so Brock we’re heading down to, to the last couple of minutes here. So amazingly, let me ask you this, this kind of fun now, what, what’s the best piece of advice that you think you’ve ever gotten when it comes to either real estate sales or just life in 

general? I still think, and we’ve kind of touched it several times.

To me, the best piece of ice from any aspect is seeing the person and building relationships with people. Because as a whole, everybody wants to be cared about no matter who you are, where you’re at. You wants to know that some, you wanna know, somebody cares about you and in business, if they know you care about them, then that goes forever.

If [00:25:00] it’s family, if it’s friends, it doesn’t matter. It, it goes across the board on everything. And to me that I was told that young, very young build those relationships. And that’s what I built my entire life on is building friendships, building relationships. And it has just carried right into my business model.

And I think no matter what your business model. You can’t go wrong with that. And so that to me is the biggest and best piece of advice I could add to anybody is get to know the person and, you know, people are there. And I don’t think too often, all we see is on Facebook and that we don’t really have a relationship.

We just see what perfect world they want us to see and get to know ’em where they can actually talk to you. And you not be like, you know, just be a person with them and build that. Right. 

No, that’s great. That’s great advice. What do you do for fun? 

I, I, I play baseball. Anything. Sports wise is my. Avenue.

I love to be competitive. No matter what it is, my [00:26:00] wife says I’m way too competitive, but , I, I love a good challenge on anything. And I coach like I coach, you know, all right now I’m coaching or a part of a coaching staff on three different. My kids teams a baseball like I coach my oldest, I coach my, my daughter is still playing baseball.

And then my two. Youngest daughter and my youngest son, I coached their coach pitch team and then kid pitch team. And now my, a little bit higher team. So I love coaching. I love being out there. I mean, it kind of falls into my teaching again, but it’s just being a part of their lives and just kind of being able to work with it.

But coaching, if I could do it every day, I would do it because it’s, it’s a pure joy to me. you? 

You and Davo right. You could, you could hang out with Davo for, yeah, exactly. He needs some new coaches. I think he lost two this year. 

oh, I would love my kids know. I’d tell ’em all the time. I’m like if coach Dabo calls I’m out, like, I’ll see.

Y’all when I, at the end of football season. 

That’s right. That’s right. That’s right. Hey, I, I, I’m a, I’m a hokey [00:27:00] fan. I certainly appreciate what Clemson and Davo have done. And if he ever called me, I’d be there too. Cuz he seems like an amazing. With an amazing program and a big picture and well, real quick Brock, how can people, how can our listeners get up with you if they need a, an awesome superstar 

agent?

The easiest way, I mean is my, we we’re Brock Thompson real estate and that’s Brock Thompson real estate.com is my, the website. They can easily go there and find me and then, like I said, reaching out to me. My phone number is seven five seven six one five. 6 3, 5, 9. I’m always around it. You know, and like I said, we’re always looking to be that next service for people to be that help just to be that resource.

And that’s what I’ve always built that career. And I want it to always be that way, but again, we’re always here to help any way we can. So any, that would be great for them to reach out and we’d love to talk to ’em. 

Awesome. Awesome. Well, we’ll get that in the show notes, for sure. So sure. It’ll be in there and people can pick that up.

So [00:28:00] excellent man, Brock, it’s been great catching up with you, man. I’ve really enjoyed this conversation. You’re a lot of fun and I can tell that you, you love your clients and who you work with and you’re a super cool guy, 

so have appreciate it, Paul. Thank you so much for having me on. It’s been a pleasure.