Real Chat With Annie and Chad

In this final episode of REal Chat with Annie and Chad, we are sad that it's over but happy because we are on to bigger and better things! We hope you all will join us for our new podcast, "Waking Up To Win", where we will use our daily Waking Up To Win huddle that we have in the office to influence the topics on the podcast.We couldn't be more excited to shift gears and do what we were truly meant to do, and that is to coach and teach realtors to help them learn and grow in their businesses.Thank you to everyone who has been with us for the last year or so! We appreciate every listener so much!We hope you will follow us to our new podcast, launching late July or early August 2025. More details to come!

In this special crossover episode, Annie was a guest on The Corporate Burnouts Podcast talking about her time in corporate and how it has made her a better entrepreneur and Realtor/Broker.This episode is all about how your coporate career isn't a waste. There are so many skills and processes and experiences that you can take with you into your future endeavors, whether it's starting a business or working for a smaller company or becoming a Realtor!Annie loved collaborating on this podcast with The Corporate Burnouts! Mandy Holt and Mandy Alt, the co-hosts of The Corporate Burnouts Podcast, also have a corporate past and their journeys were very similar to hers. We loved the conversation in this episode about how a corporate background can help all Realtors. But if you don't have that kind of background, no problem - we will help you with that training.If you liked this crossover episode and want to see more from The Mandys and their podcast, use the links below to follow them and listen anywhere you listen to podcasts.Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4NhFHkfpm16oGRXNJoqzCk?si=NNY1qipWTj67av_kbBpu8QApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-corporate-burnouts-podcast/id1798103479YouTube: https://youtube.com/@thecorporateburnoutspodcast?si=rQpvxfHAASVuYiCXWebsite: https://www.thecorporateburnouts.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecorporateburnoutspodcast/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@corporateburnouts

In this episode we talk about Rev Up, a course with 10 modules that we teach at Realty One Group Trifecta. We love this because it's perfect for new agents, or agents who need to refocus. This is so valuable because to become a Realtor, you just have to pass a test and get licensed. No one teaches you how to actually run your business and as a Real Estate Agent, you are a business owner.From mindset and time management to goals and marketing, there are so many soft skills to learn about being a Realtor that have nothing to do with selling houses (and some that do).If you are interested in doing our Rev Up course, send us a message!

This week, we are celebrating 30 episodes of REal Chat! It’s been so fun and we are so grateful to our listeners who keep us motivated to continue talking about real shit loosely related to the real estate industry! We talk all about AI this week, and it brought up the bigquestion…Is AI more helpful or hurtful in Real Estate and in life? The answer is, there is plenty of good and bad. We are both using Gemini and Chat GPT and seeing different results from both since they pull from different informationand algorithms. Annie tells a story about how her AI asks her to start a new topic because it is sick of going back and forth. Too funny! Chad has been loving it for agendas, classes, contracts, presentations, and so much more. He feels like it’s an assistant if you use it correctly. Are you using AI as a Realtor? If so, are you a beginner,intermediate, or advanced? We would love to hear from you!

Welcome to episode 29 of REal Chat, our guest, David Specter with Choice Home Warranty! We were so lucky to get him on the podcast to explain to everyone what is covered on a home warranty and how it benefits buyers and sellers.As Realtors, we always recommend a home warranty (especially Choice Home Warranty) but it was eye opening, all of the things that are covered by a home warranty that people wouldn't think. David explains that most people make their money back on the warranty, just getting their new home re-keyed on day 1. So smart!!Don't miss out on all of the stories about how home warranties have helped not only David's clients, but us as well!Want to learn more about Choice Home Warranty? Have specific questions for David? Use these links to reach out!Website: https://www.choicehomewarranty.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/choice.home.warrantyDavid Specter LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/choicehome/

This week we take a walk down memory lane. Come with us to hear how we started in real estate and all the twists and turns that led us here. While real estate has been a part of Annie's journey for almost 20 years, Chad got started in 2017(ish). But our road to owning a brokerage involved a lot of real estate and many other businesses along the way. What a ride!We also relive some of the joys of owning rental properties and dealing with tenants. Woof!If we didn't scare you off of real estate all together with this episode and you are interested in learning more about becoming a Realtor or getting started investing or flipping properties, please leave a comment and we will send you info about an upcoming informational seminar we are hosting.

This week on REal Chat, we talked about our favorite day of the year, ONE Day! ONE Day is the anniversary of the founding of Realty ONE Group and this year we were celebrating 20 years. On this day we always give back to the community and this year we partnered with The Sharing Shed, a local non-profit that helps people who are in need or crisis to get the necessities like beds and pillows. The whole team really enjoyed the day and loved The Sharing Shed and their mission.The other non-profit we are excited about this week is Boone Center Inc. or BCI. BCI is an awesome organization that employs adults with disabilities. We are very passionate about what they do at BCI and have been involved with them for a few years. We are looking forward to their Derby Gala over the weekend. We are the Best Dressed Sponsors for the event and can't wait to enjoy this amazing night!We also talked about when it is okay to quit. When is it time to let go? Let us know what you think!How to support Boone Center Inc. - https://boonecenter.com/support-bci/How to support The Sharing Shed -https://www.thesharingshed.org/donate

It's our 6 month anniversary here on REal Chat and we are so happy to be here, still talking about real shit, loosely related to the real estate industry! Today we dug into what people don't know about contracts with an agent. We recently had a situation where we finished a deal for an agent that is no longer with the brokerage. This was a good opportunity to explain how contracts with Realtors work...spoiler, you are signing a contract with the brokerage, so if the Realtor falls out, you are still under contract with the company they work(ed) for.Chad is extra spicy today and he has a lot to say about Realtors who don't want to learn and just want to check things off a list. This among other things kept him on a soapbox for quite awhile. So entertaining!This led us into a debate about whether buyers/sellers know that a Realtor's commission goes to the brokerage and not directly to the Realtor. Chad thinks that people don't understand this and Annie thinks that people do. Please tell us, if you have bought or sold a home, do you know where the commission goes? Do you understand that you aren't working with a Realtor as much as a Realtor and their brokerage? Please let us know in the poll!Don't forget to subscribe! See you next week!

For our 25th episode, we brought in a special guest! Welcome Mandy Holt to the podcast! Mandy is a huge part of our marketing team at Essential Marketing Group and co-host of The Corporate Burnouts Podcast. We are excited to talk about her podcast and everyone's journey from corporate to entrepreneurship. Of course, Chad never worked in corporate but Annie and Mandy both did for a significant portion of their careers. Luckily, through Annie's journey in Corporate America, the systems Chad loves were brought to their business.We loved the conversation during this episode about corporate burnouts who became Realtors. Are they more successful than the Realtors that never worked in corporate and went straight into real estate. Do the systems help them? Would love to know!Annie and Mandy realized about half-way through recording that they lived very paralell corporate lives and both left for the same reasons. It's crazy to see that this is all too common with women, specifically in corporate, to leave to be more involved with their home life.This was one of our favorite conversations to date, we hope you loved it too!If you are interested in checking out The Corporate Burnouts Podcast, we highly recommend it. Here are the links to do so and follow them on socials as well!Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4NhFHkfpm16oGRXNJoqzCk?si=2bd8572cbf584a53Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-corporate-burnouts-podcast/id1798103479YouTube - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLf1ofB6MpaPQiYkZMd4Hx00DaWQqKZb5k&si=8GFD-SPeMEp08FADTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@corporateburnoutsInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/thecorporateburnoutspodcast/

On this episode of REal Chat, we briefly continue the discussion on Clear Cooperation and how it relates to Zillow. We then discussed Zillow in depth. Why do Realtors hate Zillow? We don't understand, but would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! We also talked about that while we don't garden, we are happy that our family members like to plant flowers so we can enjoy them. It brought up a question - are buyers ever detered from buying due to too many plants to take care of? This led to a deeper conversation about the top things that deter buyers from putting in an offer on a home. If you are thinking of listing your house this spring or summer, these tips will be helpful!

We started off this pod talking about Chad’s trip to Vegas and how Annie had some FOMO so she went to the casino and won enough to pay taxes twice. Great night!! Then Annie accidentally called dinner “supper”and it surprised her as much as it did Chad. Anyone else call it supper? Our real estate topic today is a brand new policy from the NAR, Clear Cooperation. Chad explains that the purpose of Clear Cooperation is for Realtors to enter new listings into the MLS within 24 hours of coming soon. This helps to open your listing up to all other Realtors so you can’t give preferential treatment to your own clients. He then explains Office Exclusive listings and Annie wanted to know how this could benefit the public. They agreed that it doesn’t really benefit them and is definitely not in the best interest of the sellers. The moral of this podcast: If you are looking to sell your home, be sure to ask the hard questions to your Realtor and make sure they always have your best interest at heart. We are always here to answer your questions! When it comes to agents, we won’t let you starve, but we will definitely teach you to fish. Reach out if you want help!

Welcome back to REal Chat! Great news, we made it through the big storm, which brought up a conversation about how everyone handles weather events differently.Luckily, no damage, just a little less than a day without power. Our big topic today is how different generations handled real estate. In our experience, we saw Boomers sticking around in their homes for a long time. They planned and bought their forever homes early. Annie represents Gen X and says that they, as a group, bought homes thinking of their first home as a starter home, then moved up to the next home within a decade. Millennials bought their first homes a little later than the generations before them. Annie believes that this is because there were so many opportunities to live life and move around before buying a home. Then there is Gen Z who are buying homes earlier than ever. We will dig into Alpha on another podcast.

Welcome back to REal Chat with Annie and Chad! We hope you had a Happy 314 Day, which Annie found out is not the same as 420. 😂 We had a nice long chat about the weather. With storms rolling in, we found out how much Chad doesn't trust meteorologists. We had a conversation about things that we call by their brand name like Kleenex instead of tissue. There are so many! Chad is getting over a cold and is bugging Annie again with his loud noises in the mic. They want to know, would you prefer to hear someone sniffling over and over or just hear them blow their nose. Let us know in the comments! Last, Chad gives a history lesson on US real estate. You don't wanna miss this one!

We had a great time chatting this week! We started out discussing everything we know about freeze dried food and dehydrated food, which isn't a whole lot. We recommend freeze dried pickles! We also talked about the origin of several common sayings - so interesting. Chad asked Annie to explain the steps of buying a home. We only got to earnest money and contingencies. More next time! If you are a Realtor, you will probably learn something new. If you are not a Realtor, you will definitely learn something you didn't know!

We are excited this week to interview one of our awesome Realtors, Dawn Farley. She spent almost 30 years in Corporate America and now has been selling real estate for a little less than a year. She was our brokerage's Recruite of the Year for 2024. Dawn tells a story about how she got her first listing, talks about why she chooses to come to the office every single day, and explains how she is hustling to work her business plan. We dig into how our mentor program works and how this program is going for Dawn through her first year. She is enjoying the structure that comes with it to keep her on track and grow her business. She is also loving a new accountability partner she is working with to up her game! Last, we discuss Chad's favorite curse word and why it's so versatile. Can you guess the word?

We were so excited to bring in an amazing guest for this episode! Everyone meet, Gina Pero, a Life Coach specializing in high performers and leadership teams. We first met her when she helped us with the dance studio years ago and have learned so much from her over the years. She discussed the main blocks that high performers experience that holds them back. If you are a high performer, which one is your biggest block? Want to hear more from Gina Pero? Check out her podcast, Messenger of Love! And follow her at @GinaJPero on Instagram and @GinaPeroAuthor on YouTube.

On this episode of REal Chat, we found out that no one thinks we are a couple, more like brother and sister. Fits pretty well! We also welcomed our first guest in the studio, Jessi Fillingham. Jessi is one of our agents and was actually our 2024 Salesperson of the Year for our brokerage! She shared what she does to build her business, including pop-by gifts (the coolest one was girl scout cookies - genius!) Her secret is not to only drop them off but to stop and talk to them as well. Jessi also talks about that she learned about herself that she likes to work with owner-occupant clients more than investors and making that change helped her make the jump from a $3.5 million year to over $5 million. What a great change! This opened up a conversation about why you want/need a niche. Everyone shared the niche that would be best for them and realized that they are already working their niche. Love how that works! Last, we share our favorite podcast recs. Would love for you to share yours with us.

You're in for a treat this week - we are feeling extra spicy! We admit to having nicknames for each other that aren't so nice and then discuss how weird some nicknames are that come from certain names. We talk all about our process for an open house and discuss the benefits of hosting them. Chad doesn't think they sell houses and Annie explains how they are beneficial for meeting new clients (if you have the skill of reading the room). We also talk about the benefits of signs in the yard at your listings and reveal that we have new signs coming soon! Last, we talk about our mail issues. Our new office may or may not be serviced by USPS. We will find out soon!

Today we are talking about listings. If you are a Realtor, you know that signing a listing isn't the easiest thing. It takes skills to be able to get people to let you sell their home! Annie talks about her listing appointment process, reading the room and sealing the deal. We discussed a class we took about teaching public speaking and reviewed the dos and don'ts of teaching. We also talked about finding old ideas in the "junk yard" and had a good laugh, discussed Annie's first time watching the podcast and dug into what our filler words are when we speak in public. Lots of fun this week!

We didn't mean to, but we spent a good amount of time talking about zoning in this episode of REal Chat. Chad is very intrigued by how it all works and Annie got through it without telling Chad to keep it moving. If you are into how different municipalities zone for commercial vs residential and between city and unincorporated, you will love this conversation! We also recapped the momentum meeting for the brokerage. It was an awesome time together digging into goals and breaking them down to bite sized pieces.  We can't wait to see how the Realtors grow this year! If you didn't notice, we are in our new studio and we love it, but we need your help with how to decorate it.  Give us your suggestions in the comments!

On our last podcast at our old office, we talked about what we learned this week. If you have been through a forms class, you may have already known what Chad learned this week! We got a little confused about what Two Men and a Truck’s new junk removal service is called. We hope that Annie is wrong about the name! We updated on personal and office moving/renovating and dug into the trials of putting together furniture. We also talked about what animal Chad is and are still trying to narrow down what Annie is. Last, we discussed how everyone needs a Realtor in their life. Even if you aren't planning to buy or sell anytime soon, everyone can use a Realtor in their life to ask questions about all things homes. Let us be your Realtor friend!

We have another guest and it's the owner of our marketing team, Essential Marketing Group! We break down all things marketing for Realtors with Mandy Morville. Her team does all of the marketing for our Brokerage and we can't wait for you to hear her tips for branding and marketing yourself. We have a funny conversation about her team, dig into all things Real Estate social media, and hear a heartwarming story about a Realtor on our team. You don't want to miss this one if you are working on building your Real Estate business this year!

We are excited to have our 2nd guest on the podcast this week! Meet Jaclyn Schmitz, proud owner at Brightside Insurance Agency. She is here to talk about all things insurance. She touches on the struggles in insurance for both personal, business and homeowners. She also talks about when to shop around and when it makes sense to stay put with your current insurance. Jaclyn is a wealth of knowledge and amazing at what she does so you don't want to miss this chat. Chad also spills the beans about why Annie has been sued before, so strap in for a fun one!

This week, we talk all about momentum - what it is (don't worry, Chad has a definition for you) and how you get it and keep it going. We also update on the progress of Annie's remodel, debate on what a clapper board is called (spoiler, it's a clapper board) and talk about a panel Chad was on about social media last week.

We spill the tea on some recent interactions we have had with Realtors on the other side of the transaction. It's not great! We also talk about how easy it is to startle Chad and his views on "every man for himself" when it comes to scary situations. Annie learns the difference between entering and trespassing and we all learn how long they have worked together. (A looooong time!)

We discuss in length contingencies, what they mean and what they don't always mean. Chad gets heated about the myths when it comes to VA and FHA loans - they get a bad wrap with Realtors and he doesn't understand why. You have to hear Annie's recipe for crockpot corn. It's a good one! Plus, we discuss the McRib. Guess who loves it and who hates it!

We discuss what happens when someone wants to back of of the purchase or sale of a home, earnest money and how it works, and of course, death comes up. Who's surprised?

We are digging into our favorite and least favorite reasons that people call us to list their homes. The reasons to sell are endless and most are worth celebrating, but sometimes, it's sad to have to make these decisions as a homeowner. We also can't help but talk about death again. You don't want to miss Chad telling the story about his recent death threat. Spoiler...it was just his husband.

We are reminiscing about our most influential sales in this episode. It brings up a lot of memories, from mistakes that taught invaluable lessons to remembering the lengths we have gone to to get a home sold. The memories aren’t all good, but they made us the Realtors we are today!

On this episode of Real Chat with Annie and Chad, they have their first guest in the studio! Samara Mitchell is an extraordinary Realtor and President of Smelly Cat Rescue. They discuss the personalities of cats based on their color, what it's like going from a part-time to a full-time Realtor and Annie shares her first inspirational quote. You don't want to miss this one!

Ever had a home showing give you chills? Join Annie and Chad this week as they share horror stories from the real estate trenches, discuss what's up with mortgage rates and chat about how Gen Z is snapping up homes faster than their avocado toast. Tune in for the laughs, stay for the Real Chat - you never know what'll come up next!

In this 2nd episode, Annie and Chad give you the Real Tea on As Is Listings! Are you an agent who doesn't know when to list as is and when not to? They discuss in detail so you will never have to question again. They also share a storytime about a $6,500 mistake they made early on. You don't want to miss this one!

In this first episode of REal Chat, you will meet Annie Callaway and Chad Elledge, the hosts of this new podcast and owners of Realty One Group Trifecta in O'Fallon, MO. They discuss the current housing market and personal acheivements and past experiences. They also help to teach each other and everyone else some lessons they have learned in the past week when it comes to closing challenges and common misconceptions.