Introduction to Propified!

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On this episode Tanner sat down with Remington Rand, founder of Rand Properties and CEO of Propified. During their conversation they discussed how a chance encounter lead to Remington getting into Real Estate, a reminder to all agents to always do what's right for your clients, a great tip I had not heard before you should try on your next open house, an in depth conversation about a new company he has started called Propified and how it will help agents streamline the online listing process and finally an intriguing story about a shed a long way from the property that has a legit basement.

Tanner: Well, welcome back everyone to another episode of Virginia is for Realtors. I'm pleased to be joined today by Remington Rand, founder of Rand Properties and CEO of Propified. Remington, how are you, sir?

Remington: Hey, it's great to see you, man.

Tanner: Yeah, absolutely. I'm glad you're here today with the folks. You know, we're kind of gonna go over your multiple hats and different roles, but everybody always kind of likes to hear the origin story, right?

So like, you know, I want to know like when you turn two, where you're like, you know what I'm gonna be, is a realtor, an outstanding one. And your parents are like, what? That's a little strange, but whatever.

Kind of give us a rundown. How did you start? What were you doing growing up? And how did you get in this business?

Remington: Yeah, I met a guy at Starbucks and he hired me the next day. And that's how I got into real estate. Graduated from college.

It was '09. You know, the economy was really bad. I mean, luckily in college just was completely oblivious to the fact that there was a massive financial crisis. So graduated with super high hopes of getting various jobs, and there weren't any. So I had randomly started selling cars in college. Again, same thing.

Just happened to be in the right place at the right time, and some guy took me under his wing, and I was working at a Volvo and a Mercedes dealership full time. But gone out of college and popped around here and there, and ended up selling cars again, and just really, really didn't like it. The fact that you have to convince people to make decisions that are against their best financial interest is not good.

And that's one of the things I like about real estate that I didn't know at that time, was that's something that I really enjoy doing, is helping people make money, not lose money. I only sold cars for about a year, but I sold cars to a guy that I sort of put a pin in, and was like, you know, I bet this guy is going to help me out down the road. I didn't like selling cars, quit, traveled through Central America with some high school buddies for a little while, surfing, and I say surfing, almost drowning, and came back to Richmond, and was just honestly little odds and ends jobs here and there, and asked this guy, Charlie, if he would go to coffee with me because he was big in real estate, and I was like, yeah, I just kind of want to see what different aspects there are.

Yeah, we're having coffee, and he's talking to literally everyone in the Starbucks, but me. He is just wheeling and dealing, you know what I mean?

He was on the phone with his assistant/realtor, who was getting married and was retiring. She was older than he was. So he walked in and immediately met with me.

And I didn't know the first thing about homes or how to sell houses, but he hired me as his assistant and we worked together and I got my license and yada, yada, yada.

Tanner: That's crazy. Now, growing up, were you entrepreneurial by your very nature? Like, was that where you were leaning towards anyway? Some sort of sales position when you were in college, were you thinking that? What was kind of your progression of that rolling into it?

Remington: Yeah, great question. I think it was pretty obvious from an early age that two things. One, I was gregarious and probably would excel in sales or excel in at least meeting people and building relationships, because really that's all we're all doing.

You know what I mean? And then the second is that I was not going to be a very good employee, which I think still stands. I just have known from very early age that I do not need anyone pushing me, that I am my own worst critic, that I am driven enough, that I do not need a boss making decisions for me, that I operate much, much better by myself. And consequently, we all know that you're never going to make money working for somebody else mentality in sales, at least. So yeah, I mean, the writing was on the wall in that regard.

Tanner: So let's go back a little bit to on the surfing career. So did you grow up in Richmond? Like how did you become a surfer guide trying to drown in a foreign country?

Remington: Brother, I do not surf. I have surfed. I have gotten on a board and been moved by a wave, but I do not think surfing is probably the correct term.

I grew up in Roanoke, Virginia. So I grew up in Southwest Virginia and went to Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. And then a bunch of us, again, a lot of Mary Wash alum or students all come from DC in the Northeast.

We graduated. There weren't a lot of jobs. And so people were moving to DC or New York to try and find a job. And it just seemed like a risky proposition for me. So a bunch of us moved to Richmond. And so I've been in Richmond since.

And my wife is from Richmond. My parents have subsequently moved here. Both of my siblings are career military. So who knows where they're going to be? So my parents called it when I got married. They said, all right, he's going to be in Richmond.

But I have surfed a couple of times. But in Central America, we pretty much just went from surfing town to surfing town. My friends surfed and we basically were just riding beach cruisers down dirt roads and drinking beers and stuff.

Tanner: Yeah. And not a bad gig. Well, very cool backstory.

Now, how did you stumble into the car sales? Now, since I came from the Fredericksburg area and now live in the Chesapeake area and bought my Volvo from the Mercedes slash Volvo dealership in Fredericksburg, I got mine in 2016. So our paths didn't cross.

But how did you get that gig? And how did you decide like, all right, I'll give this a shot.

Remington: How funny. Small world. Yes. So when I was in high school, I was given the general manager of a Volvo and Mercedes dealership in Roanoke. General manager's phone number by someone. And I badgered this guy to give me a job and he did.

And I had the greatest job in the world when I was in high school. I just, I was sort of like the gopher. I just would drive people places. I'd go pick people up at the airport. I'd go get stuff. I'd wash a car here and there.

I just worked at this car dealership and it was awesome. I drove a bunch of cars, had a lot of freedom there. And so at Mary Washington, I was playing indoor soccer and I got hit in the face with a soccer ball.

And I lost vision in one eye. It ended up being for like 30 minutes or like an hour or something like that. But still, I went to the hospital and they said, hey, you are good.

But on Wednesday or whatever, go see this optometrist. I said, all right, I'll go do that. And so I biked to go see this optometrist. And I'm a freshman. I bike over there and I pass a Volvo and Mercedes dealership that was right by campus. And so I just happened to like take note of it. And then they dilated the one eye that I got injured in. And I turned around. It was biking west into the sun as the sun was setting and I couldn't see anything. My one eye was completely blown out. I was like, I got to just like call it. And so I pulled over in the parking lot of this Mercedes and Volvo dealership and just ended up talking to a guy there.

Tanner: They're like, sure, we'll hire you, pirate. That sounds great.

Remington: You seem totally trustworthy. 19 year old. I don't know.

I just decided to get a job, which in hindsight was dumb, but I guess dumb because I was like, I could have done so many other things. And I worked 30 plus hours a week for years while still in college. And it wasn't until really my like junior year where I was like, I'm going to pump the brakes.

And then I stopped. I was like, oh, my God, you're telling me I could have goofing off this whole time. And college was a lot more fun for the next two years. It was a blast.

Tanner: Hey, that's a great backstory. So when we come back, we're going to talk about your first year in business after your impromptu Starbucks hiring. So be right back with Remington.

Well, welcome back everyone. So Remington, where we last left off, you've been hired on the spot at the Starbucks, not to be a new barista, but to take over the real estate empire of the gentleman that hired you eventually. So tell us, how did that go?

So he hires you and then you start learning the ropes from us. Walk us through your first five or six months in the business.

Remington: Sure. Yeah. So when I started working, it was with the Remax franchise.

I instantly fell in love with the idea and the work pattern of every day being different and sort of the baked in adventures that came with going and seeing a property or checking out something for the first time. And at that point, I was really doing a lot of like heavy lifting type stuff, moving stuff with people and the paperwork, literally getting people to go sign stuff and things like that. But there wasn't a whole lot of transactional things that I was doing with clients or anything like that.

I think it became very clear to the guy that I was working with, who was a big Realtor at the time, that I was a bad assistant. And I was really good at dealing with people and churning up sales and reading between the lines and just having that common sense to put pieces together.

Tanner: Nice. Okay. So, I mean, everybody kind of learns their skill set and you did get at least some of the hands-on knowledge, right?

So it's like you may not be good at it or you probably were good at it, but you know, you didn't like doing it, I'm sure. You're like, oh, sweet, now we're doing the term I report or whatever, right? But at least you have that background to do it.

So then how does that transition go from, he realizes maybe paper pusher is not your best strong suit, and then you start heading towards the real estate full-time side.

Remington: Yeah. So probably a common theme in my past is fate also intervened there. I got my license and at the same time, this gentleman went through a divorce.

So his life had a little bit of a course correction there that wasn't his doing. It was necessary for me to step in much more than I think originally would have been planned or probably been matriculated in slower, but it was a little bit of a try by fire because I had to pick up the pieces, and I had to learn very quickly what was going on, how things were working, and then what are we doing.

So that was really how things kicked off was being handed a book of business. Even a lot of them were currently under contract for people currently looking these things. And I'm not saying the guy just evaporated, but his eye wasn't on the ball, so I trained mine, and it just became apparent that I was really good at customer service and helping these people and taking a wheel.

Tanner: What were some of the things that he would do to get business that you picked up on and then kind of implemented yourself? You know, the biggest thing for new agents is like, well, how do you get business? You can be on a team, you can pay Zillow thousands of dollars. But what were some of things you noticed right away that he was doing to help spear that?

Remington: You know, that's a really good question because I sort of fell in step with him after he had been successful for many years. So I don't really think I saw too much of him do a lead generation because he was sort of already at the point of referrals, giving the referrals. But really what I picked up on was just being a value add to the process.

And it's something that I still just completely hold firm to today. I told someone just the other day, and I mean it's like the Hippocratic oath. It's like first do no harm, right? And my job is to do what is best. And oftentimes that's not being in the way, and oftentimes that's actually not being a part of the transaction.

And what I developed was a keen eye for picking up what people actually need, right? They say one thing, they probably mean something else. And just trying to put those two together to say, okay, well, this person is saying this thing, that mat doesn't add up on who they are and where they are in life.

I think that they really would rather X, Y, and Z. And so, a lot of that was just something very simple that we still do today, is if we're holding an open house, trying to find a house that is a little bit more expensive and a little less expensive that is in the same area, call the agent, book some showings in the interim. If we're two to four, book some showings from two to four, we don't block up the whole time, but we let them know, hey, listen, we're doing an open house, we may bring someone over.

Because oftentimes people come to the house, they say, oh, it's too big. I'm like, is it too big or is it too expensive? They're like, yeah, it's too expensive.

I was like, okay. There's a house down the streets, it's actually 200 Gs less, that's X, Y, and Z. Again, just try and help someone, because that's really all we're doing, is try and help them where someone comes in, the house is too small. Well, there's one over here that's bigger.

So George, who I worked with, we would often go to open houses together and peel off and immediately take someone over to a new house and show them that, and just really try and be a value adder.

Tanner: I want to unpack that because I've been doing this a long time on the podcast and I haven't heard anybody with that idea. That is really good. So you have that window of opportunity to go show that person the house right there, because typically what I've seen in open houses is somebody comes in, they're like, oh, well, you're nice, but this isn't going to work for us.

And then they go on their merry way and then you try to follow up, and then they're hard to get, and they're looking at the other houses, whereas you're basically like, let's go look at that house right now. We're going to leave here and we're going to go look at that one because I already blocked off this time to get in there. Man, that is really smart.

So, and you really get a feel for price point and when you're talking with a client, I mean, I'm guessing you picked up some solid clients from that strategy.

Remington: Yeah, I mean, open houses and again, not even open houses, but just listening to what someone says and helping them, you know, and saying, hey, I think I know what you're saying, but I'm going to interject a little bit of information and let me know if I'm wrong. Someone's saying, yeah, you're wrong. All right, yeah.

I don't promise anything. But hey, I'm just going to try and get creative here. And I think that is ultimately a big part of the success of Rand Properties and for the new venture.

It's just trying to be a little bit more creative, think a little bit outside the box. But again, always with the adage of like doing what's right and trying to help someone because there's no value in anything else. And the multiple open houses thing, it's people are out looking at houses, right?

And oftentimes they go to more than one open house. So if they just line up to two other ones or whatever, if you know a house is vacant, I mean, that's obviously an easy low hanging fruit there. But yeah, get a little off and kick them in the other house.

Tanner: I think probably a lot of people listening have this question with it. So this is a strategy you've used for a long time. Has the numbers changed or the technique changed as we've gone into the new broker compensation for Realtors?

So it's like, okay, if I'm working with this buyer, then, hey, well, let's discuss how I get paid before we walk into this house. Has that changed for you?

Remington: No. And I mean, that's just being honest. That comes from two places. One is the chips are going to fall where they will. Someone is like, I have a real estate agent. I am using that real estate agent. Then I'm not going to.

But, you know, there have been many situations. I mean, I met this guy. I was walking out of an open house, picking up my signs, doing the whole nine yards. And this guy pulled up and he's like, I'm late. I'm so sorry. I was like, yeah, it's got to come on. Let's check the house out. I walk back, unlock the house, turn all the lights on. And this guy was like, you're great. I've been looking to buy a new house for like three years with my current real estate agent. It's not sticking. I'm like, dude, you need to change something. And he was like, hey, would you be in my real estate agent? I was like, sure, man. And we've had a very successful relationship since. He's a good friend of mine, but that was all just because I took a little bit of time and energy to unlock a house. Right, value add.

In the world of the compensation, it's a little bit dicier, but at the same time, someone's not happy. I can tell them the same thing. If you're not happy with me, walk away. Right, Arnold? I'm not going to get bit out of shape. And the brass sax of it is never at. And that's why I can say that.

Tanner: Makes sense. Yeah. Well, let's go to the idea of, okay, we got 100 agents in a room and you've been brought in to be the keynote speaker.

Brand new agency. We really need them to succeed. Give me some of the things that you would do differently.

Things that you thought you did really well in the beginning. Things you would probably change a little bit. Give yourself a grade to help these folks move in the right direction.

Remington: Great question. What would you do? Something that I've always tried to do is, it sounds dumb, but be yourself, right? Because you're not going to please everybody.

And you're not going to make everybody happy, and that's fine, but you have to be yourself. You have to pick a lane and stay in it. And I think that is something that is a business attribute that goes into all sorts of things.

And I think I glean a lot of what I tried to base my business models off of is like financial models, which is you have different investing strategies, right? And I just look at myself as long-term hold, like it's myself. So of course I have to, but it's a long-term return on investment.

And so something might seem hard or like a little bit of a waste of time today, but it's not. It's all just like you're putting capital into a long-term investment. And I think that oftentimes it is very important to look at what you're doing and say, what is the best thing that I can put time and energy into that I'm going to get a return on, right?

And that return might be in like five years, right? Like, I don't know, but being your best self is the best return you can get. And I dial that down to, I forget who it was, but like the University of Texas coach, like make your bed every day.

Tanner: It's like you were a Marine, like Rear Admiral McCraven Seals.

Remington: Yeah. Make your bed every day. Just be your best self. Keep gas in your car. Have your shirts laundered. Just every day, be your best self.

Try your hardest and invest in yourself. And you're going to meet people, and it's all going to be shaped in and around to where you want to go. You have to stay in that lane. You can't deviate. You can't think you could be this person and an influencer. No, I have never mind. I'm going to be this. I'll be that. Just stick with it.

And the difference is you become the gravity that people are then pulled into instead of being someone who's trying to attract themselves to other people.

Tanner: Interesting. That's a good point. And I like that.

I think it's important because people get in the business, they tried this over there, that didn't work, and they're just bouncing around, and then they eventually get a long time. Yeah, exactly. And having that long term vision of what you're trying to accomplish, I think that's a great point for new agents because you also have to think about it like, you're not going to make a million dollars in your first year, most likely, unless you are the one of one.

But there are hundreds of thousands of people that have lived a very wonderful life in real estate by plugging away and getting better at it. So it's smart. Well, you made a good point though, and I want to ask you a question.

You said basically the idea of finding the thing that's going to make you money like and investing the time, effort and energy into that, right? So what is one thing that you personally do that is simple? Anybody can do this that makes you money.

But for you personally, you know, it's hard. It's pain in the butt. It's my least favorite thing I do. But I know it makes me money.

Remington: Social media. I pay a company. It's something that just doesn't vibe with me.

I could stand up and speak in front of a thousand people. Hey, would my nerves go up? Sure. I've enjoyed doing it. I'd be happy to do it. But I get the most crippling anxiety before I post something on social media. Right. And it's the oddest thing. And I have tried to find the reason why and tried to work my way around it. And finally, I was throwing the towel. I was like, someone else can do this for me.

They're professionals and they do a great job. And I'm virtually on no social media. It's just something that does not click with me. I don't like it.

Tanner: I mean, that's a great one, though, because social media, that's how we connected, was your team bringing us together, right? And so now there's going to be X number of people across the planet. They're going to listen to this podcast.

That's a really good one, because I think with social media, it is so hard to see the end result. Like if the end result is like, hey, we had this client, we made this money, and we've got this listing, we did this, then we did that. But when you post a video or you post something, there's not like an immediate, oh, wow, that moved the needle.

You don't know if it moved the needle a year later or whenever. So that's a really good one.

Remington: And I think especially social media with real estate is really hard to connect the dots. I think other things is probably a bit easier. If you're selling yoga pants, it's probably a really easy one-to-one.

But yeah, with real estate, it's really hard. And I also think my personality fell in the same thing where I was just like, I personally just look at myself and what I add to the situation. And I'm like, I'm just not a social media guy.

With Rand Properties isn't really a social media, or I would say that. We do have a presence and we do have a full company that runs everything. But yeah, I was just like, I'm not really like a gimmicky guy.

Again, I'm a value add. I tell people all the time, I'm like, I'm never going to send you a Christmas card. But if you call me, I'm going to answer my phone every time. And I'm going to forget your birthday, but I'll go to war for you. And that's who I am.

Tanner: I love it. When we come back, let's talk about Propified, the company. And then we're going to talk about that transition from your first year to where you are now. So we'll be right back with Remington.

Welcome back, everyone. So, Remington, I'd like you to talk a little bit about your newest venture. Tell me about Propified and bring everybody up to date what we got.

Remington: Yeah, Propified is awesome. We just this week had the first user experience demo for the latest iteration, but it's a software platform where very simply using the photos uploaded of a listing, it inputs the entire listing into the MLS using a large language model AI and a questionnaire that the agent fills out and it plugs and plays everything. It orders all of the pictures in the correct order, and it fills out all the pertinent information about the house, features and things like that.

If it has a pool, it will ask you some follow up questions about it. And then it labels all the photos, writes the description and actually plugs into CoreLogix MLS and fills out the MLS for you.

Tanner: Interesting. Okay. So AI came around and everybody's like, great, now I don't have to write that listing description.

This takes it to that next level of like, now it's organizing the pictures and the flow that it needs to be. And now it's like really honing that in and then it's plug and play. You'll put it in there and walk away basically.

So how did you get involved to that? When did you decide to do this?

Remington: Yeah. So in 2020, I had an idea about using satellite imagery and artificial intelligence for another idea with housing. And my best friend from high school, he is a software executive basically.

And I pinged some ideas off of them. He said, I had actually a good idea and it was COVID. So we just talked a lot.

And the more we talked, the more ideas sprung up and changed and deviated. And I sort of had this idea of where I thought a use case could be or a problem that a use case could solve with AI. Anyway, we spoke with a lot of people.

We hired a designer to build out sort of what was in my brain. And long story short is it was a very big, complicated, complex idea that we then sat down and tried to distill like, OK, well, what is the smallest beachhead we have here? What's the smallest problem that we think we can solve? And it was the input of a listing and the aches and pains involved with it that it takes 45 minutes or an hour to do. And with Propified, it takes 10 minutes. You know, it's like way better.

And it's definitely not for your four or five million dollar listing. I think that takes its own shape. But for your average listing, it produces a better product. This remarkable.

Tanner: All right. So I got this listing. It's coming up.

It's going to be five hundred thousand anywhere in the state. Can we go nationwide? What are the limitations?

Remington: It is pretty plug and play with any product from CoreLogic. Right. CoreLogic is the largest.

And they just renamed themselves some down name. I forget what it is, but they just renamed themselves. But anyway, CoreLogic is I would say I forget the statistic, but it's like 90 percent of MLS is a runoff CoreLogic.

Tanner: Okay, so it's pretty much everybody.

Remington: Right. You might have a runoff, but not here. Yeah. And it's different. And so like the actual like hardware is a little bit different.

But the minutiae is pretty slim as to how it works. But yeah, I mean, you would simply go into your MLS, start a new listing and create a listing using the tax records the same way you normally would. And it populates an MLS number.

You put the MLS number into Propified with your credentials for the MLS. You upload the photos. It starts running through the photos.

It's asking you some questions. You know, hey, Tanner, what are some things that the owners have updated in regards to the systems of the house? What do they love?

What direction does the house face? Just these follow up questions that, you know, are seemingly big picture but then get granular as you respond. And I took all of that just simply from 15, 20 years of looking at analysis and asking listing agents in a house, hey, I noticed this over here. What's the story with that? And they're like, oh, I don't know. I'm like, real. You didn't think to maybe ask. You've been standing in this house at least all day. You didn't think like, oh, it's a pipe in the ground.

And so all it's doing is simply trying to lead the agent to get as much information as possible so that the listing then is complete as possible, allowing a better listing for a buyer to have more comprehensive data to decide whether to go see or not see. That's the brass tacks of it is like, the number of houses I don't sell because we show up and the house is not what we thought it was going to be, not as advertised. Let's eliminate that just as much as we push forward a good house, right?

And the correct house for someone. And so, yeah, it churns through all that questionnaire. It's asking a couple of questions here and there, filling in the blanks, yada yada.

And then you hit submit, and it pushes everything over to the MLS. You get a ding on your phone or an email, depending on how you have it set up, and you go into the MLS, fill out, verify all the information. The photos are all uploaded.

They're all labeled with pertinent information. It labels. If you've put in that the roof was replaced in 2021, it knows a picture of a roof. It references that the roof was replaced in 21, and it goes through and it labels all the photos. It writes the description. I mean, it does everything.

It goes out. If it sees hardy plank siding, it checks the box for hardy plank siding. It can glean different types of roofs, the whole nine yards. So it knows different types of substrate for parking. Like if it is a gravel, is it pea gravel, is it asphalt, is it cement? And it will accurately check the right box.

So the agent goes in and verifies everything. There's a bunch of stuff that they're still gonna have to fill out like the lock box numbers and things like that. But again, it takes the meat and potatoes of the entire listing and just does it.

Tanner: Okay, let's talk about pricing. Are we a subscription based? Are we like, hey, one off?

I'm the agent listening that gets six sales sides a year, like versus like, hey, I do six a month. This is serious time saver right here. So talk to me about the pricing for people so they can understand how that part works.

Remington: Yeah, so it's gonna be staggered in a couple different ways. So ideally, we would like the MLSs to just, you know, provide the entire software platform, right? That would be the goal because it's helping them then have correct listing.

It's gonna help with compliance on their ends. But ultimately, we see it as brokerages providing it for their agents. It's a buy seat subscription program that at this point, it staggers up because the cost of the program to run through the large language model, it gets pretty intense as you go up because it's doing a lot of work.

But the goal really is to save time. Honestly, this is a more productive product for someone who has six listings a month, but it's going to probably help out and correct someone who only does one, right? And that's what we see all the time is like, I sell a lot of real estate, but I work with people who don't and I'm better at it than they are.

And it's practice. There's nothing inherently better than me than them. It's just I've just done it longer and I've done it more. And so I just know. And so if you haven't done as many listings and you don't have a broker who's watching over you and really check a fact, checking what you're putting in, this is really for those people, right?

To be able to like, hey, just let us handle this. We'll get it right when you can fact check it and everything. But it's really going to be a great product for people like that.

Tanner: Now, where does somebody go to check out like how this works? What's the website?

Remington: Yeah, propified.com, propified.ai. They're both same thing. And you can book a demo there and go through the whole thing.

It's fully functioning. We are working through a much more beautiful and sexy user interface at this point. And that's really what we're working on now.

We're working with a company, a large software company called JBS that's out of Pennsylvania, but they're world-wide-ish. They built out the original proof of concept, and it was a home run. They were able to get us some funding from Amazon because of the density of the cloud work that goes into it.

But it's been really fun to work on. And again, I think it's going to be very transformative. And the way that I see it is the thesis of the entire product is that once we have the correct data about houses, then we can get the correct houses to the people, right?

And once we know the type of kitchen that Tanner likes, we can then start providing suggestions for Tanner on houses that he might be interested in based on the style of kitchen. Or, interestingly, the overall aesthetic, not just how many bathrooms, how many square feet, what's the price range. Because that really is the job of a real estate agent to say, hey, Tanner, this house is a little bit more expensive, but I think you're going to love it.

And here's why you should lean it. If we could just open up that parameter so that as a consumer, you are getting more and more across your plate, that is a benefit to everybody.

Tanner: Just imagine how many wasted showings this saves you. When you really start getting down to like, hey, well, you just sent me a list of 60 houses and we're not going to go look at 60 homes, but we've already established that you like this kitchen type. So the program is already established. There's four that we can pick from.

Remington: You know, a huge one that I see all the time. And this is one of the things that I hammered home from the beginning was basement, right? Propified can look at a picture and pretty accurately tell if it's a basement or not.

And it just simply lists on the photo that the house has blank number of square footage in the basement, which sounds dumb, right? Like of course. But the thing is, the number of times that I am showing a house as the listing agent or the buying agent, and it is a 3,000 square foot house, and someone shows up and they go, oh, we didn't realize that 700 of it was in the basement.

You should never buy it. It's not big enough. And it's like, you didn't do any due diligence here. You drove all the way over here. But it's the truth. I mean, people don't do it.

And really, they're trying to, again, weed out, like, are you looking for 3,000 above or 3,000 total? Like, are you actually looking for, you know, 2,500, but 3,000 as a basement is cool? Because that really is, again, a wasted showing.

It wasted a bunch of people's time. And I think that if a consumer can really have the luxury or the confidence to say, I'm seeing every house that really fits my bill, that's a great thing, right? Yeah, makes sense.

They know how rare something is, or not rare, but they know, man, I've been seeing everything, and this is the only house that has, ba ba ba ba ba, I'm dying to live here.

Tanner: Very nice. Let's kind of wrap up this segment a little bit and go over some of the quick questions I have. Coming on your business right now.

So let's talk about three non-negotiables that you do every week, no matter, these are like three core tenets of you being a top real estate professional. I do these three things all the time.

Remington: I would say they're all personal and they all don't have anything to do with real estate. And I think that I meditate. So I think that's a non-negotiable meditation.

And taking time for yourself, allowing yourself time and space to feel content and happy where you are is paramount to happiness. Because again, same thing is, what are we doing here? And I think that's another founding principle of my week is asking, what am I doing?

Why am I doing this? Because, you know, it's easy to say, I'm doing it for money. And then you go, what am I going to do with the money?

Really start backing it out. And there comes a point where it's like, hey, maybe like I'm good. Maybe my time is better spent with my kids, with my wife or something.

Maybe that makes me a better person. But I would say meditation, some form of exercise. I wouldn't really say I'm an adrenaline junkie, but I definitely think that once a week, maybe not once a week, got to do something to like scare yourself a little bit. Adrenaline rush.

Tanner: Well, for the folks that are listening on the questionnaire, you put love to write dirt bikes. So that sounds like that's on the list.

Remington: Yeah. I mean, I think problem solving and adrenaline are things that are really underrated. I think everyone should push themselves in a way that the end result is not catastrophic.

Right? Push yourself to try and fix something. What's the worst that happens?

You got to go buy a new one. Are we going to have to find one anyway? You might as well just break something, open it up, see if you can fix it.

Tanner: That's very cool. Okay. Well, and then it gets the mind going and could get a chance to start thinking about bigger problems.

Remington: All of a sudden you're like, oh wow, I can fix stuff. You got confidence and then you chip away at it.

Tanner: I like it. All right. So how do you go about generating a new client these days? Where you're at in your career, how are you generating a client?

Remington: Pretty much all referrals. Don't do any advertising. You know, it's so funny.

Twice a year I get a call from Greenville, South Carolina, and it's some person from some marketing company trying to get me to put my name and face on the grocery cart at a food line. And I was like, you really think that I want a client that's like, you know what, I trust this person. But I really, at this point, I'm very lucky that I just work with referrals and clients and I pass off a lot of business to other agents in other areas, or my agents, if it's not something that fits, because again, they have to go first, you know, are right, like, I'm not going to take on someone if I don't think that I am the best fit.

Tanner: So the referrals is a big part of business. How are you staying in front of your past clients to generate those referrals? What are some of your tips and tactics to make sure they remember you? Outside of a obviously a very unique and gifted name.

Remington: Oh, yeah, I usually just break into people's houses at night.

Tanner: Send to your friends and family!

Remington: A lot of it is just, again, paying attention to what's happening around their house and situation. I try and be very diligent with everyone in my life to let them know if I'm thinking about them. I text people, hey, thinking about you, I hope you're doing well, right? I just find that it satiates something of mine where I just I think about people and I want to know I'm thinking about them. But ultimately, I try and just stay up to date with what's going on, maybe in their neighborhood and if something sells, be value act.

Hey, saw this, here's an interesting data point. I heard that you're X, Y, and Z, but really, I don't bother people. I think that it's worked really well.

I don't know, but I was at a client's, had a big open house and I went to the open house. I won't name the Realtor, but there's a bunch of people there and they were all rolling their eyes. They're like, oh, you so and so.

They all told me that they were at someone's house, then they all use the same real estate agent. They were at this person's house, they all live in very different areas, and they all got a text at the exact same time that said, hey, I was driving by your house, just thinking of you. This person had no idea that they all live in very different areas and were together and we're all going to commiserate.

I just think that, again, be yourself. You're lying. If you do that, you're lying. If you're going to lie about something like that, what else are you going to lie about? I'd rather just not reach out to them. I usually just leave people alone.

Tanner: Makes sense. When we come back, we're going to go real quick story time, so we'll be right back with Remington.

Welcome back, everyone. Remington, the best piece of advice you received early on in your career could have been yesterday, just something you really held on to has helped you throughout the years.

Remington: I worked at a sailing camp when I was in college. In North Carolina. And it was definitely the most impactful job I've ever had. I learned the most at this job that I've learned anywhere at any job.

And the whole principle of Camp Seagull was do what's right. And it was so simple, but really, it's all compounding on itself. If you do what's right, then the next thing you do what's right, and you do what's right, and then you got nothing to worry about, because you've just done the best thing, right?

I remember being a kid, and I couldn't stand watching Seinfeld with my parents, because I was like, just stop lying about everything. There wouldn't even be a show, because they would just be going about their normal lives, and they just couldn't stop lying to each other or other people, and then having to dig a hole, dig a hole. And it's just like, just stop.

You're making your life terrible. But I just do what's right. It sounds very simple, but ultimately it's harder than it is.

Tanner: There's always opportunities to not do that. You know, oh, I'll never know, blah, blah, blah, but those are always the times where you have to just do it. It costs you money, do it. It sucks, but make the phone call.

Can you think of a bold move you made that resulted in a deal or an opportunity that you wouldn't have gotten otherwise? So being the CEO of Propified is on that realm, but anything else that you can think about that made a big difference for you? Like, oh man, if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have gotten this.

Remington: Yeah, becoming a broker was a huge one. And I did that at a very young age. Again, capital investment, it sucked, but I just took an entire summer and I knocked out the brokerage, the full thing in nine weeks because it just was like I'm 20 dicks. I'm still fresh from college.

I can study well. And I was going to the Richmond Association of Realtors to take the interim tests before the big ones. And it was really funny because this lady who was helping me every time, set me up to the computer or whatever, because they're kind of proctor.

And she was like, the girls at the front desk are making fun of you because they keep thinking you're failing the tests. And I had to tell them that you're passing them and you're taking the next test. And their jaw hits the floor. And I was like, oh, that's awesome. But these girls thought I was just an idiot and could have had the same test. They're like, sure. And for years you walk out, they're like, good job. You made it.

Tanner: Very nice. The last one I got for you and you're sitting on a beach in the next 30 years, 30 years from now, I've had a lustrous real estate career. Somebody comes up to you for your best real estate story so far.

It could be funny, it could be scary, it could be weird. Just something that was so outside of your normal day-to-day activity that it is memorable.

Remington: There's a great one. I mean, there's a lot of them. So there's a great one that's ongoing right now.

I just bought a plastic skeleton because I have this wonderful client and he bought this beautiful house, 2019, and we're selling it right now. He bought this house. We go to look at it. It's great. Beautiful place. Open the shed, look in the shed, filled with shed stuff, garden things.

Great. Buy the house, do the inspection, the whole nine yards. We go for the walkthrough to the house. House looks great. Everything's spick and span. Look in the shed and there's a trap door that's open on the floor.

We look down into the trap door and there's a ladder that goes underground. And there's a full basement underneath the shed. Very elaborate. I mean, masonry walls. I mean, the whole nine yards, lighting under there. It didn't really feel nefarious.

It wasn't necessarily scary, but very intriguing. So anyway, we always joked that when Sam sells this house, we should put a skeleton down there. And we're selling the house.

And I bought a skeleton the other day. I was like, dude, we said we were going to do it. We got to do it. And at this point, again, they don't know. It's the same thing. The shed was filled with stuff.

And it is not anymore. And I went in there the other day and I knocked all the cobwebs. I crawled down there because it's dicey and I tossed the skeleton down there so that when the next buyer, or maybe the buyer after that, right, opens it up, a little fright for them.

Tanner: Wow. So first question, would Propified have identified that there was a basement under the shed? Or I assume that's going to go with the remarks.

Remington: So you're like, that wasn't brought up at all when he was buying it.

And that's what we thought was so funny about it, is that it seems like this big, I wouldn't say mystery, but this sort of inside joke that keeps getting passed down from buyer to buyer on his house, that no one mentions the weird eight-foot-deep masonry basement underneath the head. So yeah, we haven't told anyone either. If they hadn't propped the door open, probably would have never noticed it.

I mean, it's very clandestine.

Tanner: Wow. Okay. So what's your theory?

Was it a bomb shelter? Like what's the house a weed?

Remington: I mean, that's just my theory is just weed. I think someone's growing weed under there. But again, there's electrical in there.

Doesn't feel bomb shelter, maybe, but it's like far from the house.

So like you've got to run out there.

The house has a basement. So, you know, you got to factor that in and okay, well, you're already searching in.

But okay, so how many times has this house turned over? Was the previous owners to your friend, were they the original owners or was there like, this has turned over a couple of missed opportunity, Tanner?

I was at the open house for this and a lady showed up and her grandparents built this house.

The mystery continues. But I think that the shed in the basement are more contemporary than the house because if the house is, I don't know, like 40, 40, 1940 ish. It's old. So I think the shed basement is probably a newer project.

Tanner: I feel like maybe that bomb shelter then became Weed House. Like, the bomb shelter timing on something like that would make more sense.

Remington: I got a bomb shelter-esque story. I sold this very beautiful mid-century house built in 1952 or 3. House was super elaborate, built by an engineer, the guy who invented Musac, if you remember Musac.

And Musac was like serious XM in the 80s. If you were on hold that music, it was Musac, I think. But anyway, I sold this house, and there was a leaking underground oil tank.

So we were like, all right, let's go pull it out. It was a 5,000 gallon oil tank in that backyard. It was the size of a submarine.

Tanner: I was going to say, that sounds like it holds a little gas.

Remington: The thing was, I think it was this guy, he was an engineer, it was the 50s Cold War. And his whole thought was, all right, I'm going to hedge my bets that there might be a Cold War. So, I'm going to get an unbelievable amount of heating fuel pumped into my backyard.

And so, we had to deal with it, and we had to pull it out. And then, of course, like the trucks got stuck because they had to use these huge 18 wheelers. And I mean, it was a nightmare, but it's fun.

Tanner: You're picking up something 5,000 gallons. I don't know what they fill up gas stations with, like when the tanks that are in the ground for gas stations.

Remington: Those are smaller than 5,000. Wow. You know what a low boy is?

They're the 18 wheelers that like the center drops down. It was the entire length of the low section of an 18 wheeler. Holy eight feet tall. I mean, it was the submarine. It was hilarious. And all the neighbors were just like, what in the world is that?

Bro, and of course, since we had to put it on this low boy, it's coming out of this neighborhood and it's getting stuck. And then having to use the construction equipment to lift the trailer. I mean, it was wild. It was hilarious.

Tanner: It's probably an expense that the sellers did not know was about to be on their side on that.

Remington: They paid for it.

Tanner: Really? Okay, well, that... DEQ has a fund for leaking oil tanks. Or leaking oil tank size submarine.

They were willing to pay for the remediation, but it was so big and so much dirt that they would not pay for all the fill. So we had to fill, by the way.

Tanner: Oh my gosh. Well, Remington, those are great stories. And I'm so grateful that you came on the podcast and so excited to see where Propified goes and just your career in general.

So pleasure chatting with you today and congratulations on all your success.

Remington: I appreciate it. You too, buddy. This has been awesome and good luck in everything with the podcast. You're killing it.

Tanner: Appreciate it. Well, that's it for this episode of the Virginia is for Realtors podcast. If you're a Realtor looking for a loan officer, you can count on to follow up with the leads you send, keep you updated on the transaction every step of the way and get you to the closing table on time.

Give me a call. I'd love the opportunity to sit down with you for coffee to learn more about your business and how we can make it even better. Until next time, this is Tanner Mulvihill on the Virginia is for Realtors podcast.