Building Your Real Estate Network with Rob Commodari

Robert Commodari (00:00)
the last two years have been tough, right? Let’s say three years, including this year. And I say tough will be tight. I’m doing okay, right? I’m surviving and making a little bit, it’s not like throwing a dart at a dartboard and hitting it blindfolded and hitting a bullseye, right? You got to work a little bit. But with the uncertainty in the market, the interest rates, it’s caused things to slow down.

I can sit here and tell you in 2023, at the end of the first quarter, I was down like 30, 33%. And I’m sitting there, Rob, trust the system, trust the system, trust the system. Keep doing your activities. Keep going, seeing people, keep writing your notes, keep showing people you care, trust this system, it’ll work. By the end of the year, I was up 12%. I’m like, okay, this is great. So last year starts out the way it was the same exact way, except we were in the third quarter and I was down almost 40%.

Quentin (02:21)
Hello, everyone. Hello, hello. And welcome to the Real Estate Fuel podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And man, you know, I’m excited to be here. I’m excited about my guests. This man, he listen, a wealth of knowledge. He’s been in the game for a while, has a ton of experience. I really believe that you’re going to really enjoy hearing things from his lens, right? This guy has a perspective that I absolutely love. We can talk backstage.

And I know you guys are gonna love it. I know you’re gonna get so many nuggets from what he has to say today. And so I just want to introduce you all to my friend, Mr. Commodari. how you doing today, sir? I appreciate you, man.

Robert Commodari (02:57)
It’s okay, but I’m doing great. Thanks for

having me. It’s a pleasure and honor to be on here.

Quentin (03:01)
Absolutely, same here, man. I thank you. Like I said, I know our listeners are going to gain a ton of value from what it is, your lens, from your perspective, the way you look at things. so I want to go ahead and get started, Of course, know, people may not know you. I want you to bring them into your world, you know. Tell them what’s your main focus these days. And if you don’t mind, tell them what market you’re operating in as well, Mr.

Robert Commodari (03:24)
Yes. mean, obviously I’ve been in real estate. Well, should say, obviously nobody knows that yet until I say it in a minute here. So I’ve been in the business for 24 years. I just started my 25th year this month. Of those 25, 24 years, 23 of those years I was working strictly by referral. So I focus on the relationships. I focus on the networks that I’m part of and close to, not just geographically, but nationally as well. So that said, I’m part of this coaching community. It’s called Buffini & Company.

Like I get several calls every year with people, realtors out of state that have somebody they’re moving in the state or they have a relationship in state that’s moving out of state. So it’s a big network I focus on as well.

Quentin (04:01)
Absolutely. When we was talking, one of the things that really caught my eye is that, you know, sometimes people get lazy, right? Some people, I mean, they’re not following up with their clients out and not really reaching out. And so I know for you, that’s one of the things that you probably suffer on was following up with people reaching out. Do I have that correctly?

Robert Commodari (04:20)
yeah, I mean, we didn’t even talk about this backstage. So in working by referral, what does that mean? Right? What does it mean? Right. And it’s about a three-legged stool, right? It’s about making contact, showing people you care and building community, right? So it’s a three-legged stool and you can work okay on two of them, but you’re going to fall because that stool needs all three legs. So, you know, I made contact with people on a month, you know, I should say daily basis. Not everybody gets caught every day, but like the network.

I make phone calls, I send them emails, I might mail them something. I do Zoom calls, so on and so forth. That’s the contact piece. Then the care piece is about, we call them either stop by or what we call pop by. Pop by their house or their place of work. And you always bring something, I say something of value, but the sillier and the coinerer and the cheaper it is, it’s probably, it’s better because you want to put smiles on people’s faces. So you pop by their place of work and say hello, and you just stop by to check in with them, right?

And like in the past, the first one I ever did was ketchup. It was my wife’s idea. And I took a bottle of ketchup and I stopped by one my clients’ house. I said, hey, I’m just checking in. I’m stopped by to catch up with you and see how you’re doing, right? You you do stuff like that, right? But anyway, and then I write notes. I write a lot of notes. So you’re taking your most precious commodity, your time, your most precious commodity, your time, and you’re investing in others. So that’s the care part. And the community piece is like, you know, I have parties, right? I like to party my way to the top, so to speak.

Quentin (06:07)
Ha

Robert Commodari (06:31)
So we have like six parties a year. I have four, what I call networking business mixers, where I invite business owners or salespeople in our database too. We do a two hour networking events once a quarter. I feed them, I speak to them or try to inspire them. We do that. And then you do coffee, Zooms, one-to-one lunches, breakfast, so on and so forth. And so now you’ve got this whole little thing going, you contact Care Community and then you just build this rhythm of referrals.

Quentin (06:56)
Love it. Content, care, community. I heard that correct, right? Contact, contact, care, and then community. No, I love that. I absolutely love that. And I know it can’t be easy always in this climate. I love the mixers, the part of your way to the top. I know it can’t always be easy to make those connections. Other people, they try it, and some other people, they fail. seems like you got a good handle on that. So I guess my question would be,

Robert Commodari (06:59)
Contact, contact.

care.

Yeah.

Quentin (07:25)
How do you keep your machine running smoothly? How do you keep things running as smooth as they do?

Robert Commodari (07:30)
Yeah, great question because I didn’t know if I fully answered your last question, but I think it segues into what you just asked me. So it’s about like making that contact show people you care about in the community. So how do I do it? it’s like a way we call it a win the day formula, win the day, win the week, win the month, win the year. Right. And so I, we sort and qualify our people’s you have a pluses, A’s, B’s and C’s and D’s you have, they’re, they’re, they’re, as they would say, uh, Jack Larson’s.

We throw them away, right? So anyway, but you have these A pluses and A’s, these are people you want to roll out the red carpet for. You want to treat them like they’re royalty. you know, if you’re going into a high dollar restaurant or you see the Emmy awards, the Grammys, how they have the red carpet and have the rope. Well, you know, hey Q, you’re on my red velvet rope list. I’m going to come on up. I’m going to open the rope up and come on in. So I’m going to treat you that way.

So I have a certain number of calls I want to make every day, not cold calls, but like warm calls. So a certain number of calls I want to make every day. have a certain number of, in fact, I’m sitting right here. got a, as I’m talking to you, I got a, I’ll show you real quick. I got a pile of notes. I got it buried here, but I write notes. So I got a bunch of like notes right here. I write eight a day. I write eight a day.

Quentin (08:43)
Yeah, wow.

Robert Commodari (08:47)
And then I try to pop by about 75 people’s customers or clients houses a month. And so that’s a constant thing. So then when we have parties, it’s like, okay, let’s send an invite out. Let’s do a video. Let’s follow it up with phone calls. And then we do the event and not everybody can come, but it’s about the initial invite and the calls. Initially, you’re making contact.

And then even if they don’t come, you follow up afterwards with the people that came and some of the ones that didn’t come, hey, I’m sorry, I hope you can make it to the next event. So it’s the calls, notes, the pop-ups. mean, it’s very generic, it’s very easy to do, and it’s easy not to do.

So it’s, can, if you don’t, you’re not disciplined and you don’t, and you’re not consistent, it won’t work. So like if somebody’s listening, they’ve never written a note and they say, Oh my God, I would write eight notes a day like Rob. And you try to write eight note today out of the gate, you’re going to burn out. You’re just going to burn out. So it’s like just to start it, build it and get consistent with it, get disciplined with it. And the gold mine is your database. mean, you got to have a database, you got to have a CRM. asked about how I stay consistent with it. mean,

Quentin (09:25)
Hmm.

Robert Commodari (09:51)
I have a database, mean a CRM that I’m in every day, multiple times. So anyway, I hope that answers that question.

Quentin (09:56)
Yeah. Yeah. No.

Oh, no. Definitely answer it, man. Thank you so much for giving those nuggets. I think that was good. That was a very valuable answer. Something people can easily take away from inside of kindness. So thank you. So let me ask you this. Yeah, I appreciate you. So you’ve been going on 25 years, right? 25 years right around the corner, right? I know things has not always been easy, right? I’m sure there are times when

Robert Commodari (10:43)
You’re welcome.

Quentin (10:56)
Things got real, maybe a deal went sideways or a time that you had to pivot fast. Mr. Robert, you mind sharing a story with our listeners about a time when you kind of had to pivot fast, in a sense?

Robert Commodari (11:07)
Well, with a deal or with the, like things are tough. There’s two things I could share with you. Like number one,

the last two years have been tough, right? Let’s say three years, including this year. And I say tough will be tight. I’m doing okay, right? I’m surviving and making a little bit, it’s not like throwing a dart at a dartboard and hitting it blindfolded and hitting a bullseye, right? You got to work a little bit. But with the uncertainty in the market, the interest rates, it’s caused things to slow down.

I can sit here and tell you in 2023, at the end of the first quarter, I was down like 30, 33%. And I’m sitting there, Rob, trust the system, trust the system, trust the system. Keep doing your activities. Keep going, seeing people, keep writing your notes, keep showing people you care, trust this system, it’ll work. By the end of the year, I was up 12%. I’m like, okay, this is great. So last year starts out the way it was the same exact way, except we were in the third quarter and I was down almost 40%.

I’m like, oh my gosh, can this happen again? And I’m like, Rob, trust the system, trust the system, trust the system. And bang, I finished down in units like 3%, but up in volume like 5%. So it’s just a matter of, when you talk about pivot fast, I don’t know if it’s about pivoting or staying consistent, right? Now in a deal, you might have to pivot like, okay, somebody’s ready to pull the carpet out from underneath your feet or they want to, know,

you know, get out of a deal for a certain reason. You know, I think the pivot, and I’m just thinking this off top of my head right now, Q, is that, you know, the pivot is like, how do you have a conversation with somebody about their goals? Like, okay, like I give you a home inspection report and it says fix 10 things. You’re like, no way, I’m not doing that. They’re crazy. That’s not wrong. This isn’t broke. They’re full crap. And I’m not, let’s put it back on the market. And then, okay, so you got a $2,500 a month mortgage.

You only have one offer and 10 showings in a period of two months. Do you really want to put it back on the market? Do you really want to risk paying that mortgage payment for another two, three months when you, for under $2,500, you can fix what’s there and the ultimate goal of selling the house is accomplished. It might not be exactly what you want it, when you want it how you want it, but I got to pivot quick on how I communicate with you to help you see the big picture.

Quentin (13:22)
No, I love it. Thank you so much for giving me a perspective on both ends. Like one, you said, no, there’s a portion where you have to be consistent, but I don’t have to pivot that. But also there are times, like you said, on the real estate side, then maybe I have to pivot when I have these conversations. And I love it, man. I appreciate you giving me kind of both perspective and both lenses. I appreciate that. And now you talked about, you yeah, you said talking to them about the goals.

Robert Commodari (13:46)
Sure.

Quentin (13:49)
And it’s interesting because that’s kind of like my next question for you. Like, what are you most focused on solving a scale and next? Like, Mr. Robert, what’s the next real goal for you and your businesses?

Robert Commodari (14:00)
You know, so I have a small team, it’s myself, one agent and two assistants. You know, I like to be at a point where I may have two or three full-time agents. I don’t need to build a team of 30 people, just a well-oiled machine where, you know, business comes in and I want more than I can handle. So if I have more than I can handle, I can bless the people around me to give them more, right? And teach them. you know, the focus is to really go, is to…

to build the business, not casting a wide net. One of my focuses right now is to go deeper with the people I have. It’s funny, I was on this call just yesterday again, and the guy’s like, he called it just one more, right? Or something like that, where just focus on one person at a time. And one person, if you build a deep relationship, could lead to 40 referrals, could lead to 20 referrals, could lead to 10 referrals, right? So just focus on one relationship at a time and build.

build deeper relationships instead of just casting these wide nets. Because, I mean, we do need to cast a wide net to get some people in, but once you get to people and try to go deep with those people you have.

Quentin (15:03)
that mindset of I love you, say, listen, I want to have more than I can handle that way I can bless other people around me.

Robert Commodari (15:12)
Yeah, I mean, and that’s an abundant mentality too, right?

Quentin (15:12)
That right,

Oh, no. Definitely answer it, man. Thank you so much for giving those nuggets. I think that was good. That was a very valuable answer. Something people can easily take away from inside of kindness. So thank you. So let me ask you this. Yeah, I appreciate you. So you’ve been going on 25 years, right? 25 years right around the corner, right? I know things has not always been easy, right? I’m sure there are times when

Robert Commodari (15:25)
You’re welcome.

Quentin (15:37)
Things got real, maybe a deal went sideways or a time that you had to pivot fast. Mr. Robert, you mind sharing a story with our listeners about a time when you kind of had to pivot fast, in a sense?

Robert Commodari (15:48)
Well, with a deal or with the, like things are tough. There’s two things I could share with you. Like number one, the last two years have been tough, right? Let’s say three years, including this year. And I say tough will be tight. I’m doing okay, right? I’m surviving and making a little bit, it’s not like throwing a dart at a dartboard and hitting it blindfolded and hitting a bullseye, right? You got to work a little bit. But with the uncertainty in the market, the interest rates, it’s caused things to slow down.

I can sit here and tell you in 2023, at the end of the first quarter, I was down like 30, 33%. And I’m sitting there, Rob, trust the system, trust the system, trust the system. Keep doing your activities. Keep going, seeing people, keep writing your notes, keep showing people you care, trust this system, it’ll work. By the end of the year, I was up 12%. I’m like, okay, this is great. So last year starts out the way it was the same exact way, except we were in the third quarter and I was down almost 40%.

I’m like, oh my gosh, can this happen again? And I’m like, Rob, trust the system, trust the system, trust the system. And bang, I finished down in units like 3%, but up in volume like 5%. So it’s just a matter of, when you talk about pivot fast, I don’t know if it’s about pivoting or staying consistent, right? Now in a deal, you might have to pivot like, okay, somebody’s ready to pull the carpet out from underneath your feet or they want to, know,

you know, get out of a deal for a certain reason. You know, I think the pivot, and I’m just thinking this off top of my head right now, Q, is that, you know, the pivot is like, how do you have a conversation with somebody about their goals? Like, okay, like I give you a home inspection report and it says fix 10 things. You’re like, no way, I’m not doing that. They’re crazy. That’s not wrong. This isn’t broke. They’re full crap. And I’m not, let’s put it back on the market. And then, okay, so you got a $2,500 a month mortgage.

You only have one offer and 10 showings in a period of two months. Do you really want to put it back on the market? Do you really want to risk paying that mortgage payment for another two, three months when you, for under $2,500, you can fix what’s there and the ultimate goal of selling the house is accomplished. It might not be exactly what you want it, when you want it how you want it, but I got to pivot quick on how I communicate with you to help you see the big picture.

Quentin (18:04)
No, I love it. Thank you so much for giving me a perspective on both ends. Like one, you said, no, there’s a portion where you have to be consistent, but I don’t have to pivot that. But also there are times, like you said, on the real estate side, then maybe I have to pivot when I have these conversations. And I love it, man. I appreciate you giving me kind of both perspective and both lenses. I appreciate that. And now you talked about, you yeah, you said talking to them about the goals.

Robert Commodari (18:27)
Sure.

Quentin (18:31)
And it’s interesting because that’s kind of like my next question for you. Like, what are you most focused on solving a scale and next? Like, Mr. Robert, what’s the next real goal for you and your businesses?

Robert Commodari (18:41)
You know, so I have a small team, it’s myself, one agent and two assistants. You know, I like to be at a point where I may have two or three full-time agents. I don’t need to build a team of 30 people, just a well-oiled machine where, you know, business comes in and I want more than I can handle. So if I have more than I can handle, I can bless the people around me to give them more, right? And teach them. you know, the focus is to really go, is to…

to build the business, not casting a wide net. One of my focuses right now is to go deeper with the people I have. It’s funny, I was on this call just yesterday again, and the guy’s like, he called it just one more, right? Or something like that, where just focus on one person at a time. And one person, if you build a deep relationship, could lead to 40 referrals, could lead to 20 referrals, could lead to 10 referrals, right? So just focus on one relationship at a time and build.

build deeper relationships instead of just casting these wide nets. Because, I mean, we do need to cast a wide net to get some people in, but once you get to people and try to go deep with those people you have.

Quentin (19:44)
that mindset of I love you, say, listen, I want to have more than I can handle that way I can bless other people around me.

Robert Commodari (19:53)
Yeah, I mean, and that’s an abundant mentality too, right?

Quentin (19:53)
That right,

Yup, absolutely, absolutely. And because when you have abundant, you have the overflow, people reap from your overflow. And so, yeah, absolutely correct. I understand. I guess that kind of leads me to my next question, because you’ve got people that’s listening in. I don’t know where they are on their journey. They could be early. They could be just trying to level up. But you mentioned that keyword relationships. So when it comes to building relationships,

and growing your network, what has made the biggest difference for you, Mr. Rod?

what has made the biggest impact on you when building those relationships?

Robert Commodari (21:09)
You know, thinking about that, I think it’s just being authentic, being vulnerable, being transparent, just being who you are. mean, look, I’ve heard this said many, many times in Israel or network is that real estate and sales business in general, spend money they don’t have to buy things they can’t afford to impress people they don’t know. Right. And that’s not me. You know, so I wouldn’t invest in you, the relationship. So to me, biggest impact that

Quentin (21:27)
There it is.

Robert Commodari (21:36)
The biggest thing that has the impact is just being able to connect with people. Like if we go in on a listing appointment, I’m going to come sell your house. And you might be interviewing other people, right? And my goal is that from the time I’m there to the time I leave, you feel connection. You feel that I’ve given you great information for you to make the best decision. And you feel like that guy connected with me. That’s what’s important to me.

Quentin (21:58)
No, love it. I’ve been doing, you know, I told you how long I’ve been doing the podcast. I do a lot of podcasts a day, talk to a lot of people, make a lot of different connections. And I’m normally the one talking about vulnerability and transparency, right? That’s normally what I talk about. But so to hear you talk about being vulnerable and transparent, I don’t hear a lot of people saying that. And so that, that again,

for me shows me your servant’s heart, how you want to connect with people. And that’s like a real thing for you. A lot of people said, but to me, I can see it. I can see it. can hear it in everything that you say. And relationships is everything in this space. And so I love the fact that you talk about building and connecting and wanting to see other people reap from your abundance, right? From your overflow. So I love that.

Robert Commodari (22:41)
Yeah, I appreciate that. Thank you.

Quentin (22:42)
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So listen, listen, I probably have, you know, one more question before we go. Well, before this one, when I’m talking to somebody like you, somebody who I love their lens and their perspective, I kind of like to open the floor to them to maybe give some type of encouraging words or inspiration. Like, is it something that you would love for our listeners to hear maybe from your heart to them? I just want to open up the floor and just and create the opportunity for you. Because I know with all these years of experience.

I want to people to get the insight from you, man. So yeah, I would love to ask that question.

Robert Commodari (23:15)
Yeah, I

think I told maybe I did or didn’t. So I have my own podcast. It’s called Chisel because we’re all work in progress. I’ve written a book. You see behind me right above my head is the title of my book, Better Than You Think Developing Awareness to Live a More Fulfilling Life. And you see the two posters next to a grit and grind. Right. So like the encouragement I have is, you know, there’s a lot here, but it’s very simple. It’s read, right. Be willing to grow. Be willing to learn about you.

Be willing to be the best you and stop trying to be like Mike or if you should try like to stop trying to look like Susie, right? Just be willing to be you, right? Let go and be you and just be the best you you could be. And then where, how does that start? Where do you, what do you do and how do you make that happen when you start? I’m sitting in a room right now. I got over a thousand books I’ve read over the last 30 years, right? So you become the books you read, right? So if you’re not reading, start, right? And you don’t have to read, listen to Audible, right?

Spend five, 10 minutes a day, right? Just think about that. I’ve read almost 1,200 books in 35 years, and I don’t know them all, right? And sometimes I go back and read some of them, but the encouragement is just dig into personal growth and development. Dig into your own spirituality. Dig into quiet time, introspective time, reflection time, reflect on yourself, and be willing to learn about who you are, and again, be that person you can be.

be willing to take instructive criticism because you’re not perfect. You’re never going to be perfect. You’re going to make mistakes. And when you do make a mistake, learn from it. And if you don’t get a listing, hey, Q, you know, I appreciate the opportunity for me to come out and talk to you about listing your house. And although you chose somebody else, is there something I could have done differently to earn your trust and be open to the response you get? It’s that simple, but dig into you first.

Quentin (24:59)
Absolutely. Well, listen, people, you heard it from him. I’m going say this. We’re talking to a guy who I believe what I heard for 20 years, 20 plus years of his business, has been referrals. So this guy knows about making connections. So I just want you, you heard what he said. I want you to take it to heart, make these connections. If it don’t work out, still make a positive connection with the person who you shook hands with. And so Mr. Robert, I thank you, man. Listen, before we wrap.

If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,

Robert Commodari (25:34)
Yeah, a couple of things. Call me Rob, not Mr. Rob. so good. So a couple of things. The email is easy and it’s very easy. Very easy email. It’s rob at talk to rob.com. All letters, right? Rob at talk to rob.com. You can go on my, go to a YouTube and look at, look up Chiseled with Rob Commodari. Subscribe to it, right? Send a note or something like that. And I’m on TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook as well.

Quentin (25:37)
Got you, Rob. OK, got you. Yeah,

Robert Commodari (26:03)
So feel free to reach out to me that way.

Quentin (26:05)
Awesome, I love it. Now, I’m gonna call you Rob because you gave me permission. Hopefully my father’s not listening to this because I still, even at the age of 44, I’m still scared of my daddy. You know, he didn’t put in me, yes ma’am, no ma’am, mister, missus. So I’m gonna call you Rob because you said I can’t. So Rob, I appreciate you, sir. I appreciate your time, your story, your perspective. Man, we need more people like you in this space. So again, thank you so much for being here.

Robert Commodari (26:30)
And thank you for your time and thank you for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.

Quentin (26:33)
Absolutely, absolutely. And for those tuning in, I’m not going to say if you got value. I know you got value from this, right? So I need you to make sure you’re subscribed. You do not want to miss out on these conversations with amazing operators like Mr. Like I was about to do it again, like Rob.

Robert Commodari (26:48)
It’s all good, man, it’s all good.

Quentin (26:50)
I appreciate you, sir. Listen, you have a great win. It’s all those listening. We’ll see you on it next time.

Robert Commodari (26:55)
Have a great day, take care.