How Investors Can Protect Wealth in Crises | Jeff King Interview

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Show Summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Q Edmonds interviews Jeff King, an experienced insurance agent with a focus on commercial and investor insurance. They discuss the evolution of the insurance industry, the impact of COVID-19 on business operations, and the importance of networking and mentorship in real estate. Jeff shares insights on navigating challenges, adapting to change, and his future goals for scaling his agency while emphasizing the value of building relationships in the industry.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Jeff King’s Website
    • Jeff King’s Phone Number:(800) 453-9691

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Jeff King (00:00)
  I’ve been in this long, when I first came in, I came in shortly before what we now call the SNL crisis in the late eighties. I’ve seen a couple other crisis like that. as real estate investors, these are opportunities or could be the worst disasters.

  People have the wrong loan structure. They’re ⁓ overfinanced, underfinanced, underbuilt. These are challenges that hit every business. And sometimes the challenges that hit our customers hit us. the value is trying to stay very close to your customer. So you know what’s happening to them, with them, to their properties.

  And we have people working in, I guess, four different states, Count plus Texas right And it’s just an opportunity to present itself.

  Quentin Edmonds (02:27)
  Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. Super excited to be with you today. Super excited to be here. Excited about my guest. Oh, man. Listen, this gentleman’s been doing it since 1984. So when I tell you we’re about to get some gems, we are about to get some gems. I’m excited for you guys to peek through his lens, for you to listen to his perspective.

  for us to, for him to take us into his world. I know you’re going to get great value out of this conversation. So I would like to introduce you to Mr. Jeff King. Sir, how you doing today?

  Jeff King (03:01)
  I’m doing very well, about yourself? Glad to be here.

  Quentin Edmonds (03:03)
  man,

  I’m glad you’re here. ⁓ I’m so excited and I say that and I probably overuse it, but it’s just the reality. I love finding out new information from amazing people. And I know today is going to be no different. Even if we’d had somebody in the same field as somebody else, everybody’s unique lens and perspective is so refreshing. And so, you know, we all know I’ve been talking and I know today.

  this episode is going to be so valuable for our listeners. And so if you don’t mind, Mr. Jeff, I want you to take us into your world. Tell us what you have been mainly focused on these days and what markets you’re operating in.

  Jeff King (03:44)
  We are, I’m Jeff King, I’m with Ramey King Insurance. We’re an independent insurance agent. And we’re in Denton, Texas, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. we are a commercial and investor insurance specialist. Have been for the last 30 years. That includes, we do quite a bit of multifamily schedules of houses.

  commercial properties, could be retail, the triple net, and just we see it all. have our Martin, are, while we’re in Dallas, Fort Worth, most of our work is in Texas, but we are nationwide. And so we do, ⁓ coming out of COVID, everybody’s gone. Visibility has changed. How you see people, how you meet people is a,

  In first real estate as well. You can buy real estate a thousand miles from you and have a good manager take now I do suggest you ought to go see it every now and then that’s my only caveat And probably most go see it before you buy it. That’s where it’s most important but anyway, we have 27 people in the agency and handle all lines of insurance, but our focus primarily is property and liability related to

  to the investment.

  Quentin Edmonds (05:50)
  Yeah, I remember you telling me, you mentioned it again, you had 27 employees. And so you said you like to run it like a mom and pop, but you guys are far from a mom and pop. I know you said that because you like to service your clients, let them feel close, make them feel like it’s intimate. But man, y’all have an operation going on. So I guess my question is, I know it’s not always easy. So what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly?

  Jeff King (06:01)
  I’m gonna leave.

  It’s ⁓ a well, it’s easy. It’s easy. No problem. There’s no problem. No, it’s a I wish there can be kinks come up every now and But it’s where there’s people there challenges, but we have good people and ⁓ we try to keep them trained. Many are also real estate investors, so they feel like they know your side of the desk better than the average. Average agent that may not be in the game. It’s a.

  Quentin Edmonds (06:19)
  You

  Jeff King (06:41)
  We are departmentalized. do home and auto coverage. I’m not active in that, but we do that. We have a division that does health insurance. And then we have different sizes of business we work with based on sizes of accounts. But we do have management structure that supports that. While I’m the owner, but I’m still in sales. I help manage our salespeople.

  But we have a commercial manager, a personal lines manager, and then an office manager that keeps track of all that fun stuff that I’m, thank God they’re here. I don’t have to worry.

  Quentin Edmonds (07:17)
  Absolutely, absolutely. But listen, you you’ve been doing this since 1984. I want to ask this question, but I want to see it through your lens because there are moments when things get real, right? There are moments when things go sideways and you have to pivot fast. And so I would love to hear from your lens a story maybe if you were my sharing one of those moments for you when you had to

  kind of pivot fast or just, you know, on the fly in a sense.

  Jeff King (07:47)
  I’ve let me think a little bit. mean, we’ve, you know,

  I’ve been in this long, when I first came in, I came in shortly before what we now call the SNL crisis in the late eighties. I’ve seen a couple other crisis like that. as real estate investors, these are opportunities or could be the worst disasters. I mean, it’s a…

  People have the wrong loan structure. They’re ⁓ overfinanced, underfinanced, underbuilt. These are challenges that hit every business. And sometimes the challenges that hit our customers hit us. the value is trying to stay very close to your customer. So you know what’s happening to them, with them, to their properties. It’s a, you know, we…

  in the last 40 years we’ve had two or three or four minor situations, maybe the major situations. Now personally, I don’t think it’s any different than the previous 40 years. They’re just too far enough for us to remember them. Our parents know about them, our grandparents know about them. It’s the same, but just trying to stay relevant as things change. I do think back to COVID, that’s probably the most

  know, overall thing we had we in 20 we missed three months that we went. We went out of office and frankly we were ready for it. I angered our office manager when we all went home. As we had someone we thought had COVID and I was just surprised we could do it. She said, what do you mean we could? I’m just surprised we could do that, but to send people home. And work remotely has probably.

  Quentin Edmonds (09:26)
  from.

  Thank

  Jeff King (09:38)
  been the most unique challenge I’ve seen. because it taught people how to work, taught people how to be disciplined or not, or not if they’re at home. That works both ways. But it also, it helped us. We are 80 % remote now, which allows us to hire people with a broader ⁓ visibility.

  Quentin Edmonds (09:46)
  Yeah.

  Jeff King (10:01)
  And we have people working in, I guess, four different states, Count plus Texas right now. And it’s just an opportunity to present itself. Most of the time I have seen this when these things happen, which can be scary to any business owner.

  Most of them have not necessarily a silver lining, but they have an opportunity that presents itself within it. And sometimes you have to…

  Case in point, 10 years ago, back in 07, 08, when properties started, there were a lot of foreclosures. I would joke that we go with the property. If the property goes to bank, unfortunately it happens, we want to write the insurance for the bank. And the bank’s going to try to sell it as quick as they can. Well, we want to go to the new seller. We go with the property. Easier said than done.

  Quentin Edmonds (11:16)
  Yeah. Yeah.

  Jeff King (11:26)
  But it’s trying to be of service to everybody. Everybody needs insurance service. Many of the banks weren’t prepared for that either. How do we ensure these forced place or REOs, can remember exactly what the terminology they use, we can do that as well. And we had large schedules for banks that had their properties. Then after a while, they sold their properties and went back out to the public as it should.

  The bank didn’t want the property either. They just had to do it, had to do what they had to do. But as things change, just trying to be aware of it. And usually you figure it out after it’s happened. You know what it was is no one’s ahead of the game. You know, just trying to stay. If you can stay even with the game, you’re probably doing as best you can. So it’s a hit. Anyway, don’t know if that answers the question.

  Quentin Edmonds (11:58)
  year.

  Absolutely. Absolutely. ⁓

  thoroughly answering my question. I appreciate it. I appreciate you, you know, even bringing up the COVID years because you’re right, it has changed like the workforce structure. A lot of people work from home, you know. A lot of people didn’t think their businesses could operate from home and they’re finding out when they was forced to that, this is kind of like becoming a norm. And so you’re absolutely right. It has changed the landscape.

  Jeff King (12:42)
  We have an office, I’m in the office. I’m two and a half miles from my office and I like being in the office. Like I said, most of our people are not. We have some that are hybrid that come a couple days a week and they go home. ⁓ But it is there, I’ve seen some folks that were with us that like everybody that working from home was not the best place to be. Too many distractions.

  Quentin Edmonds (13:08)
  Yep, absolutely.

  Jeff King (13:09)
  When I’m working at home, I joke I’m too close to the pantry. You know, just circle through lunch about three times a day. You know, it’s just part of the deal. That’s my negative work now. And then my thought is very distracts me. So much rather be in the office in my case. But with those economic hits, so particularly in real estate, those present opportunities as everybody does. I did hear, I can’t remember who I heard this from, probably one of the mentors and ⁓

  Quentin Edmonds (13:12)
  Yeah

  Yes, sir.

  Yeah.

  Jeff King (13:38)
  I think it’s been attributed to somebody, but you the opportunity to buy it. Well, if you buy businesses or properties when there’s blood in the streets, but the caveat even when some of that blood is yours, it makes it challenging if you’re in it, you’re fighting it just as well. So, but it is. So that maybe that helps.

  Quentin Edmonds (13:48)
  Yup, there it is.

  So true. So true. So true.

  Very, very well said. But no, you’re absolutely right, and I love it. You know, your perspective shows me honestly, you know, why you’re in it for the long, you know, in the game for the long term. You’re not someone that’s dabbing, like you’re in it. You’re smacked in it because you know how to make the adjustments and pivot when you need to. And so I want to ask you this.

  What are you most focused on solving or scaling next? What’s the next real goal for you, Mr. King?

  Jeff King (14:28)
  We have, I’m at a certain age, I’m looking to continue to build the agency. ⁓ And frankly, there’s, you know, at a certain age, I need to take some chips off the table, frankly, let some people in, which I plan to. But we are looking for good people that want to be in this industry. it can be nationwide, does not, while we’re in Texas, it does not have to be in Texas. And there can be other parts of Texas.

  Quentin Edmonds (14:42)
  Yeah. Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Yeah.

  Jeff King (14:55)
  Insurance is a huge market. one ⁓ ever has more than they need. The office is, we never have a closed practice. There’s plenty of opportunity. So I’m looking for good people. That includes sales people and service people. A lot of people look at insurance and they think, well, I don’t want to be in sales. And that’s legitimate issue, but probably only two or three.

  ⁓ positions in insurance are actually direct sales or everything else is support. And those are opportunities.

  Quentin Edmonds (15:28)
  Yeah.

  Jeff King (16:12)
  The fact that we’re remote allows us to do ⁓ to hire people in other states where they’re not here. I don’t have room to have our building. We don’t own our building. I wish I did. I’ve tried to buy it. The owner doesn’t want to sell. He’s right for not wanting to sell. But, you know, we don’t have to house people.

  They can be at home, they can be in the office. ⁓ the unique thing about the remote work is that there’s no more sick days. There’s no more snow days. People are at home, they just keep working. Unless you’re really sick and that can’t work. But if you’ve got the sniffles, don’t quite feel up to it, stay at home, continue to work. And I like even coming out of COVID, if they thought they had something, maybe they need to stay home, keep it at home.

  Quentin Edmonds (16:59)
  Yeah.

  Yes, sir. No, absolutely right. When you said about snow, it took me back into my old days. I was a mailman for 14 years. when you talk about, yeah, so you talk about when it’s snow being there, the opportunity to work from home. Yes, this is a refreshing new season of my life for sure. Because man, at times I ain’t have a choice. I had to be out there, rain, snow, sleet, hurricane.

  Jeff King (17:09)
  Bye

  Quentin Edmonds (17:25)
  rattlesnakes, rats, whatever. I was out there doing it, you know? And everything that I’ve named, I’ve worked through. And so, yeah, absolutely. So yeah, absolutely. But I love it, man. You thinking about, you said it yourself, you can go nationwide and you’re just looking for the right partners, for the right people. And I guess for me, that kind of takes me to this question. You know, there’s a lot of people that they’re listening and they’re either early in their journey or they’re looking to level up.

  And I think it would benefit hearing this from you. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what has made the biggest difference for you?

  Jeff King (18:01)
  It’s a networking is important, also in sales as part of the equation. We do. We go to a lot of events ⁓ mentioned earlier. We do support a lot of mentors in the real estate business. So as the various mentorships are putting on their seminars, their their webinars, their their. We try to be there sometimes where there is a vendor.

  Sometimes we’re there to network, to meet the people that are in the game. I do probably the mentorships and there’s many of these nationwide. We work with probably six or seven that we support, we’re at their functions. I do like the mentorship model. Real estate is a wonderful investment. I think everybody ought to have some. And the example I like to use.

  and it’s a physician’s example, but someone said, at Thanksgiving, and their uncle says, you need to be in real estate, get into real estate. And about the time you go, can you explain that the uncle’s gone? what do mean by that? Should I be a real estate agent? Should I buy? Should I do commercial houses, apartments? And the answer is yes. But how do you do that? But with the mentorship.

  And there’s different structures, there’s different costs involved, but they will take someone through that journey. And it can be, there’s some that do houses or some that do apartments or some that do commercial, some do it all. There’s different fees, but I honestly think it is helpful to have someone there really to guide someone. So if the uncle’s not there to do that, I joke about, could be an aunt, could be a mom, dad, whatever, brother, sister.

  but it’s good to have someone that will do it. I think the real estate investor, I own real estate as well. My dad retired on real estate from the insurance agency. I mean, now that it’s just a great investment, it’s tax supported, the equity buildup is something I think everybody should do. There’s a question, I personally prefer long-term investing. There are other people that were short-term.

  They buy and sell. There’s so many ways to make money in real estate. I’m not smart enough to think short term, so I have to think long term. But I think people getting in the real estate business is a great, and keeping their day job. There’s thought of getting real estate and retire. That can be available, but if you like what you’re doing, you make money while you do it. You can use third party management. I use third party management. I don’t have to manage my properties.

  I don’t have time to manage my property. I wasn’t good at managing my property, I feel like I a much better job than I do. So it lets me do my day job in the insurance business, which I enjoy and make a living doing.

  Quentin Edmonds (20:46)
  Hahaha!

  There you go. Listen, sometimes the best way to get your time back is either to all in me or delegate. And so you’re right. letting people, you know, letting people help you out, there ain’t no shame in that. Get your time back. You know, get your time back for sure. Absolutely.

  Jeff King (21:13)
  say it’s

  you know there are people that you know do first party management they’re out there you know every day I bought a property from someone that retired but they did it every day they were tired my same age actually but they were tired of doing it so I used their part

  Quentin Edmonds (21:21)
  Yes, sir.

  Yes, sir. There you go.

  Yeah. Listen, Mr.

  they’ve been on this podcast and they do it at a high level and they do it well. So you’re absolutely right. There’s people who do it very, very well. So you’re absolutely right. Absolutely right. Absolutely right. So listen, Mr. Jeff, this has been great, Listen, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you,

  Jeff King (21:43)
  It is. It is.

  We have our website is rameyking.com. ⁓ Our phone number 800-453-9691. I’m on the website, send us an email, set up a time to talk, either me or any of our people. If it’s insurance, any of us. If it’s for an opportunity, probably would be me or my office manager, Mandy Smith or Jenny Buchanan, my commercial manager.

  they’re available, like to talk to you. It’s a pros and cons to it. It is an opportunity, but we’re central time and you so it’s whatever time it is now, but just give us a call and talk, send us an email. We’ll set up a time and talk. And if you have property that needs to be reviewed, same thing. Let’s send us an email. We’ll set a time to talk and dig into it and see how we can help you.

  Quentin Edmonds (22:48)
  There he is everyone, Mr. Jeff King. Sir, I thank you so much for your time, for your story, for your perspective. We definitely need more people like you in this space that’s thrown it the right way. So sir, I thank you so much. Appreciate you. Absolutely. Yes, sir. And now everyone else, listen, I know you got value from this conversation. So subscribe. That’s where we are. You got value, so go ahead and subscribe because you do not want to miss out on these amazing conversations.

  Jeff King (23:01)
  First shit. Glad to be here. Thank you.

  Quentin Edmonds (23:15)
  So again, thank you, Mr. Jeff. And to everyone else, we will see you on the next time.

  Jeff King (23:21)
  Thank you.