How to Build Your Real Estate Deal Team With REF Pipeline Referral Matching

Cody Crabb (00:01)
It’s free. So there’s literally no downside.

Ellen Lippman (00:00)
It’s 100 % free.

Yes. You can register at refpipeline.com and be a free member. ⁓ We also have other levels if you want to do more. ⁓ We will… ⁓

Of course, use our algorithmic technology to match people up all along the line. It doesn’t matter if you’re a paying member or not. ⁓ If you are a paying member, we have a couple of other levels for you. And actually, it will cost you nothing because we’re going to give you something very valuable for that.

Cody Crabb (02:16)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Cody Crabb with Investor Fuel and today I’m joined by Ellen Lippman, founder of REF Pipeline, a referral matching platform built for real estate pros. And I’ll let her tell you all about it. Ellen, thanks so much for joining us today.

Ellen Lippman (02:31)
thank you so much for having me. ⁓ Our industry has always been my first love, and to be able to contribute something that will make a huge difference to the industry and to the public will be great.

Cody Crabb (02:46)
You know, that actually leads me perfectly into my first question, which is, how did you get into real estate? Like, what was your introduction into real estate and how did you get into this space? Because like I always say, it’s not exactly something you see on the kids’ career day board. Like firefighter, astronaut, real estate. Like, it’s not, you know what I mean? So how did you get into it?

Ellen Lippman (03:02)
You

Well that’s kind of a good question. Actually I started out in the retail industry and my husband and were very successful in that. ⁓ But right off the bat we wanted to own some property. We understood that that was very important. So I actually entered as a consumer as a lot of people do. And then when we moved to Las Vegas I decided to get my real estate license. So I’ve had that for quite some time and I’ve always loved

⁓ working with people, helping them be more successful in whatever enterprise I was in.

Cody Crabb (03:45)
Hmm,

that’s great. and so what was it specifically about real estate that called out to you? it, was it, was it the, sometimes when people pick a career path, it’s like what it is or what it means. Like, you know, maybe you work security so you can do something while you’re working security. Do you know what I mean? So I’m curious, which one was it for you? Was it the fact that it was real estate or was it the fact that allowed you to do something in your life?

Ellen Lippman (04:04)
Ha ha ha!

Well, the people that I met in real estate were wonderful.

I felt I can make a very important contribution by joining them. ⁓ So ⁓ my first company I was with was Prudential, and I had some great people I worked with who mentored me, and that was all wonderful. And then I went on to do some other things in real estate. I bought some properties. I renovated some properties and ⁓ kind of got into a lot of ⁓ just the

ownership part of it.

Cody Crabb (04:48)
Well, and so something you just said was interesting to me. ⁓ You said ⁓ you liked the people ⁓ It’s everybody kind of would say I would agree with you there that real estate is a very relationship driven people business which kind of ⁓ Leads me into leads me into what asking about what what you do Why are referrals so big and what did you notice was broken?

Ellen Lippman (05:59)
Well, referrals have always been at the heart of the business. ⁓ And getting those referrals has not always been easy, but being out there and talking to people and being with people, all of that is very, very important. Boots on the ground type of thing. Yeah. And I loved being part of a team and working within a team. I thought that was very, very important.

I actually liked fixing broken things. And I saw that there were segments of the business that were broken. And that’s why I decided to create REF Pipeline.

Cody Crabb (06:42)
All right, now we’re cooking, now we’re at the story. So tell me about REF Pipeline, what it does, who it’s for, and why it’s there.

Ellen Lippman (06:44)
Bye.

Well, a huge chunk of our business is really us. ⁓ It can’t really be touched by anything but us. ⁓ There are people out there that have tried and they’ve not always been successful. But REF Pipeline was developed to be able to give all of us a better chance at getting referred.

sometimes it’s difficult, especially when you’re a new agent, it’s difficult getting referred.

Cody Crabb (07:27)
Yeah, just had a conversation yesterday with someone that was talking about how they moved to a new place and then they started to become real estate agents and they were like, what did I do to myself? The whole reason you can get off the ground is because of the people you already know around you and things. So yeah, I can definitely see that. ⁓ I can definitely see that. ⁓ So ⁓ when you don’t have that network, if you’re a newer agent or if you’re someone without these connections,

Ellen Lippman (07:39)
Ha

Cody Crabb (07:56)
Can you kind of give us a walkthrough of how does REF pipeline actually help solve that for somebody?

Ellen Lippman (08:03)
Well, when an agent joins us, and it’s not just agents, but other people that are in the industry or want to be in the industry, when they join us, we are able to assist them in getting business. And one of the ways we do that is ⁓ we try to maximize their referral business.

and we use ⁓ an algorithmic technology to be able to do that.

Cody Crabb (08:38)
Yeah, see

this is the part that I’m interested in. So tell me about that, because this kind of sounds like what sets you apart from kind of other ones similar to this.

Ellen Lippman (08:47)
Right. ⁓ Well, algorithms are very important because they help with the matching side of it. To be able to maximize your referral business, ⁓ you’ve got to be ⁓ out there all the time, and you can’t do it all yourself. So what we’ve created is a system whereby agents and

other people related to the business can join us and get these referrals. And our system is very, very unique in doing that.

Cody Crabb (09:24)
Gotcha. So let’s say ⁓ I’m walking through it. how difficult is it for someone that is first jumping in? ⁓ the algorithm’s helping match people, but like what is it actually looking at to kind of help make those matches, if that makes sense?

Ellen Lippman (09:40)
Well, when you join REF Pipeline ⁓ as one of our professionals, ⁓ we take the information that you give us. ⁓ It goes into a special system where we can use that to match you going forward to other agents who want to work with you.

And there’s really never been anything quite like this before. ⁓ We include all the categories of real estate professionals, not just agents. And that enhances your chances of success going forward.

Cody Crabb (10:54)
Gotcha, so can you give me like a overview of like who would be on your list of this is an ideal thing to use? I I could think of a million different reasons that someone might want referrals, but you said it’s for people that are not just agents, so who else is involved, who else could be involved and get some benefit out of this?

Ellen Lippman (11:13)
Well, it could really be anyone that is in the industry or assists in the industry. I mean, for example, would be a good example for you people that are sort of on the periphery. ⁓ We’ve got photographers. ⁓ We’ve got everyone related to marketing a property.

Cody Crabb (11:32)
⁓ okay.

Yeah, that makes sense. So really,

it’s just anybody that might want to get in touch with each other. That makes a lot more sense when you say it that way, because it’s like, you may not all be doing the same thing, but you’re all there for the same reason. So I absolutely could see why that would be helpful. Okay, so kind of moving forward here, what are some of the most important roles that people don’t think about?

Ellen Lippman (11:53)
That’s right.

Yes. Yep.

Cody Crabb (12:09)
when they’re making deals happen. like, your platform helps connect people. I’d be curious to know, you know, at the end of the day, if one of the pieces is missing, a deal doesn’t happen. So I’d be curious to know, like, what do you see as an essential connection to make a deal happen?

Ellen Lippman (12:31)
Well, we all have to be of the same mindset ⁓ that the client is the first thing we need to consider in any deal. And sometimes people lose sight of that. And it’s really all about the client and getting them into the property.

or with the agent or the person that can help them the most to achieve their personal goals.

Cody Crabb (13:04)
Gotcha, okay. So, where is REF pipeline today?

and kind of where do you see it going? So are you seeing people connect and do business through it now or is that something that’s down the line? And where do you hope that it goes in the future?

Ellen Lippman (13:19)
Well, right now we’ve just really finished our first development phase and we owe a lot to some of the agents ⁓ that have assisted us in

getting it to where it is so that it’s very user friendly, very workable for agents and other people to join. And we’re encouraging people other than agents to join, other people that assist in the sales process. A photographer, for example.

Cody Crabb (13:53)
Yeah, it sounds like a lot of different people

in the industry could really benefit from kind of taking advantage of this.

Ellen Lippman (13:57)
very,

very important. And those people all need referrals. And a referral is very different from a lead because it’s coming from a known source in the industry that can actually assist the other person in getting that client. So it’s a…

Cody Crabb (14:12)
Yeah.

Ellen Lippman (14:23)
It’s a very interesting thing. Right now we have openings for 100,000 people on our platform. However, our platform is infinitely expandable, which is wonderful. So we can include a lot more ⁓ people that assist in the sales process and getting sales to happen. And that benefits ultimately the consumer, of course.

Cody Crabb (14:30)
Wow, okay.

Sure.

Yeah, yeah, and I think ⁓ because our audience is real estate investors specifically, think investors, sometimes the deal comes down to do you have the right people in place when a deal comes along. So I think having a good network is pretty much crucial to that. And this sounds like a great way if you’re just starting out or if you’re still building your network that.

Ellen Lippman (14:56)
Hmm.

right.

Cody Crabb (15:16)
you can really dig in and do that. So if someone’s listening and they want to be one of those people that’s getting in early, what would be the best way for them to check it out or get involved?

Ellen Lippman (15:26)
That is the easiest thing ever. Just go to REF, as in referral, REF, pipeline.com and register. Register and tell us what your talent is so that we’ll be able to refer you down the line.

Cody Crabb (15:45)
Gotcha, and I know everyone’s thinking this right now. It’s like, much does it cost? How much is it to be a member?

It’s free. So there’s literally no downside.

Ellen Lippman (16:33)
It’s 100 % free.

Yes. You can register at refpipeline.com and be a free member. ⁓ We also have other levels if you want to do more. ⁓ We will… ⁓

Of course, use our algorithmic technology to match people up all along the line. It doesn’t matter if you’re a paying member or not. ⁓ If you are a paying member, we have a couple of other levels for you. And actually, it will cost you nothing because we’re going to give you something very valuable for that.

Cody Crabb (17:18)
That’s fantastic. I think there’s pretty much no downside, so I would encourage everyone to ⁓ go check that out and join up if it looks like something that would help you out. ⁓ Is there, it like searchable by location? This is only kind of my personal curiosity here. Is it searchable by location? Is it something that you can do like, do you know what I mean? Like is that part of the algorithm that it finds people that you might want to work with close to you, or is it just in general?

Ellen Lippman (17:42)
yes, yep.

⁓ Once you join, you can join for free if you want to, which gives you a basic membership. That’s fine. And yes, you can search ⁓ other people who do ⁓ different tasks that you might be needing. ⁓ If you’re an agent and you need, a photographer, ⁓ once we have all these people on board, because this is all new, so we don’t have a lot of people on board, but we hope everyone will join, at least as a free member, definitely.

Cody Crabb (17:48)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Ellen Lippman (18:14)
they will find those people.

Cody Crabb (18:17)
Well, and especially because it’s free. I mean, I can’t really, I’m trying to think of a downside. I’m not sure I can even think of a reason that someone shouldn’t do this. it’s, I mean, worst case scenario, what? You don’t make any connections. And best case scenario, you find a team that you end up being really successful with. So I would encourage anybody to just go check it out. Go look at it and see if it could be helpful to you. One more time, could you give us the website so we don’t forget?

Ellen Lippman (18:42)
sure, it’s REF as in referral, Pipeline, P-I-P-E-L-I-N-E dot com. Take a look at it, we have some wonderful technology that we’re using to match people that you need to help you get to where you’re going.

Cody Crabb (19:01)
Fantastic, well we’ll make sure to include the links to that so people can find it. Ellen, I really appreciate you coming on and sharing what you’re building. I think there’s a lot of people in this space that could really benefit from stronger connections and better, you know, more referrals. Who doesn’t want more referrals? So I’ll be excited to see where that goes. For everyone listening, if you got value out of this episode, make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss future ones. We’ll see you on the next episode. Ellen, once again, it was a pleasure, thank you.

Ellen Lippman (19:16)
course. Thank you.