How to Find Off-Market Real Estate Deals Through Agents | Kenny Klaus

Kenny Klaus (00:00)
You got to pick a niche or a value proposition, but a lot of them don’t go to agents consistently and show up and say, “I’m here to be another solution.” Lenders do it all the time.

“I can do your DPA programs. I can do your VA and all these things. Just give me a shot. I could be the solution.” And then they’ve got to get their contact information just like any CRM, start dripping on them. “Hey, here’s one we just bought. Hey, here’s a rehab we did. Hey,” and let them know what, show them what they’re doing. That’s how you build rapport and relationship. And you look up in two years and you probably got leads coming in at zero dollars cost.

Cody Crabb (02:03)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast by Investor Fuel. I’m your host, Cody Crabb, and today I’m joined by Kenny Klaus of the Klaus Team in Phoenix, Arizona. Kenny has spent twenty-seven years in real estate building a relationship-driven business through geographic farming, community branding, and giving sellers more options for how they sell their homes. Kenny, thanks so much for joining today.

Kenny Klaus (02:23)
Hey, Cody. Appreciate it, and appreciate the opportunity to be in your network here.

Cody Crabb (02:27)
Yeah, we’re we’re glad to have you. So we were chatting before we started recording here, and you said something interesting. You said sellers don’t always want the highest possible price, they want options. And I’d love to hear kind of what makes you say that. Like what’s your kind of thinking behind that phrase?

Kenny Klaus (02:43)
Well, I mean, my first eleven years or so in the business, I was like every traditional agent. You’d go to a listing appointment and the goal is to sell their house for as much as possible. So you had two battles, right? You had the battle of price and you had the battle of compensation. And so it was like you want to tell price that they want to hear, but you gotta be honest with them, and yet then they want to beat you up over one percent. And then magically around twenty eleven or twelve or somewhere in there, Opendoor came to the Phoenix market.

And they were sending all these offers over, and they were advertising like crazy. My clients were getting things in the mail from them offering to buy their house. And I started seeing things sell. And I started going to appointments, and I’d realized didn’t hear back from that client. What’s going on? Try them again and check the tax records, and I’d see Opendoor bought their house. And it was like this moment where I went, I can’t run from this because the consumer is seeing it. They’re seeing it on TV, radio, billboards.

I’ve got to run at it. So I ended up having lunch with one of their guys, got to know him, realized he’s actually a human being, not a robot, like it felt. And kind of figured out their model. And I went, okay, people are taking, I had clients taking a 12 and 14% fee. Opendoor originally was like they’d be 14% was their transaction fee or 12%. And they were going to take it because they just wanted to get to Colorado, get wherever they were going. I just said, “Well, do you care if I buy?”

And they’re like, “No, if you’ll match that offer, well we’d rather use have it anyway.” And then I had to laugh, the like the second or third one, they’re, “Well, are you okay if we leave these three TVs and the washer and dryer and this lawnmower and all this stuff?” And I started

Cody Crabb (04:11)
Big this big safe full of gold bricks, yeah.

Kenny Klaus (04:14)
I was like, this is like a dream come true. Thank you, Opendoor, because you set the stage. I didn’t—as a retail agent, you don’t want to go in and tell them a price 80, 80, 70, 80% on the dollar, maybe even 60, 70% on the dollar for them because you’re gonna throw you out of the house. When someone else did it, it was beautiful. Cause what happened, I started finding out where the floor was for them too. Like if they thought their house was worth 600 and

Opendoor offered them 450, and I heard them go, “Well, we’d probably take 550, 5 and a quarter if we had to.”

All of a sudden you’re like, “Okay, I got a good client here.” And what I realized is that, because people beat you up over price and compensation, right? Those are the two biggest issues that most retail agents have. And some of that skill set, don’t not gonna argue all that, but what I realized is that we never provided more options for them.

And so because they beat you up, you thought, “Well, there’s no way they’re gonna take less for their house.” But Opendoor provided something. They provided certainty, control, and convenience. I call the three C’s. When well the consumer always said, “Wait, we need no showings. I can pick my closing date and it’s a cash buyer. Yep. What? We’re just gonna go ahead and do that.” Because keep in mind, like the big companies like We Buy Ugly Houses and some of the big investors here in the Valley that market heavy, they’re they’re

They’re going to be at minimum 20 to 30% below market. So these guys were coming in at 12, 14%, eventually 10%, got all the way down to five, six percent at their at their bottom. Now, I’m not saying that company made money. I’m just saying instead of running away from it, I ran at it, learned the model, and learned how I could incorporate it into my business. I bought the next seven that we presented the Opendoor offers on. They were the best flips I’ve had because

I knew the house, the condition. We closed like a regular closing. I had time to inspect if I wanted to, things like that. But my point is it opened up the conversation that when you provide options, the consumer will listen. But when you only have one way, right? And if you think about wholesale and retail, we’re so far apart for all these years, 100% to 70% or 90% to 60%. All of a sudden you find something in the middle, it gets enticing for them. And

So we just started doing what we call, “Hey guys, we’re here to sort of serve you. We’re gonna go to market, we’re gonna get all these other offers for you, we’re gonna put them in a simple side-by-side comparison. You decide what’s best for you. Does that make sense?” Like I want what’s, by the way, I make less money if an investor buys it, but it’s in your best interest. And my bet is you’ll tell two or three people before this transaction is open, “You better call Kenny.” And that’s what started happening. And I started to feel better about the business. Cause if I leave your house, Cody, and you

sit on the couch that night with your family, and all of a sudden you see an Opendoor ad—”We’ll buy your house, we’ll do this”—you’re like, “Why didn’t Kenny talk to me about that? My

Cody Crabb (07:35)
Right, exactly.

Kenny Klaus (07:36)
agent, maybe it’s not in his best interest.” And so I started going, husband, a dad, a grandfather at this point. I mean, I’m human, too. Like, I’m a homeowner. Like, I want options. I want to know what my choices are because everybody’s moving reasons we all know are different. So

From an investor perspective, a lot of the small markets didn’t have Opendoor, Offerpad, things like that. So I started trying to teach other agents like, find a local investor who is legitimate, is going to close, not just tie up the property and try to wholesale it three times and the client gets left hanging there because it’s still your name on it. Find good partnerships that you can bring deals to, and they may buy one out of 10.

But they’re gonna be okay with that because it didn’t cost them anything. They don’t have any lead generation costs. They just present an offer based on the pictures you took and the data you shared once you build that relationship. To this day, some of my best deals come from—the last two I bought are from agents in our market who said, “Hey, I got a client, don’t even want to mess with it.” Like it’s amazing how many agents just are a one trick pony and they’re okay with that. To me, I’m in the solution business. Says it right on our shirts and our logos: Real Estate Solutions.

We get paid in direct proportion to solve problems. And so everybody’s situation’s different. Kids inherit a house. They just want out. They just want the money and go. A lot of seniors, a lot of people, period. They’re—they got an opportunity to move out of state. They need to go. They found their dream home while they were out house hunting before they put their house on the market here. And now there’s emotions, and they’re gonna take less to get that home they wanted in North Carolina, for example. So

I think we got stuck in that rut of that “Me Too” business and everybody just followed the same thing. What I found as an investor myself and doing flips and private money, that these were some of the best deals were these type of deals because you weren’t competing against multiple investors typically. But I would use those guys, and then if I had to, then I’d say, “Do you care if I buy it?” Now, if you have a real estate partner who keeps buying the ones that you—you do all the work for, well then probably not the relationship.

You’re not going to find—most of them have the capital to fund their own deals or or have done flips to the level that they know how to do them on top of it. It’s a lot of risk, right? Private money and all that stuff. So I think it’s a great opportunity and something that is kind of overlooked. And I’ve been geographic farming a neighborhood since two thousand one. So we send out newsletters and do your traditional stuff. But after this many years, we’re like the household name and people call us. And so then we had to start advertising,

we can do cash offers, we can do buy-then-sell programs, we can do sell and stay. We have investor, landlord programs, how to become a landlord. Like we wanted to sit down and consult with them and give them a range of options so they saw more value than just just a one path. And through that, it’s kicked up all these other opportunities. And I’ll tell you some of the most successful people in our market, investors, they go to agent events, they partner with agents, they bring them another tool.

Because there’s a lot of bad ones, too, in the Valley. A lot of wholesalers that wholesale upon other people’s wholesale. And next thing there’s all these—there’s no margins left for the end user. So if you can be the first in and make a fair offer, all they can say is no, and you move on to the next one. We all know it’s a numbers game. And Phoenix is just ultra, ultra competitive out here. So I think there’s different ways to look at it. And if your goal is to serve the consumer at the highest level and be a true

fiduciary, help them through the process, and you can’t retail sell it because they don’t have the money to put carpet and paint in and—and they’ve got—they’re hoarders or they need to move because they’ve got—or they’re divorced and they just need to get it done because they need to go buy two houses, you bring in another resource. You’re the—you’re you’re the hero of the story, right? And at the end of the day, for those who have read Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, that’s the goal is make the client the hero in the story.

But you become—end up becoming the hero because you bring a solution that they hadn’t thought of.

Cody Crabb (11:47)
You mentioned that some of the most successful investors are the are showing up at these agent events and things. What does an investor need to do to become the person that an agent actually trusts enough to bring a deal to them?

Kenny Klaus (11:59)
I think it’s like everything. I do a network meeting. If somebody shows up once and they expect business and they don’t get it and they don’t show up again or two, three, I think you have to be consistent, but you can say that about anything in life, right? Consistent in your finance, consistent in your dieting, consistent you’re working out. Consistency is the key. If that’s a model and a lever you believe in, then you—I think you gotta build a plan, a model and a plan around going, “I’m gonna go to these events, maybe I can get in a small office and speak about

how I evaluate a property and how I can be a partner to them.” Cause I will tell you, there’ll be someone in that room that by the time you leave, will probably go, “Hey, can we talk real quick? I got a tough one right now. Could you come look at it?” And if you’re an investor and you’re also doing the flips, at a minimum you may go, “Hey, I got a great flooring guy. You can use this guy,” like refer somebody, like give value, right? Give to receive. And now you—you work your way in. Don’t expect the first event you go to and have a list of 10 people are going to send you deals. It’s a matter of

building rapport. “Hey, would you like me to give you a cash offer on that house so that you can go present that with a retail offer and you don’t look like the bad guy?” And you’ll find out the floor of where they’re at. How low are they probably willing to go? In big markets, we’ll use Opendoor, Offerpad, those kind of companies to go get those offers because they used to be a lot easier. They’re much harder now to get because you—you got to do all these photos through their app and it’s just—it’s not as easy as it used to be. But

we still do it because we want them to have choice. And my agents are required on every listing to submit the house to Opendoor because we want to get that offer and we want the client to know we’ve exercised every option for them before going to retail and going to market. Maybe there’s a deal that’s pretty darn close and they may take it. The other thing I tell agents, it’s like registering with a builder. Out here in Arizona, if you don’t register and your client goes in, they’re not going to pay you.

If you register that house with Opendoor, let’s face it, most of America houses are sitting a little longer right now, right? Most agents haven’t had a house sit for 30 days if you haven’t been in business than more than a decade. And so you’re like, “What do I say? What do I do?” Well, you’re going to find that your consumer has gone to Opendoor because you’re going to get the notification. Because if it’s listed, they’re going to let the listing agent know, “Hey, your client requested an offer. We want to let—here’s what our offer is.” And they won’t try to go around you. They’ll work through you.

So, and I know I’m speaking to probably a smaller market of where Opendoor is, but you could become the Opendoor of that market.

Cody Crabb (14:15)
Yeah.

Kenny Klaus (14:15)
Advertising to agents, because I think there’s—I think most investors advertise direct to consumer, but so does everybody. A lot of people do, I should say. And

you got to pick a niche or a value proposition, but a lot of them don’t go to agents consistently and show up and say, “I’m here to be another solution.” Lenders do it all the time.

“I can do your DPA programs. I can do your VA and all these things. Just give me a shot. I could be the solution.” And then they’ve got to get their contact information just like any CRM and start dripping on them. “Hey, here’s one we just bought. Hey, here’s a rehab we did. Hey,” and let them know what, show them what they’re doing. That’s how you build rapport and relationship. And you look up in two years and you probably got leads coming in at zero dollars cost.

And so you can afford to make a little bit better offer.

And you build that rapport.

Cody Crabb (15:05)
Okay, so tell me a little more about this concept of geographic farming, as you put it. You’re not a farmer. No, as far as I know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there’s not literal farming. Tell, for the for the people in the audience who’ve never heard of this term, give us a little bit of an idea of how it works and how it can apply in in this industry.

Kenny Klaus (15:24)
Well, and and a lot of people, if you lived in a neighborhood, who who did you always get mail from? Who is whose wrapped vehicle did you see the most? Who did you—that’s probably somebody farming that area. They’re they’re trying to basically—it’s a niche, if you will. So you—there could be an investor niche, there’ll be investor niche, there could be a veteran niche that agents try to do. For me it was farming because I could incorporate all those things into it. So I have currently have thirty-three thousand homes that we market to every month.

It started with seventeen hundred. And I do a full-page, new—a full-color newsletter that’s all my content. So it’s community events, community things going on. Let it—whether it’s Little League signups or whatever’s happening, car show at the high school this weekend. Again, you got to be a month out, so you got to be ahead of things. But then that goes to everyone’s mailbox and it’s just saturated every mailbox and eventually becomes the household name because they’re used to seeing it. You become the trusted source in a geographic area.

Like right now it’s more important than ever because homes are sitting longer and they tried their cousin and their friend and their neighbor who has a real estate license and now they’re realizing we need skill and we need someone with options to help market and sell our house. Not just someone who’s doing it for a low fee, if you will. ‘Cause they realize the low fee didn’t save many money ’cause they didn’t sell their house. And so

Cody Crabb (16:33)
Can’t save can’t save negative dollars.

Kenny Klaus (16:36)
There you go. And and I’m a—for those who know their DiSC profile, I’m an ID, so high I. And so I realized through taking those those assessments that, well, no wonder why I don’t prospect because I’m more of a marketer. I want to send you stuff, I want to bring value, I want you to call me. I’m—it’s more natural to me than go knock on someone’s door I don’t know and try to pitch my product. Now, we do a little bit of that now with our open houses, but we didn’t used to. I mean, I never have door-knocked, it’s just not my thing, or

prospecting online through list of numbers. It’s just not my—not my comfort zone, so I won’t do it to the level that I probably could. But farming gives you a chance to dominate an area and you become that trusted source. So they call you for everything. So as a retail agent, that’s what you want is to stay top of mind. Because we know it used to be seven years, then it was 10 years, and now it’s somewhere probably 12 to 13 years people are moving. They’re staying longer because rates and things like that and just the cost to to move. So

I think that if if I’m an investor, I’m gonna find who’s dominating those neighborhoods and say, “What if I could bring another tool to your toolbox?” And not—because I heard one time someone say, if Cody, if you came to me and said, “Hey, hey Kenny, what can I do for you?” You walk in my office and you’re like, “Hey, Kenny, what can I do for you?” I’d say, “Well, Cody, you you could leave. Like that would be helpful because if you don’t know what you can do for me, why do I need you? Right?” Come

Cody Crabb (17:47)
Why are we talking?

Kenny Klaus (17:48)
in, Cody, Cody comes in, “Hey Kenny, I know you dominate this”—

stroke the ego a little bit. “Hey, Kenny, I know you dominate that area. I’ve seen your stuff for a long time. You must talk to a lot of people. Have you ever had a scenario? Just one. A scenario where someone has said, ‘Yeah, we just we don’t have the money to fix it up. We really don’t know. We’re gonna call We Buy Ugly Houses, or we just don’t think we can do this.’ Have you ever had that scenario?” If the answer is—well, most of them are probably, “Yeah, we’ve had more probably more than you you’d like to know.”

“Would it be helpful if someone brought in a cash offer to you, too, that backed their cash offer? Like we’re not going to change it at closing, so that you can sit down and present a side-by-side comparison and look like, before I met with Cody, already went to work,” or “Hey, Cody, we met. Look forward to helping you. I’m gonna go get you a couple options. And now that I’ve seen your house, I’m gonna update your market analysis.” Said, “Okay, Tuesday at two, I’ll come back and present that to you.” Now you get those other offers and you go back and you give them a couple choices, and they’re like,

“Holy cow, Kenny, you just did a bunch of work for me and we haven’t even really started in business yet together.” So I think when you present it and make—and make the agent realize this could be an option for me. And you could say, “Hey, my experience is certainty, control, and convenience have been a big value that people will take a discount.” And we already know people pay more to have their food delivered than getting in the car and getting it themselves in most cases.

Cody Crabb (19:00)
Yeah.

Kenny Klaus (19:01)
That’s my point. That’s convenience. “I don’t want to get off the couch. I want this done.” And today’s world is getting more and more like that. Your seniors, a lot of them, honestly, their kids take over the house and they don’t want the shag carpet or the old cabinets, and they don’t—where it’s gonna cost them out of pocket. They just want that 300 grand, even though it’s worth 500. And you go, “Hey, I’ll give you three and a quarter, let’s make this easy.” And they’re happy, you’re happy, and everybody wins.

But a lot of those relationships are with the agent. So if you can build a relationship with the agent, they can bring you deals. And mean, I’ve got the la—I’ve got five going right now, and two of them are agent-delivered to me: “Hey, our client needs this.” And depending on the agent relationship, you’ll either give them a a little referral fee or something, or give them a little something for helping you out or for bringing you something, or you could always have them list it for you, too, if you build that relationship. Now, one thing I recommend is that

we had our clients sign that, “Hey, this investor that I brought is gonna buy the home. I’m going to be relisting it for them. Are you okay with that?” And so that way it’s signed, like it’s acknowledged. So not to get into the weeds of that, so everybody needs to do their own due diligence, but I think that a lot of investors are going the traditional routes, right? Sending out a zillion letters, trying to run billboards, TV, radio, which can be super expensive and you have to have a long play for that,

versus an agent who’s already been at the kitchen table and now you show them how you can bring another solution for them. That’s solving my problem, Cody. If you come in, you solve that problem and I didn’t have an Opendoor, Offerpad in my market, and say, “I got I got an investor who—they got to make money, too.” And everybody goes, “Yeah, I get it.” “Let me have them take a look at it and see what kind of offer I could get you. Cause I know you said you found that spec home and you want that lot,

but the builder’s not going to hold it for you. What if I could get you an offer that would do this?” And you’d be surprised, especially because if you look at 20 to 25, in our market, we went up close to 40%, 35-40%, arguably. People are playing with house money right now. I mean, you got to remind them that 4% a year over those years, four times five would have been 20, 20%. You’re up—you’re up 35-40. You’ve come back five so far, if you come back another five,

when you show them that trajectory, they’re still so far ahead of—they’re like, “Well, we wouldn’t buy this house today.” I’m like, “No joke. How do you expect me to find a buyer? Like rates are double what they were and prices are up.” So sometimes it’s just that—that honest with them. And a lot of times, like I said, once an agent does a deal with you, they know other agents. They’re like, “Yeah, I use this guy.” I mean, the one I just got is like three deep from someone who told someone who told someone, said, “Hey, my friend—if a friend said,

‘I know that you buy and that you you you closed, you did what you said you’re gonna do, you didn’t beat up, you let leave all the trash if they needed to, you let pick their closing date, let them stay an extra week if you needed to.'” Like that makes everybody look good. And if you can handle that, it’s a—to me, it’s a no-brainer. It’s the—probably the—you’re putting your time in, but if you’re good and you’re a communicator and you’re a connector, you’re gonna pay dividends on that. Because I can tell you one agent knows

how many more agents, and it just—it takes off from there.

Cody Crabb (21:53)
So w—when you say like an area, like your community, yeah. I’d be curious to know like what sort of size area are you talking about? Like is it in terms of people or land size or just I’m trying to wrap my head around like how how big of an area you try use here.

Kenny Klaus (22:08)
It’s rooftop. So, we started with 1700 homes. I say we—I started with 1700 homes in a in an area and just started sending a newsletter every month. And then I do open houses in the area for other agents until I get my own sign in the yard, and and then just started building off of that. Then that led into the next two communities. So started marketing to them. And the first one was called AugustaRanchUpdate.com, but that was a subdivision. So then we went to the next two.

At the time, all the zip codes were available. So I bought like 106 zips in the Valley. So like now I market 85209.com, 85212.com, Your Community Connection, because 85209 alone has 28 subdivisions, some small ones, 50 homes, 30 homes, 80 homes. So instead of trying to market all these newsletters, it just—it’s easy to remember, too. It’s their zip code. So that was the concept. And then we just have to stay consistent. Then you follow up, the

Nextdoor, you’re on there, you’re on Facebook, you’re you’re still doing all those pieces, but you can still do open houses. The pro—the thing is then people see all your signs, and they see three signs in a neighborhood out of sixty, they think you own the whole neighborhood because they see more of your sign. It’s crazy how small the percentage has to be for what the—what the perception is. And then it just keeps compounding on that. And then all of a sudden you get known as a retail agent. So then I had to start marketing,

“We can get you cash offers, too.” Cause always thought, “Hey, I don’t have the cash. How can I do that in the beginning of my career?” The first 10 years, like, “I don’t have—you can’t go buy it.” Then I start understanding private money. You can only carry so many of those because that interest adds up quick. And so, and all of a sudden it like, “What if I had a partner come in and make these offers?” And I didn’t look for that. It happened to me. That’s why I’m sharing the knowledge, because I saw it with Opendoor. And I can tell you for the first couple of years,

really the majority of the country didn’t see it because they really focused on Arizona. Then they started spreading out. But it—what it really told me, and this is why I think it’s important to your group, is that people are willing to take less than what the market is if you can provide the three C’s and you can do it professionally, not make them feel dirty or like, you’re not gonna post it, “Look at this shithole I bought” type thing. Sorry, this—

Cody Crabb (24:07)
No, you’re yeah. No, I feel—I th—now that’s interesting. I think you brought up something that I’d never really thought about this this way, but when you’re looking at making a purchase or making a business decision like that, it’s just numbers. But then you bring in these emotion elements, too, and that’s when things start to get flexible of like, “Well, I just wanna s—I just wanna move before I miss my chance to do XYZ,” or

“I got into college and I need to do this.” And there’s—there’s so many reasons, but like the—like you said, the point is i—th—there are reasons that don’t literally make logical sense all every time, but they’re out there. And it could just be someone’s personal, something they’re going on—something’s going on in their life, and unfortunately—

Kenny Klaus (24:45)
A lot of agents run from that because they don’t want to tell their clients something that may offend them. And it’s like, “Well, you let someone else do it then. You let the other person make them the low offer.” Cause 90 days from now, if the home isn’t selling, you’ve dropped 40, 50 grand, they’re going to start going, “That offer’s starting to look a little bit better.” Now, that offer may change at that point because the market may have shifted, but they at least have an understanding to it. So I don’t think it’s a hard sale to retail agents. I think it just takes time to build rapport.

And I would show up to an event in a uniform, with branded—and look professional, not like I crawled out of the sewer type person, which they kind of think these investors are slimy, dirty people, slick back, like, gold watches on. Just show up as a normal person that you’re hustling just like they are, but show up professionally. Think we’re in an industry that people can show up however they want to work. And today I’m a bad example. I have a hat on. I’ve been out of town. I got a haircut this morning, and then I had a dentist appointment. So I’d—

my day’s been a little wonky, but we gotta show up professionally. And that doesn’t mean I—’cause to be jeans and a polo shirt with your logo on it, but it shows that you’ve committed, I—

Cody Crabb (25:45)
Thought about it for five seconds before you left the house.

Kenny Klaus (25:48)
That you’re actually—this is your business and you you hold it and then you try to get some reviews and you do some social media and you you retarget agents and there—so there’s gonna be that whole component, but I think the fastest way, just like agents, the fastest way to get their first deal is get it—well, obviously your sphere, let them know you’re in real estate and go do an open house ’cause you’re gonna meet people and you’re gonna figure out real quick what to say, how to say it, and get better. Start going to some of these real estate events and—because they’re out there.

You just kind of sit around and you get in a group and now you’re talking to someone, you end up at a lunch table, and “What do you do?” “I I help agents solve some of their sellers’ issues. Sometimes I was trying to sell a house, or I help make it easier for sellers to get the—make their move if they need to, or if there’s a house that’s dilapidated or they inherit it or things, I can solve that problem. I’d love to be—I’d love to show you how I can do it. Here’s a house I just did. Let me show you, and here’s a testimonial from an agent,” or something, as you

build those things because that’s credibility. But I think most agents don’t realize they even have the problem until you put it in front of them. Like, would it be helpful if you had a cash offer in your back pocket on every listing you went to, Price?

Cody Crabb (26:48)
When you put that way.

Kenny Klaus (26:49)
Yeah. And

and assuming that the investors built to to get offers out, but that’s a good problem that you’ll have over time, and you’ll figure out the systems and models to do it. Visit open houses. I mean, talk to agents. Hey, you know, especially if it’s an agent like—like for me, I have my team, and so you got twenty-some agents and they’re out doing open houses. Well, hey, can you get this to Kenny to see if it might be a solution for your team? Or hey, would this be something that would resonate with you?

And we could start marketing this way. The one-two punch: You got retail and you got cash offer. We’re gonna bring you both to the same appointment. Would that be a value? Yeah. Let me see what he’s got. Sure. Mean the—the investor could walk in for 15 minutes, look at the house real quick, and get out of there. Let you do your appointment, say, “Hey, I’m gonna get you an offer.” As me as an agent, I don’t typically have a range when I go there, but I, “Hey, now that I’ve seen your house, let me go back and kind of revalue it.” Cause

I didn’t get to see it beforehand. I just want to come with a number today and tell your house is worth this, and I haven’t even seen it. It’s kind of offensive, almost. Like you did some nice—you

Cody Crabb (27:41)
Yeah.

Kenny Klaus (27:43)
didn’t. So now you buy yourself another day or two to get—get those put together. And we just created a simple side-by-side, so it just breaks down everything because all they really need to know is what’s their net. Everybody tries to confuse them. Sales and a lot of times investors, the problem is their offer looks so low, right? So I’m thinking 550 and the offer’s 400.

But by the time you add compensation in there, days on market, repairs, all that stuff, all of a sudden you’re at five hundred or so. That’s if it sells at list price, and all of a sudden it’s not looking so bad. And they don’t want the hassle of it. And in a market like right now, this is the ultimate time for investors because people have been sitting, they—they want to sell or they’re buying. For us in our market, new construction is probably the best deals on the market because they’re offering

3.9 fixed rates—not buy downs, fixed—giving you appliances, giving you blinds, giving you landscape, and paying your closing costs. And so when they’re doing that, how do you compete as a resale? But like we tell our clients, like, “This is only a window. As soon as the things change again, all those incentives go away. Rates go back to par, six, whatever they’re gonna be at.” So I think it’s—it’s an untapped market because I think most

investors think most agents think they’re bad people, they’re dirty, they’re lowballers, they’re all the terms that you hear. I mean, I think they’re—they’re even viewed lower than us as retail agents, right? Like we’re already low. We’re the attorneys and car salesmen, right? They’re below that in some cases, where you—this could be a great opportunity because there’s gonna be a percentage. I mean, We Buy Ugly Houses wouldn’t have franchises all over the country if they weren’t buying a lot of houses. I mean, they’re spending two hundred grand a month in marketing or more.

In the Phoenix market, maybe more than that now, they’re getting at—at bats. I just didn’t realize it because I never saw most of those as a retail agent. You don’t see them. But you do see some that are pretty close that might make it, or somebody ends up having another house that they inherited, and they’re, “I got this house over here. I didn’t even think about it. I just went online and called We Buy Ugly Houses,” who—nothing wrong with that model, either. It’s—it’s for some people. But if you don’t have that overhead and that 20, 30 grand a month marketing budget,

this is a fast way to get in at almost zero dollars, except your time.

Cody Crabb (29:45)
Yeah. Kenny, this has been great. Thanks so much for sharing all this with us. If people want to connect with you, they want to learn about what you’re doing or kind of follow your work, where—where can they do that? Where can they go online to do that?

Kenny Klaus (29:55)
Nowhere. I’m secret agent now. No, I’m just teasing. Just our—our—we’re not gonna talk a lot about investor on our retail page, right? klausteam.com, but you’re gonna see we provide solutions, we provide a menu of re—of of options for you. So we have our traditional sale, we have cash offer, we have buy-then-sell programs. So they’re gonna see that there. We just want when the client gets to our website at klausteam.com—which is K-L-A-U-S and then team—

that they know that we’re not a one-trick pony. We’re there to provide—meet them where they are in their journey, ’cause everybody’s at different places. And so we just want them to be aware that—that we can help them. And that’s just [email protected] is my email. So

Cody Crabb (30:32)
Fantastic. Well, thank you so much. Listeners, thanks for giving us some of your time, too. I hope you learned something today. I certainly did. Kenny, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks so much for hopping on today, and we’ll see you next time.