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Show Summary
In this episode of the Investor Fuel Podcast, Host Michelle Kesil speaks with real estate agent Cait Hudson about her journey in the real estate industry and the development of her software platform, Nest Hub. Cait shares her experiences as an agent, the challenges she faced, and the innovative solutions she created to improve communication between realtors and buyers. The conversation covers the importance of video marketing, lessons learned in real estate, and the unique features of Nest Hub that aim to streamline the buying process. Cait emphasizes the significance of building relationships and investing in oneself to succeed in the industry.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Cait Hudson (00:00)
I started video, I started doing it on YouTube. And this was like 10 years ago. And I don’t think back then realtors were really using video to market, not as much as they do now. And from that, I had a really big win. I was posting stuff on YouTube, and it was nothing like, like, Amazing if that makes sense like I was in my family room like at my parents house because I was still living there It was like the worst video quality but I kept doing it because I had nothing else to do because I had no sales and I had no clients and I got a call from a casting director and the casting director was from house hunters and they said we saw your video we’d like to cast you for house hunters and from that moment I ended up going on house hunters about a year and a half later From that moment, was like, okay video is my thing. Like I have to do it and I just have I kept doing itMichelle Kesil (02:23)
Hey, everybody. Welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today, I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Cait Hudson, who’s been making serious moves as a real estate agent and creating a new software. So, yeah, really excited to have you on the show today.Cait Hudson (02:45)
Thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.Michelle Kesil (02:48)
Awesome. I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching creating a new software business that’s going to support agents. So let’s dive into all of those topics.Cait Hudson (03:03)
Yeah, I’m excited.Michelle Kesil (03:05)
Yeah, so just first off for people who are not familiar with you and your world, can you share what your main focus is?Cait Hudson (03:14)
Yeah. So I’ve been a real estate agent in the East Bay area for the last 10 years. And I would say probably about three to four years ago, I started realizing that there was like something missing in real estate altogether when it relates to communicating with your buyers and realtors being like really overwhelmed with the amount of work and the amount of clients that they were working with. And so at that time I decided tocreate a company called Nest Hub. And it is a software based platform that allows realtors and buyers to connect on an all in one platform about specific properties that their buyers are interested in. So it will contain things like comparables for specific property, disclosures, offer deadlines, basically anything a buyer would want to know and need to know in order to make a informed decision before submitting an offer.
Michelle Kesil (04:13)
Awesome, I love that. Yeah, how did you come up with creating this software?Cait Hudson (04:14)
This is.Yeah, so being in the business, I started realizing that buyers were asking me the same questions over and over again. Like we would go view a property and they would say, Hey Cait, what do you think that this property is going to sell for? Or ⁓ can you send me disclosures on the property so we can kind of see the condition of the property? And I would send them, right? Then they wouldn’t ask me, you know, at the same time, maybe I would text them when the offers were due. Maybe I would email them the comparables. And I started realizing
how come there isn’t an all-in-one platform to put all of this information so that I’m not answering the same question over and over again to multiple buyers I’m working with? And the buyer doesn’t have to feel like they have to answer this or ask the same question because it’s already gonna be laid out on the platform. And doing extensive research, I never found anything that had something like this. so fast forward four years until now, I decided to finally just make the move and ⁓ start developing the platform.
Michelle Kesil (05:20)
Awesome. Yeah,what was like your process to develop it? Did you have to learn new skills? Like how did that journey go?
Cait Hudson (06:18)
boy. Yeah. So we are in beta test phase. ⁓ I hired a software developer cause that’s not my specialty. ⁓ he works out with Los Gatos. So he is local and he’s amazing. ⁓ so I contacted him, I pitched him the idea. I was really lucky because he was someone who believed in the ideas so much that he is investing a portion in it. And from there we’ve just been trying to build out the platform.⁓ And we are in beta test phase. We should be launching maybe in the next month, month and a half.
Michelle Kesil (06:51)
Awesome. Love that. So yeah, how has it been launching this software while being an agent?Cait Hudson (07:00)
It’s been, it’s been a lot, you know, it’s been like working two to three jobs. ⁓ You don’t know what you don’t know. And so starting, you think you have everything altogether, but it’s like every single day, it’s something new, but it’s so exciting, you know, being in real estate for 10 years, it’s more of like, like you just already know there’s every day is not really new in real estate after being in it for so long.And so I was kind of getting, I don’t want to say bored, but I like to always be learning. And so I think that once I got to that point, I was like, okay, I want to learn something new. So this is really exciting for me actually, just like learning all of these new like lingo and terms and it’s, really exciting.
Michelle Kesil (07:47)
Awesome. Yeah, what has kind of like been your key to keeping these businesses running smoothly?Cait Hudson (07:56)
I have a lot of support through my colleagues and so my plan was to kind of step away from residential sales as much as I could to focus on Nest Hub. ⁓ But I’ve been getting really busy, gratefully, in real estate. because I’m busy and that, I’m able to use the funds from that in order to pay for Nest Hub development.Michelle Kesil (08:22)
Yeah, and what’s kind of like your vision for where this is going? Like how are you planning to scale it?Cait Hudson (08:31)
Yeah, so once I once we’re out of beta test I will be going to like local brokerages and since I’ve been working in the same area I feel really lucky and fortunate to have this community of people already established and so we are gonna do like hyper local just broker to broker I’ve been in talks with some other software platforms that have already been developed and maybe doing a collab with them so that’s another avenue that I’m exploring so just like likeJust trying to reach out to as many people as possible.
Michelle Kesil (09:04)
amazing. Yeah. Love that. So what is kind of like something that you’ve learned as being an agent for all these years?Cait Hudson (09:52)
Gosh, I mean, I don’t think I could pick one thing, but. Okay. Yeah, so before I started real estate, I remember when I was thinking about joining real estate, everyone was telling me, you know what, it’s so hard, you know, it’s harder than you think. And in my head, I’m like, yeah, yeah, like, I know, I know. But it really is, like, I wasn’t expecting it to be so difficult. And it’s just difficult in the mindset way, right?Michelle Kesil (09:55)
Yeah, yeah, you can share a few ⁓ tips that you’ve learned.Cait Hudson (10:22)
Like yeah, it’s difficult to get clients, but the hardest part for me was trying to figure out how to bounce back as quickly as possible from like a rejection or failure. Let’s say like a client doesn’t want to work with you or you don’t get a listing. I remember in the beginning, I would beat myself up a lot for it and not until I realized, okay, the quicker that I can bounce back from that rejection, the faster…I’m going to be able to succeed. So I think that was something that I learned like really early on, which propelled my career pretty quickly after that.
Michelle Kesil (10:55)
Amazing. Yeah. So what’s like a moment where you had to maybe make a fast pivot or yeah, like shift something quickly in your business where you yeah, just had to kind of like get on your feet and make some changes quickly.Cait Hudson (11:02)
youI think that in the beginning I was trying everything. Like I was the kind of person, I was like, if I’m gonna quit my job and I’m gonna do real estate, which is commission based only, ⁓ I need to try everything. And so what I would do is like, okay, I’m gonna try door knocking and I’m gonna do that for 90 days and see what happens. And then I’m like, okay, I don’t really like, that wasn’t my thing. Door knocking wasn’t my thing. I’m gonna try video.
And so like I’m always like pivoting to things that I think are going to be beneficial for my business. And once something sticks, I stick with it. So now, like if you look at my social media, video and like YouTube was something not only I enjoyed doing, but I was also getting clients from it. And so I guess that would be something that I was, that I had pivoted to.
Michelle Kesil (12:08)
Awesome. Yeah, how did that kind of progress from you just wanting to try this out to getting a lot of clients? Like how does the platform work with the videos?Cait Hudson (12:09)
Thank you.So I’m just talking real estate right now, the actual software, that has nothing to with video. But ⁓ I think that when
I started video, I started doing it on YouTube. And this was like 10 years ago. And I don’t think back then realtors were really using video to market, not as much as they do now. And from that, I had a really big win. I was posting stuff on YouTube, and it was nothing like, like,
Amazing if that makes sense like I was in my family room like at my parents house because I was still living there It was like the worst video quality but I kept doing it because I had nothing else to do because I had no sales and I had no clients and I got a call from a casting director and the casting director was from house hunters and they said we saw your video we’d like to cast you for house hunters and from that moment I ended up going on house hunters about a year and a half later
From that moment, was like, okay video is my thing. Like I have to do it and I just have I kept doing it
Yeah, yeah
Michelle Kesil (13:20)
Wow, that’s so cool. I love that story. Sois House Hunters, like, how did that go? That, like, being on there?
Cait Hudson (13:30)
It was so much fun. Like it was so much fun. ⁓ my clients were amazing and ⁓ I had a good relationship with them, which I think it made it more fun. It wasn’t just like these random buyers that I had. actually had a relationship with them, but just like the process and like the people and the production, it was just so cool. And it was so cool. Like watching it back, you know, like getting the episode and like watching it on TV. And from that,I was able to create all of these other opportunities for me. So I went live on our local news channel. I’ve done like many, many articles just from that. And so it really did open up a lot of opportunities for me early on in my career.
Michelle Kesil (14:19)
Amazing. Yeah, I lovehow just one idea allowed you to kind of flourish in so many areas.
Cait Hudson (14:27)
Totally snowball effect. Like huge snowball effect. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought you were gonna say it. I was like… Yeah.Michelle Kesil (14:29)
Yes, that’s the word.I was like, I know it’s something effect, but
I didn’t want to butcher it. Cause I was like, I don’t know. Is it butterfly effect? That’s what came to mind.
Cait Hudson (14:38)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.Yeah.
Michelle Kesil (14:43)
Amazing. So yeah, what are you kind of like looking forward to next with the launch of this software?Cait Hudson (14:51)
I mean, I’m just looking forward to launch at this point. Honestly, like, you know, you go through all of this excitement with like the, um, like the design and the production and the marketing and it’s, that’s all so much fun, but I’m so excited and so passionate about just going to brokerages and like showing them the product and showing them how excited I am and showing them how I think it’s going to benefit their buyers and their realtors. So that, like, I cannot wait for that.Michelle Kesil (16:02)
Amazing and what would you say like differentiate this software from maybe other? Similar types of softwares that are on the market alreadyCait Hudson (16:13)
Yeah, so there’s no software that has all the features that I have in Nest Hub. So yes, you could find maybe like one of the features, maybe a whole company just does one of the features here, one of the features there. But my company Nest Hub has four key features that you can’t find in any other software platform right now. It’s kind of like you’re creating aMichelle Kesil (16:36)
And what are those?Cait Hudson (16:40)
property specific profile for each property that your buyer is interested in. So it’s going to have comparables, it’s going to have offer deadline dates, it’s going to have disclosures. And then that disclosure section, we are implementing AI with it. So they’ll be able to put in their disclosures. And as we know, disclosures can be very overwhelming, not only for realtors, for providers, because it’s so robust and it’s really hard to read. So we’re going to have AI.summarize for the realtor and for the buyer. So I’m really, really excited about that feature. And one of the other features I’m really excited about is that the buyer will be able to heart and like ⁓ different properties. And so we’ll be able to see which ones they like more versus which ones that maybe they’re not as interested in.
Michelle Kesil (17:28)
Awesome, yeah, I love that, that’s super unique. ⁓ So when it comes to growing your network and creating new relationships, like what do you feel has made the biggest difference for you?Cait Hudson (17:31)
Yeah.Okay, this is an easy question for me, but I’m just the type of person, and I’ve always been this way, that if I know something or I can help someone with something, I’m gonna do it. Like, you ask me for help, I’m gonna help you. You want a sample of my listing agreement, you want a sample of my marketing, you wanna call me, no problem, call me anytime. And I think that creates trust and long-lasting relationships because you never know who that person knows.
or how that person can help you in the future. And that’s not why I’m doing it, but it’s like a full circle moment because there’s been people that I’ve helped before. People are like, why are you helping them? Like, why are you spending so much time with them? I’m like, because why wouldn’t I? And then years down the line, it’s like they’re helping me with something. And I don’t know if it’s because I helped them before, but I’m gonna assume that that probably has something to do with it.
Michelle Kesil (18:42)
Yeah, I love that. What would you say for maybe people that are newer in the real estate space that are looking to grow their network, grow their client base?Cait Hudson (18:54)
I think invest in yourself. Like you have to invest in yourself first. I know it’s really scary when you start real estate because you you don’t get paid until you close a transaction and so you’re trying to kind of like hold all your money and you’re trying to like make sure that your finances are good which is great. But I think a lot of agents don’t invest in themselves enough. So what I mean by that is like maybe you don’t pay for like a thousand dollar. ⁓per a coach per month, but maybe you join like a $40 networking group that you get on Zoom every month. Like things like that, because you’re gonna learn on those Zoom calls and you’re gonna become friends, hopefully with all of the other people that are part of that group. That is like essential. And I still do that to this day. And it’s, and I’ve been doing this for a while.
Michelle Kesil (19:43)
Yeah, I think that’s so important. Relationships and mentorship are everything.Cait Hudson (19:50)
Yeah, totally.Michelle Kesil (19:52)
Awesome. So yeah, what kind of do you see as maybe some gaps in this industry that your software is looking to fill?Cait Hudson (20:05)
organization, hands down, keeping things organized, ⁓ allowing buyers to feel less overwhelmed was like really my main goal was because I know how overwhelming it can be for buyers because for realtors, this is our job, we do this all day long. For buyers who are buying properties, this may be their first property, they may have never done this before. Or maybe it’s their second property but they haven’t bought in 10 years and we know that real estate has changed. So I really wanted to create somethingthat was going to ease the minds of buyers, but also help realtors take control of transactions and be less stressed.
Michelle Kesil (20:45)
So is this a type of software that like a real estate agent would work in conjunction with the buyer or how does it like support the buyers?Cait Hudson (20:56)
Yeah, so it would be a platform that the realtor would be giving to their client as like, like, hey, we’re working together. I have this platform. This is where I’m going to be sending you all the information you need on the properties that you’re interested in. So it wouldn’t be a cost to the buyer. It would be a cost to either the realtor or if the broker decides to, ⁓ to sign on with Nesta, they can offer that to the agents in their brokerage.Michelle Kesil (21:24)
And is there a way that people can test out the software or they have to wait until it’s fully revealed and launched?Cait Hudson (21:35)
So we have a website, it’s nesthub.ai. Right now it’s just a landing page, but that will eventually be turned into the actual portal where you’ll be able to sign on. So if people want to learn a little bit more about Nest Hub, I would go onto nesthub.ai. You’ll learn a little bit more. And then hopefully soon we’ll open on the wait list so people can log in.Michelle Kesil (21:56)
I love that. Yeah, so before we wrap up here, if someone wants to reach out to you, connect, collaborate, learn more from you, where are the best places that people can find you?Cait Hudson (22:12)
You can find me on Instagram. I’m pretty active on there. Cait, and it’s spelled C-A-I-T dot realtor is my personal page. And then I also have a Nest Hub page as well, and that’s nesthub.ai on Instagram. So either way, you can connect with me on there.Michelle Kesil (22:30)
Awesome. I really appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. So thank you so much for being here.Cait Hudson (22:39)
Thank you so much, Michelle.Michelle Kesil (22:42)
Awesome. And for those tuning in, if you got value from this, make sure you’ve subscribed. We have more conversations coming with operators just like Cait who are building real businesses and we’ll see you all on our next episode.
