Overcoming Market Challenges: Keith Howell’s Secrets to Real Estate Mastery

Michelle Kesil (00:01.262)
Hey everyone, welcome to the Investor Fuel podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. And today I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with, Keith Howell, who’s been making serious moves in the real estate investing space. Keith, I’m glad to have you here. I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching your business. So let’s dive in. So first off,

For those people that may not be familiar with you and how you’re running things in your world, we would love to hear a short version of what your main focus is these days.

Keith Howell (00:42.909)
Yeah, well first off, thank you so much for having me today. I’ve been excited and looking forward to this for a while now. As far as what we’re doing today and where we’re at with the real estate market is that it’s a challenging market out there for a lot of agents and sellers. And right now, because of the changes and the shifts that have happened in the last couple years in the real estate market,

They need now more than ever agents that have skill sets and understand and can break the information down because they can break numbers down and numbers are the language of business and they always tell a story. So that’s what we’re really here for. That’s the boring side of it all. And so the more exciting part is helping people accomplish their goals, helping them talk about what their goal is and figure out their goal and get them to where they are.

you know, whether it’s moving to a new opportunity in another state, whether it’s expanding their families, whether or not it’s building their wealth, that’s always exciting. And we always want to help people get there. We call it success through partnership. And that’s what we want to do with all of our clients. And again, but you can’t do that if you don’t understand the numbers and the language and have that and really hone in on those skillsets.

of what buyers and sellers are doing today.

Michelle Kesil (02:10.124)
Yeah, absolutely. And what markets are you operating in?

Keith Howell (02:14.633)
I operate in the Dallas-Fort Worth markets specifically. I work throughout and help people throughout the state of Texas as well. I don’t know where all of your audience is from, but Texas is really large. You could be working with people in McAllen near the border. You could be working with people down in Houston. These are all places that are five, six hours, sometimes nine, 10 hours away.

And you just help them get connected with great professionals to get their goals met. But I particularly work with expired markets, so helping homes sell that didn’t sell the first time for whatever reason. I also work heavily with veterans. Veterans are a huge portion of my business. I myself am a veteran, so we kind of just tend to find each other. It’s just kind of natural thing that happens in that state.

Those are probably the biggest markets that I’m a part of as far as my business and where we’re at.

Michelle Kesil (03:20.844)
Yeah, that’s amazing. So what caught my attention was that you mentioned expired markets and working with those. That’s not easy, especially in this climate. What’s been the key to keeping that running smoothly in that process?

Keith Howell (03:38.537)
The key with that, and I mentioned expirers, I actually probably should have mentioned for sell-buy owners as well, because it’s the same concept, because before 2023 when the Fed kept the rates up, or should I started raising rates and then keeping them higher for longer was the stated goal. And before then, selling homes, they were going so fast because of how much of a seller’s market it was.

Michelle Kesil (03:43.331)
Mm-hmm.

Keith Howell (04:04.841)
Here in DFW, I we were under less than 30 days of inventory for what was over a decade and only accelerated after post-COVID. And so people were able to sell relatively quickly. They were able to name their price. For-Sell-By-Owners was working. And so they were able to sell their homes. And so, you know, the value of an agent kind of got lost. And so now where you have markets that it’s more challenging to

sell, the biggest thing is price, right? The biggest thing, you can never price a home too low, but you can absolutely price that home too high. And a lot of times the strategy behind the price is the number one thing that you’re going to get a home sold. Matter of fact, one of the things we talk with our clients about is like, look, the fastest way to get a buyer to put an offer on your contract is a price reduction. That’s the fastest way to get to a close.

However, beyond that, agents got, I don’t want to talk negatively about agents, but I’ll just bring it up as an industry standard. Because it was so easy to sell a home, I would say the standards of what listings look like was not up to par. So when we go into a home, we always look for, we pay for professional staging, we pay for professional.

Photography we do a lot of drone photography or drones. We found that Twilight photos help So we just have a different strategy and we make sure we give all that to our sellers and give them the most exposure possible Social media is huge huge in today’s market getting out there And so just not every agent is either aware or is doing that, you know We still a lot of our expires we see that they’re at the wrong price point. They didn’t strategically price Or they didn’t do any price reductions

And the biggest complaint that I hear that of when a listing goes expired is they didn’t get enough communication and feedback from their agent. it’s because people don’t want to have uncomfortable conversations. But that agent could have kept that business and got that home sold if they would have said, the market’s rejecting your price. The market has rejected the price that you want. You know, let’s go find the price that will get this home sold.

Keith Howell (06:28.729)
And that’s hard for people to let go of what their perceived value is and the money that they’re going to lose. But again, that goes back to what was your goal? What was your stated goal? Where were you trying to go, right? I understand you’re going to not sell as much as you were before. However, you are going to get to that new home, that new area. Maybe you’re an out of state trying to go to a new opportunity or you want to be in a different school district.

whatever it is that was your original intended goal, that’s where we want to get you to. And again, the price is determined by the market, not me as the agent, not you as a seller, it’s determined by the market. So that’s the biggest challenge and hurdle to get over and the opportunity there with expires and for sell by owners for that matter, right?

Michelle Kesil (07:16.236)
Yeah, absolutely. Now, every operator I know also has a moment when things got real, maybe a deal went sideways, or a time they had to pivot fast. Do you mind sharing one of those moments for you?

Keith Howell (07:31.913)
I would say most deals you have to pivot fast on because there’s always something. Everything always has things that change, move. Man, when you said that the first one that came to mind was a deal where a gentleman decided the day before closing that he just didn’t want to close on the house because he was worried about his boss didn’t like him and he was worried about not having a job.

Michelle Kesil (07:39.341)
Mm-hmm.

Keith Howell (08:02.217)
And it was like okay, I can empathize with that, but we’ve already gone through everything that this transaction needed, right? We had the appraisal, had the inspections, we had done repairs, we had done it all. And we were ready to go and it was there how the seller was had a contingency on that home to go buy another home and there was a contingency on that home to go buy another home and it actually went down eight times that way. The only reason why I know about that is because all eight

You know and this isn’t always the situation you want to be in but all eight of them said that they were going to file suit if he didn’t close Which you know that’s getting into really really dicey territory, Fortunately we were able to move forward with that transaction and he did close And I did follow up with him because that’s one thing that I would encourage folks to do is when you’re in a bad situation Give it some time

And and still follow up because if you care about people you want to know that they’re okay And that things worked itself out and fortunately for that guy. He actually ended up getting promoted not he didn’t get fired And you know, lived in the home. He loved it, but navigating through that being worried about lawsuits being worried about you know, you know potentially millions of dollars of transactions not going through That can be pretty stressful and that can be worrisome

All you can do is just observe on the situation, understand what happened, and then just try and have the conversation and expectations with folks.

Michelle Kesil (09:40.59)
Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff people don’t talk about enough. And it separates the folks who are just dabbling in the industry and the ones that are in the game for a long term.

Keith Howell (09:53.245)
Hey, and let me just say this, like, those transactions are tough. I wouldn’t say they’re, you know, they’re not every transaction, you know, because it’s a wide range, you know, and it’s important to note that so that you stay positive. Like, I just had a transaction that we, I showed them one home, they pay, they offered full price. The seller loved them, they were in a multiple offer situation.

Michelle Kesil (09:57.688)
Yeah.

Keith Howell (10:23.059)
They picked them because it was their first time home buyers. loved them. They thought they were great. And all that came back on the inspection report is that the HVAC needed to be repaired, right? And so, like, that transaction is going to close with relatively no issues, you know? So it happens on the other side as well, right? You have a range. Now, not every transaction is that way either. So it’s important to note, to remain positive, and to just know that…

You don’t need to be afraid of those hairy situations and the difficult situations because you’ll find a way through those. And for every one of those you have, you’ll end up having one that is, you know, the easiest transaction you’ve ever done.

Michelle Kesil (11:07.308)
Yeah, totally. So let me ask you this. What are you most focused on solving or scaling next? Like what is that real next goal for you?

Keith Howell (11:18.889)
Let me clarify that question for me as an individual or for my client.

Michelle Kesil (11:26.07)
whatever you’d like to speak on. could be like you and your business as a whole or how your business can solve that problem for your clients.

Keith Howell (11:38.823)
Okay. Yeah, I the biggest focus we have right now is solving the interest rate issue for our clients. That is the biggest one, which we can do through new construction, which are offering lower rates. We can do through getting sellers concessions to buy down rates and getting partnered with fantastic lenders. That is a way to get that solved. The other issue for our sellers out there,

Excuse me is to solve the marketing issue right like being able to market and being able to stand out amongst other homes as And then also not give up their entire equity As an example like we we work with a program called list and lock where we set the price at the full price and they pick

how much sellers concessions they’re going to give, 2, 3%. And then the lender will match a percentage on top of that. So then they’re able to advertise that they’re, if you buy this home with our lender, then it’s at 5.5 to beat the 6, 7 % interest rate that they’re getting. And then they’re competing with the builders around them because they’re at the same interest rate that they’re at, right? So those are the challenges that we’re helping and…

with our clients to overcome. For me personally, it’s all about growth. It’s all about, because if you’re not growing, you’re establishing the vision for the next five, 10 years, and even after that, next 20 years after that. Because that’s not as easy as people realize. Because it’s not about, I want to have

more income or I want to have a little better house or I want to have You know a boat whatever it is. It’s about creating an infinite goal that is to help either you know people or or to help a cause or a movement and that’s the biggest thing that we’re working on now because I did I spent 18 years in the service. I actually still serve in the Air National Guard And I’ve given to that purpose for a very long time

Keith Howell (14:03.109)
And so my goal is from a personal standpoint is, okay, what’s the next purpose that we want to do with myself and our business? And we’ve talked a lot about what that is and my wife is a big part of that conversation because she’s the one that has to deal with me. so, knowing that we’re partnered up and then seeing where we wanna go. That’s been the big challenge actually in the last.

Michelle Kesil (14:24.238)
you

Keith Howell (14:32.275)
two, three months that we’ve been trying to overcome.

Michelle Kesil (14:35.84)
Yeah, that’s big. Yeah, so what specifically do you feel like you’re taking action on or moving to in order to reach that goal? Is there anything that you’d like to share about that?

Keith Howell (14:54.323)
Sure. A couple of things that I take action on is talking about it with mentors. Mentors that have talked to me and explaining the why and the focus. if I’m honest, what happened was I had a goal, a financial goal, and I had a stated purpose, and I hit that relatively easily. So now I have to re-visualize. That’s been the biggest issue.

Because now what happens is you get to a certain level and you’re like, wow, now I can go even more even further, right? And I’m like actually that goal was too small So that there’s that the other thing is is that I use a lot of AI and chat GBT to create projects That I want to work on and kind of to help me organize And help me kind of work through like the steps the next planning steps, right?

As an example, one of the things that we want to work on is a leadership course and curriculum called 1 % Leadership. It’s something that I’m working on and that’s actually outside of real estate. But you can use real estate to fuel and fund all of the things that you want to do. So pushing that agenda.

which that consists of interviews, that consists of curriculum building. There’s just a lot to go along with that and it’s not something that’s gonna happen today or tomorrow. It’s gonna be definitely a long-term process. that’s an example of one. Another one that’s a passion for me and my wife is we wanna eventually get into building hospitals around the world. We think that that is huge. We found partnership groups.

that you can invest in. And that’s something that we’ve talked about as well, right? Because we just think that would be a great impact and a legacy to leave. But again, those are our long-term visions. So those are things that we’ve got to work on today and find the action steps today to take forward and move into those. So those are some things that we’ve been working on.

Michelle Kesil (17:07.264)
Yeah, amazing. Now, I know lot of people listening are either early in their journey or just looking to level up. And I think they would really benefit from hearing this. When it comes to building relationships or just growing your network, what do you feel made the biggest difference for you?

Keith Howell (17:27.943)
Okay, so if you already have, like your biggest network builder is gonna be the contacts in your phone right now, right? And whether or not those contacts will pick up and know who you are. The biggest thing is just call them. We talk a lot about scripts and dialogues in real estate. And when I first started, I worked on the scripts of like calling your sphere of influence. And to be honest with you, it just didn’t work.

It just wasn’t working for me because I felt like I was selling people that I knew and I don’t like doing that. I have no problem selling people I don’t know. That’s why have FizzBos and expireds have been something that I think I gravitate towards because then the scripts don’t feel so scripty because you’re just like, don’t know this person and I’m just going to deliver them communication that helps them hear what I have to say because the scripts aren’t about selling people. It’s about communicating in a way they can understand.

feeling confident, That’s really at the end of the day what it’s all about. But with your network of people that you know, you just call them and talk to them and say, hey, how’s it going? Find out. There’s a book called Ninja Selling that does forward acronym. Let’s see, family, occupation, recreation. And man, I’m going to mess up the D because I’m under pressure. anyways, it’s just all about

Learning about them and what’s going on and then taking notes, you know There’s nothing wrong with taking notes on the friends and family that you have and acquaintances that you have And I’ll tell you this people are more than willing to help you They’re more than willing they want you to ask them for help. They want you to ask them for their business because they want to help you You just don’t think that they do but the truth is is that everyone, you know wants to help you because in General people are really good

They’re really kind and that’s what they want to do. So I’d say that’s best way to build your network.

Michelle Kesil (19:31.628)
Yeah, relationships are everything in this space. All right, so before we wrap up, if someone wants to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate, or just learn more about what you’re doing, what is the best way for them to reach you?

Keith Howell (19:34.621)
Mm-hmm. 100%.

Keith Howell (19:49.609)
At the end of the day, mean, my cell phone is the best way to reach me because you get so much information overload. But the other way, the best way to reach me is through my social media campaigns of especially like our Facebook and Instagram page. We’ve got Keith Realty Solutions is the handle for most of our Instagram, for Instagram and…

I think it’s key to how Realty Solutions for Facebook, if I’m not mistaken. That’s usually the best way for them to reach out and reach us.

Michelle Kesil (20:26.606)
Well, listen, I appreciate your time, your story, and your perspective. We really need more people in this space that are doing things in this right way. So thank you again for being here.

Keith Howell (20:40.777)
Thank you.

Michelle Kesil (20:42.482)
And for those of you tuning in, you got value from this, make sure that you’re subscribed. We’ve got more conversations coming with operators just like Keith who are out there building real businesses. And we’ll see you on the next episode.