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Show Summary
In this episode of the Real Estate Pros Podcast, host Q Edmonds speaks with Zane Stearns about the importance of personal interactions in real estate. Zane shares his journey from working in a national wholesale shop to building a successful direct-to-seller wholesale business in Southwest Florida. He emphasizes the significance of real, face-to-face interactions in dealing with distressed sellers and how these interactions lead to higher conversion rates. Zane discusses the importance of building a strong team, navigating challenges, and his future goals of scaling his business through collaboration and real connections in the industry.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Zane S Stearns (00:00)
These people that you’re interacting with are in distress, right? And so, um, those interactions are a lot more calm and a lot better in person than they are over.over a phone because as you well probably know these distressed sellers are phone calls, text blasts, know, email campaigns, letter campaigns, but the amount of people actually showing up in person offering help are a lot lower so those conversion rates were always better for us and that’s just dug into what worked.
Quentin (02:08)
everyone. Hello, hello. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. Super excited about my guest. I’m going tell you why. Because for the first time, I have heard somebody take the emphasis of the word real in real estate. He has slowed that down and said real estate. And for the longest time, I’ve just been pushing.flying past that real estate, just combining it like it’s two words. But this gentleman wants to put the personal interaction back in real estate. And so I’m excited. I think that’s something that we need to focus on more today, especially with so many things going on in the virtual world and AI. And so I’m excited for him to talk about it. And so please, I would love to introduce you guys to Mr. Zane Stearns. Mr. Zane, how you doing today,
Zane S Stearns (02:59)
I’m doing great, good to be here.Quentin (03:02)
man, it is so, so good to have you. I’m excited about the journey you’re going to take us on. I’m excited about us seeing things through your lens. And so Zane, I’ll be honest, man, I want you to take us into your world. Maybe if you want to tell us, you know, kind of how you got started, but definitely tell us what your main focus are these days and what markets you’re operating in,Zane S Stearns (03:25)
Yeah. So, I started the whole real estate investing at a big national wholesale shop. ⁓ so I’m down in Southwest Florida and it kind of, it turned into weirdly here in this particular market, large social shop that didn’t rely on direct to seller acquisition activities. They’re more so joint venture partners, right?⁓ and repackaging deals, but in this particular market that infrastructure didn’t really exist. ⁓ A more direct seller connection, so on and so forth. So eventually it ended up me going alone with my partner and really building a direct to seller wholesale business, right? And there’s a lot of…
And I always has been a lot of, you know, drive on pay-per-click campaigns, all that fun stuff. But just, just through the learning experience, right, we found and cultivated a team of boots on the ground, door knockers, like, and we really found in playing with virtual wholesaling activities and expanding into national, you know, pay-per-click and national wholesaling activities, right.
We always found that our core on the door knockers, the real, real interactions that are being had, had so much higher conversion
right? On a lead basis. It, it, was just mind boggling, right? So coming from that and then going into a PPC kind of campaign structure where your conversion rates just in the single digits sometimes, you know, and then you look at
you know, your team that’s existed for years and their conversion rate on real time interactions, it really makes you like, you just kind of clearly say, Hey, I got to focus on the real part of the real estate, right? Like the real face to face interactions, you know, um, and they’re more forgiving.
These people that you’re interacting with are in distress, right? And so, um, those interactions are a lot more calm and a lot better in person than they are over.
over a phone because as you well probably know these distressed sellers are phone calls, text blasts, know, email campaigns, letter campaigns, but the amount of people actually showing up in person offering help are a lot lower so those conversion rates were always better for us and that’s just dug into what worked.
Quentin (07:03)
Zane, I love that you have brought up the distress person a lot, you’re doing our conversation even off. And I love that because that to me emphasizes why you want to make that real interaction. Because these are people that are hurting, they’re looking for solutions, and they don’t have that physical human touch point in a sense. Somebody that can really look into their eyes, somebody that maybe can sit into their living room.and feel like for them maybe like can actually feel the walls kind of, know, caving in on them. And you’ll be able to be there to give them some type of relief, to come up with some strategy or some type of plan. So I really love the fact when you emphasize that real in real estate, it shows.
Zane S Stearns (07:38)
Yeah.No, mean, so conversion rate, yes, all aside from a business sense, I jump into that. like, also, you know, it’s helpful, like you just said, it’s helpful people in distress, like to have a real presence. And, ⁓ you know, I think at least in my current team structure, right, there are people that have, you know, gone through this with other sellers before now.
Quentin (07:52)
Yeah.Zane S Stearns (08:20)
their background is getting years deep. So they’ve seen these scenarios. They’ve seen, know, hey, I know what happens when your house goes to auction. Like I’ve seen it. I’ve seen where people like let me help them and where people have not let me help them. And again, those conversations happening in person, like you can tell, like, and I always have them lean into it. I’m like, lean into it. You do know, right?You do know what happens like if a house goes into foreclosure or you do know what happens when the code violations stack up. Cause we’ve seen, you know, through the scope of time, like we’ve seen how bad like code violations can get like on this crazy scale of doing this for years. Right. So, ⁓ you know, there’s lean into that. Cause I was like, you have those experiences, right. And you can convey that in person and it’s not a script on the phone. Right. You can.
run through a script on the phone. I hate phone scripts. I’d never ever, you know what mean? You can run through a script on the phone and like bullet point, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, like, again, having a real conversation with someone at the house, knowing what’s going on and how to shape and everything is, is, is better for everyone involved really. So.
Quentin (09:17)
Yeah.Yeah. Yeah. No, I get it. And, ⁓ so it takes, it takes a certain type of people. say you built the team, you got boots on the ground. You’ve seen the conversion rates you’ve seen when it worked better with these interactions. So I guess it takes a real special type of person, special team, special system to be able to, ⁓ kind of, you know, handle that in a sense, because you’re taking on other people, you know, you know, you’re taking on, you know,
with the way you talk to people, has to be in a certain type of way. So I guess my question is, you know, it’s not always easy. I don’t think everybody can do it. Of course you see people shying away from it. So what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly for yourself in your team? Like what’s your system, what’s your process, what’s your thought process in this?
Zane S Stearns (10:54)
So,so it is a, it’s a team, right? So it, I, I, I stick to certain things that I, I’m really good at, which are typically investor interactions. I’m, know, the disposition side, I’m really good at the disposition side. ⁓ you know, my partner, Kelly, she’s very good at like a logistical, like mechanical deal part stuff. Right. And then again, I let.
Quentin (11:21)
Yeah, yeah.Zane S Stearns (11:22)
my door knocker just focus on your seller interactions, right? Like I don’t have my door knockers, comp in houses. You know what mean? Like segment, like segment on what like, and focus in on what, you know, focus in on what you’re going to get at hone in your skills. And if you again, hone in your skills over a long set of time, like, and you’re real just stuck to like with the door knockers, Hey, you’ve interacted with the seller whenQuentin (11:38)
Yeah, that’s good.Zane S Stearns (11:50)
the code violation does this or the foreclosure does this or the probate does this or all of these types of scenarios that can happen that really, I’m like, you’ve interacted with sellers on this and that’s the wealth of your, like that is a wealth of knowledge, like just in that. So just stick to that. Like I can handle like the disposition side, Kelly can handle the logistical moving part side.someone can handle this, someone can handle that, the attorney handles this, the probate attorney handles that, the title handle, you know, like stick to your seller interact, like, cause that’s, that’s valuable. Like you have that, you know, everything else is pretty normally easy. Like if you and your seller are in good step, then the other stuff tends to, you know, fall in line afterwards because you know, dispositions for me, it’s super easy cause like, you know.
Or dealing with investors that buy houses all day in and day out. it’s not, do you don’t have to manage that too difficultly again, contracts or contracts title is title, you know, probates, probate foreclosures or foreclosures, codes or codes, you know, but like, think the big, you know, difficulty again, and the real part, the real part is, a human interaction, right? And if you get that down, then, then
That’s, I think, the strength in what builds a good team.
Quentin (13:18)
Absolutely. I’m going tell you why I absolutely love your answer, because it’s an honest answer. you, I’m going to synthesize what you were saying. You let everybody play to their strengths. And to me, again, that’s the real in real estate. You’re not trying to micromanage. You’re not trying to have somebody do something that they can’t do. Like, no, I have a team of people. They’ve been here before. You’ve been interacting with the people on the ground. You have everybody in position doing what they do best.And so again, that shows me your focus on the real aspect of it. Like we’re going to make sure that there’s even with my team, I’m going to be real with them. I’m going to make sure I empower them so that they can do the job that they’re supposed to do. So I absolutely love that man. Absolutely. Now, you know, you’ve hinted to it. Things go bad. Even you talked about, used the word pivot, right? There are moments when things get real, when deals go sideways. There’s moments when you have to pivot fast.
And so I don’t know if a story kind of comes to mind, but if you have one, I would love for you to share it because we want to normalize the journey, just not focus on the success. We want to look at the process as well.
Zane S Stearns (14:22)
Yeah.one pivot. I’m trying to think of a clear…
I would say honestly, I hate it that I did it, but I’ve done it. So I have just done full, like I’ve done like full year long lease backs. I’ve changed deal structure. you know what mean? So there was a situation where a married couple, husband in the middle of a deal had a very,
health issue, right?
And so we’re in middle of a transaction, you know.
your natural inclination is close it, know, close it, but you’re also dealing with something substantial, right? And again, I think the finding of the pivot was like, hey, like, you know, these people have equity in their house, right? They’re willing to sacrifice this. Can we build, you know, can we build a trade-off here where, you know, you need to do some certain stuff, but hey, like,
Quentin (15:55)
Yeah.Zane S Stearns (16:21)
They’ll like we can upfront a year’s worth of lease into a deal, know, costs into a deal, keep them like enable them health, health like to settle down. And, know, you can bridge and still like, you know, do some stuff like the roof and, know, and stuff over this year long course, right? We can find scenarios that that met meet everyone’s needs and, know, so yeah, they’reQuentin (16:33)
Yeah. Yeah.Zane S Stearns (16:52)
There’s always a way and there’s always a way. It’s just a matter of bringing everyone together. And again, if you have a deep interaction and real connection with parties, then those scenarios become easier to pivot because you’ve been in the house, you’ve met the husband, you’ve met the wife, you then have feeling, because I just saw.husband being okay and now I see husband not okay, right? And it’s again, not something that happens on the phone. It’s something that happens in interacting in real time. it’s easier to bridge those types of things I think again, if you focus on.
Quentin (17:26)
Yep.Zane, hear you loud and clear, man. You always coming back to the center. It’s about the real interaction. Listen, you know, we making restructure the deal. But I know this based on us talking to each other. I know this based on this is the best ⁓ opportunity, best situation for you. It may be the only right now situation for you, but I know that because of the interaction that we’ve had. so, and even I…
I love how you said, even maybe reading the body language. know, husband was happy, now husband not happy. Something’s going on. So yeah, so no, yeah, yeah.
Zane S Stearns (18:12)
Right, right. It’s not like,wonder, you know, in my head what’s happening. Oh, no, like, yeah, I see. Yes, this is a problem, you know? And of course, it also, at least from a technical standpoint, it does also allow you to see, are they just, you know, saying that? No, they, it’s, you know, it’s like, I can see this, this did happen. This is, you know, cause there’s always scenarios like that too, but you can.
Quentin (18:18)
Yeah. Yeah.Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely.
Yeah.
Zane S Stearns (18:40)
Again, it makes it easier to flash those types of problems out too, you know?Quentin (18:45)
Absolutely. Well, I love it, man. But let me ask you this because I can see, you know, you have systems in place that that’s establishing you for the long run for the long term. So let me ask you, what are you most focused on scaling or solving next? What’s the next real goal for you?Zane S Stearns (19:02)
So my next goal is basically to platform ⁓ Boots on the Ground team.I see so much stuff online gurus and stuff and, you know, your subscription where you, you know, start calling every house on Zillow and the whole country and stuff to bring people in, you know, bring people into this space, into real estate investing, because it is an entry point, right? And I’ve experienced that in my own team’s growth, right? I’ve experienced where, you know,
They were with me part-time on the weekends and then, you know, then they quit their full-time job and now they’re full-time with me and it’s, this is their life and their livelihood. And I’ve seen that develop in real time, in real interactions on my team. So ⁓ I think for me, my opportunity and my desire goal is to bring that more widespread, right?
You can start on the weekends if you have partnerships in place and you have a team and you have real interactions, right? You can start on the weekends. You can find a way to get into this space, right? That isn’t a hundred, multi hundred dollar, thousand dollar course that just gives you some scripts and like lets you go free on the world, right? ⁓ You know, you can through.
real interactions, keep saying real, but the real interactions you can build in this business, right? You can build in this business. It’s a possibility. I think that’s my focus is to just continually
Quentin (20:40)
Yes, sir.YEME!
Zane S Stearns (20:52)
that out.Quentin (20:53)
Yeah,yeah. Now, I think that’s big. I think that’s a big mindset. Again, putting people in the same room, putting the boots on the ground, giving them a platform where they can come together and be together and real interactions. I think that’s huge. And again, like we said, we talked about it. So many people would shine away from that. I think you leaning into that is actually building you out of niche, believe it or not, you know, within the world and climate that we’re in.
And so this is good because my next question talks about relationships and like you’re talking about connecting people with other people, building your team, you know, bringing them together. so a lot of people that’s listening, they’re either early in their journey or they’re looking to level up. And I think they’re benefit hearing this specifically from you when it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what has made the biggest difference for you?
Zane S Stearns (21:48)
So I think being able to lean, you lead into it, right? In the space, you can be competitive, right? But at the same time, there’s also a large drive to be collaborative, right? Like just even in JV, like you used to want a JV ideal in whatever level, a JV in a wholesale or JV on a flip or JV, you know, there is.innate collaboration in this field, right? So, you know, I can talk to like, you know, other wholesaler or I can talk to flipper and you know, like, as you build out your relationships, just, you know, you can just talk and just, if you have a connection with someone and you can talk, then you just talk to them about you throw out, hey, this, you know, husband’s, husband’s sick. What do you think? Like, has this ever happened to you? You know,
And they’re just like, yes, no, whatever. But at the same time, it lets people know, like, they’re not alone, right? When problems, that’s a nice, it’s a nice feeling when I hear people complain about their problems to me, it makes me feel great. I’m like, oh, I’m not the only one, you know, thank goodness. you know, that collaboration, it exists. It doesn’t have to be competitive. You can be competitive. I certainly choose to be competitive in lot of senses too, but like,
Quentin (23:12)
Yeah, absolutely.Zane S Stearns (23:14)
I, you know, there’s definitely a large ability to be collaborative in this, in this industry and just lean on, lean on anyone and everyone around, you know, it doesn’t even have to be around, could be someone across the country, you know.Quentin (23:29)
Yeah. Yeah.Zane S Stearns (23:31)
You can to him once, you can talk to him years on end, know?Quentin (23:37)
Yeah, absolutely.Yeah, man Zane, I love it, man. I love it. I love the message that you’re preaching. I love the clarity in what you’re doing with the real in real estate, collaborating with the real people, finding real solutions. I absolutely love it, sir. Absolutely. So listen, man, before we wrap, if someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, maybe collaborate, I heard you use that word, with you, what’s the best way for them to reach out to you, sir?
Zane S Stearns (24:04)
Yeah, yeah.text, email, you know, I’m, I’m, I’m an open book, you know, I have, I have all the socials, you know, I’m not really on them. But, you know, call like, call me, you know, I, I’ll pick up the phone, I’ll send a text message. So that’s part of it.
Quentin (24:24)
Yeah.Absolutely. No, I love it. There he is, y’all. Mr. Zane Stearns, sir. Thank you so much for your story. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your perspective. Thank you for bringing the real back to real estate. This has been a pleasure and an honor talking to you, sir. So thank you for being here.
Zane S Stearns (24:49)
Thank you. Appreciate being here.Quentin (24:51)
Absolutely. Now, to everyone else, you’ve heard the value of this conversation. You want to make sure you are subscribed. You do not want to miss out on what we have coming up next. And so all you got to do is click that little bell. I think it’s a little bell, little subscribe button. And that way we can make sure you come on back and get what we’re giving. And so we thank you, Mr. Zane and everyone else. will see you on the next time.
