Scott Dillingham: 00:21

Okay. Welcome back to the show. Today, I'm really excited. I have Jill and Steve from the Joe Conlin Real Estate Team, who were top 1% in Canada with Royal LePage. So today, we have Jill who's gonna chat first.

Scott Dillingham: 00:33

So welcome, Jill.

Jill: 00:34

Thank you.

Scott Dillingham: 00:35

Yeah. No worries. So how's it going today?

Jill: 00:37

Good. Very good.

Scott Dillingham: 00:38

Well, I'm so glad you came. And I know before the show, we're talking about some of your story and how you got started into real estate. And I'd like to hear tell me about your childhood. How was it when you were child? You wanted to be a realtor or what were your dreams when you were little?

Jill: 00:52

Adding up, I grew up in Windsor. My family moved almost every 2 to 3 years. So I really have lived across Windsor Essex. But no, I did not always want to be a real estate agent. In fact, I wanted to be a teacher.

Scott Dillingham: 01:04

Okay. So I

Jill: 01:05

did go to the to London and taught there for about 6 years.

Scott Dillingham: 01:17

That's awesome. Did you teach?

Jill: 01:19

Kindergarten. Grade 4, grade 6 primarily.

Scott Dillingham: 01:22

That's awesome. Good for you.

Jill: 01:24

Yeah. Yeah. It was great until we decided that we were gonna move back home. My husband and my 2 children and I, which was fantastic. I'm loving being back in the Windsor

Scott Dillingham: 01:34

Essex area. No. That's awesome. So then from teaching, how did you get into being a realtor?

Jill: 01:40

Something that I think I always really enjoyed, Just everything about

Scott Dillingham: 01:44

home

Jill: 01:44

and the different styles of homes and just predominantly helping people. So, yeah, I decided to start taking my real estate courses while while I was on mat leave with my daughter. And contacted Joe because I knew him back when he was 18 years old.

Scott Dillingham: 02:00

Okay. So how did you know Joe when you're 18? That's cool. Can you tell you about

Jill: 02:04

that? He dated my, middle sister.

Scott Dillingham: 02:07

Nice.

Jill: 02:08

So I ended up giving him a shout just to pick his brain about the industry and where to get started and help along the way.

Scott Dillingham: 02:16

That no, that's incredible. That's funny. So then you must know some embarrassing stories about him.

Jill: 02:22

A few.

Scott Dillingham: 02:23

Would you be able to share one without getting into trouble when you go back?

Jill: 02:26

So he often showed up to our house in a green car with a 4 leaf clover on the hood wearing a poncho.

Scott Dillingham: 02:35

Nice. So So that was his lucky car. I'm sure.

Jill: 02:38

His lucky car and somehow the luck stuck.

Scott Dillingham: 02:41

There you go. What did your sister say when he would come to the house in this space?

Jill: 02:46

She didn't mind. I think my dad cared more.

Scott Dillingham: 02:48

No. That's cool. So from the lucky car, you're now on his team. So how did that happen?

Jill: 02:53

Yeah. When I got into real estate and moved back, obviously I'd been talking to Joe along the way, knowing somebody in the industry was helpful. And that was right around the time that his workload became greater and he needed the help. So that's when he decided to start the team and asked me to be a part of it.

Scott Dillingham: 03:09

No, that's awesome. So what do you do for the team specifically?

Jill: 03:14

Basically anything from showing houses, selling real estate, team meetings, helping with marketing and Nice stuff. Awesome.

Scott Dillingham: 03:23

Do you guys have like dedicated positions or does everybody like do the same thing? Just.

Jill: 03:28

Most of us all do the same thing, I would say. Yep. Yep.

Scott Dillingham: 03:31

Okay. No. That's cool. And then how is he to work with? We see him.

Scott Dillingham: 03:35

He's a friendly guy, Good looking. How is he to work for?

Jill: 03:39

Same friendly guy. Very easy going. Yeah. It's we have a really great dynamic. Our team is a lot of fun.

Scott Dillingham: 03:46

No. That's great. So then with real estate, it's a crazy market. You have to be aggressive. There's bidding wars and things like that.

Scott Dillingham: 03:53

And I know you guys are really good at winning those. So what do you do? What are the tips that you would share with some clients when they're putting in offers?

Jill: 04:01

Not to get too over your head. Try to stay level headed throughout the whole process, making sure that you find the right house that's for you. We you might lose some, but we'd rather see our clients lose than overbid and get too emotional in the process.

Scott Dillingham: 04:19

No, that's true. So is there some preferred areas that you guys like in the city that someone listening might be up and coming that maybe they want to purchase in

Jill: 04:29

or Walkerville. Walkerville. Those are our offices.

Scott Dillingham: 04:32

Yeah. So that is true. You guys have a house rate in Walkerville. It's a beautiful place. How did that come to be?

Jill: 04:38

Joe was thinking about buying a place

Scott Dillingham: 04:42

and kind

Jill: 04:42

of stumbled across this cute house in Walkerville and he's following in his mom's footsteps.

Scott Dillingham: 04:47

That's awesome. So his mom used to live in

Jill: 04:49

in Walkerville? Still lives in Walkerville and owns a business in Walkerville as well.

Scott Dillingham: 04:53

Nice. No. That's so cool. Can you tell me something that I wouldn't know about the Windsor market or something that's interesting or rewarding on your end? You know, someone, a client or myself listening would not be aware of?

Jill: 05:06

Still that we even though it seems like our prices have been skyrocketing over the last couple of years, that we're still the most affordable city to live in and all of these great things that are happening. And hopefully, once the border opens up next month, we'll be able to use the Detroit amenities again and the new hospital coming. I think there's big things happening here in Windsor.

Scott Dillingham: 05:25

I agree. Now, do you find like the border being closed? Do you find that has affected real estate at all?

Jill: 05:30

No. No? I haven't personally noticed that.

Scott Dillingham: 05:33

Okay. No. That's good. I for me, I can't say that I have noticed it so much, but I know because the people that work there can still travel. So I find that has I was curious on your end.

Scott Dillingham: 05:43

No. That's cool. So I see you guys are very active on social media and you guys often have contests, really cool contests and giveaways. Who usually picks up those prizes?

Jill: 05:54

Our admin staff. Yeah.

Scott Dillingham: 05:56

What was the craziest prize you guys gave away so far?

Jill: 05:59

That's craziest prize? Cedar Point ticket. Nintendo Switch was a big one. A lot of people love that one.

Scott Dillingham: 06:06

That is a big one. Yeah.

Jill: 06:08

Give away your hood.

Scott Dillingham: 06:09

Give away but it's gotta be a green car.

Jill: 06:12

He's got the hood. He took the hood right off the car. So we still

Scott Dillingham: 06:14

have it

Jill: 06:14

in the basement of that.

Scott Dillingham: 06:15

That's so funny. So, Jill, if you had to say your niche, like your number one focus for when you're working with buyers or sellers, what would that be?

Jill: 06:25

I would say predominantly families. I feel like I'm can relate best to families, understanding what it's like to move with 2 young children. Yeah. And they're done that. So, yeah, I would say that and the east end.

Jill: 06:38

I grew up A big chunk of my life was in Bell River. I went to Bell River High School. I had a lot of friends in Tecumseh. I live in Tecumseh now. So I feel like that east end lakeshore area is what I know best.

Scott Dillingham: 06:49

Oh, that's awesome. Now this is a random question, but so you mentioned you when you were little, you moved every 2 years. Do you do the same thing with your family?

Jill: 06:56

I haven't. We bought our first house. I lived in it for 5 years, and we're coming on 4 years in our current home.

Scott Dillingham: 07:03

Okay. And then So you're breaking your taxes. Good for you. Now do you have any tips for any buyers or sellers that are out there that you share when someone first calls you? What's something you usually tell them?

Jill: 07:15

A market education.

Scott Dillingham: 07:16

Okay.

Jill: 07:16

Making sure that we sit down and give them a good indication of where the market's at, what their expectations are.

Scott Dillingham: 07:23

Okay.

Jill: 07:23

Just to set the page, the tone for what's to come. Yeah. It is a bit of a roller coaster ride and I, and that helps a lot Yep. To pave the way.

Scott Dillingham: 07:33

Yeah. No, I can see that. Absolutely. Because I know when someone's first find they're absolutely looking for that help, but that's awesome. We do have to take a quick pause.

Scott Dillingham: 07:42

Then when we come back, it's gonna be Steve. Steve will join us from the Joe Collin Real Estate team. And we're going to dive into his story and also how he was a star guest on the Naked News. Alright. Welcome back.

Scott Dillingham: 07:56

So now we have Steve. So welcome, Steve.

Steve: 07:58

Thank you so much for having me.

Scott Dillingham: 07:59

Yeah. No problem. It's been fun for sure. So, Steve, how did you start? How was your childhood?

Steve: 08:04

Yeah. A little different from Jill. Jill grew up here in in the Windsor area. I'm born and bred in Saskatchewan. Okay.

Steve: 08:11

Now Very different area of the country. And I moved around a lot and went through a lot of different things in my life. I've been a musician my whole life. Awesome. And that took me all over Canada for years.

Scott Dillingham: 08:24

Yeah. What did you play or sing?

Steve: 08:26

Yeah, I started singing and playing guitar at a young age with some piano thrown in there as well. Piano is what I primarily learned on, but, yeah, I sang all over the place. I ended up in Canadian Idol, tossed up, made it to the top 40 two times 2005 and 2007.

Scott Dillingham: 08:42

So That's so cool. Yeah. Did you get recognized from that? Did any labels or anything want you to do anything for them? Or

Steve: 08:48

Yeah. There was little things here and there. I was in a group called HOTA for about three and a half years that toured the country and mixed with the Canadian Idol stuff. The music community, even though Canada is a big country Yep. It's very tight knit.

Steve: 09:01

Your name gets tossed around when you're out there Okay. Doing things like that.

Scott Dillingham: 09:04

No. That's incredible. And then, so from there, what happened? Did you dive into real estate right away, or was there something in the middle?

Steve: 09:10

Yeah. No. My life has taken a a lot of twists and turns, but one of the common threads has always been working with people. And even I can say when you're a musician and you're on stage and you're touring and you're connecting the whole the whole shtick of that industry is connecting with people. And in between that, I bartended and I served tables for a lot of years.

Steve: 09:30

That's like a musician's job basically. And I managed some retail stores and it, the common thread is working with people, helping people. And then obviously, there there's

Scott Dillingham: 09:40

a bit

Steve: 09:40

of a sales background there already. So when I transitioned into this job a few years ago, it was a more natural transition, I think, than than people would think right off the top. But when you really look into it, it wasn't that big of a step.

Scott Dillingham: 09:55

Now how did you meet Joe first, or were you a realtor somewhere else and then you met Joe? How did how'd that work?

Steve: 10:01

No. I was living in Toronto with my wife for about 7 years, and, and this is her hometown, Windsor. So we moved back here after we were married, and we bought a home. And, I had a friend working at Royal LePage, and I had just taken my courses. I got a job at Royal LePage, and I actually was on my own in the business for about 8 or 9 months first.

Steve: 10:21

But I was in the same office that the team was running out of. I think they'd been going for about a year at that point.

Scott Dillingham: 10:27

Okay.

Steve: 10:28

Yeah. And then Joe kicked in my office door one day and sat down. And I think the relationship was born in that moment.

Scott Dillingham: 10:35

That's awesome. So he literally kicked the door?

Steve: 10:38

Yeah. He basically came in and slammed the door and sat down. And and I think he had just, what he said is that he saw me hustling around the office. He saw that I always looked busy and I was always, you know, stepping in to help people. And that was an image and a type of character that he wanted as he was looking to expand his team.

Steve: 10:55

So he offered mentorship for me first, and and I'd be a fool not to take that. And looking into what things Joe has accomplished in his career over the last decade, it was something that I was really keen to be a part of.

Scott Dillingham: 11:09

No. That's awesome. So just for fun, because I'm curious, but do you have any funny or unique stories, embarrassing stories about Joe that you can share with us?

Steve: 11:19

In the last few years that I've known him? No, I can't say there's tons of embarrassing things. We've gone on some team trips where I just remember one where he's we were in a hotel room and he decided he wanted to show us that he could do a back flip off, off from one bed to the other. And he ended up slipping and cracking the back of his head on the frame of the bed. We're all a little silly sometimes, but that that should have turned a little bit more dark if

Scott Dillingham: 11:44

Yeah.

Steve: 11:45

Didn't Could have. Inches to the left.

Scott Dillingham: 11:47

Yeah. That's crazy. That's funny. So then working on his team, do you have a specific role or same thing you just

Steve: 11:57

Yeah. The way that our team is structured is, there's 6 agents, including Joe himself, and then we've got 4 administrative roles that we have going in the office. So the 6 agents typically, we aren't specifically assigned to a role. We are there to service clients and sell real estate and k. Promote the team.

Steve: 12:19

And then the administrative assistants are there to keep the cogs in the machine moving. Each of us probably has our own niche that we enjoy working with and that we tend to help, but Okay. We're all kind of jacks of all trades when it comes to helping clients.

Scott Dillingham: 12:36

No. That's awesome. So what would your niche be?

Steve: 12:39

I tend to work at opposite ends of the spectrum. I really like working with first time homebuyers. I like taking first time homebuyers through that process. I feel like it can add a lot of value as I talk to young couples or young singles trying to get into this market. But then I also really enjoy working with older people that are looking to downsize and maybe move from a really big house that they're empty nesting in now.

Steve: 13:02

Yeah. And I've really created some great relationships with some of the older sellers and buyers as well.

Scott Dillingham: 13:08

No. That's respectful. Not a lot of people say that they like to work with the downsizers. Right? Yeah.

Scott Dillingham: 13:14

Oh, so that's really cool. Awesome. Now so I'm really curious about this. Right? How do you audition for the Naked News?

Scott Dillingham: 13:21

And maybe for those that have never heard of it or or seen it, maybe you could describe what it is.

Steve: 13:26

Yeah. So I I was in a touring band in Toronto called The Modern Hearts, and we were a part of a small label at the time. And, it wasn't so much an audition as your management and your team behind you starts to put your name out there and ask around and see what kind of media they can dig up for you. And the Naked News just happened to be one of the what's funny to this day. I still have a copy of this interview.

Steve: 13:51

For those of you that don't know what the Naked News is, it's literally a program just like this, but it's it's filmed. It's not on the radio. And and everything the interview is conducted fantastically. It's one of still one of the best pieces of media we ever ended up with, but the catch, the niche here is that the people interviewing you are completely naked. It's a great keepsake for me to have this interview of it was me and the drummer in our band and just sitting there with a completely nude woman giving us very poignant questions about music.

Scott Dillingham: 14:21

That's awesome. So now I understand when you asked me, when I said, we gotta do this show and you asked, do we have to wear clothes? Like, I get it.

Steve: 14:28

I get it. Exactly. I'm naked right now.

Scott Dillingham: 14:31

That's that's awesome. So now back to real estate, but that's incredible. That's so awesome. So for any buyers, do you have general tips that you give to someone, like a standard set of tips, or is it random for the person?

Steve: 14:45

Yeah. I think the main thing that's really been difficult for people is how quickly this real estate market has changed in the last 5 years. People in Windsor Essex County were really used to really affordable market, and that's skyrocketed in these 5 years. And the main tip is that we really need to be on top of things quickly. It's all about speed because, you know, these listings go up and sometimes they're only listed for 3, 4 days and someone's snapping

Scott Dillingham: 15:12

it up. We can't take

Steve: 15:12

our time like people used to. We gotta see these listings the day they go up. If we wanna get an inspection done, we need to do that ahead of the offers. We need to be making sure that we're working with professionals in the mortgage industry like you guys, because I know you guys are all about speed here as well. And we've talked about that in the past and that's really important.

Steve: 15:34

And sometimes it takes people a little bit of time to understand that they've gotta lose a few houses before they realize just how quickly this market moves. And I think that's the benefit that you get from a team like you, and I think that's the benefit you get from a team like us. Mhmm. When you got 6 agents, if you're working with me, you're not just getting me. You're getting me, and you're getting the support of the team behind me.

Steve: 15:58

For sure. So if I'm not available in that one moment, I've got someone else who can be available to you, and that's really important. I don't think people quite grasp that when they first get into this market. They think they've got a little bit more time to to check things out, and then the houses go, and then you gotta get on to the next one.

Scott Dillingham: 16:17

That's no. That's it. That's very true. In this market, speed is everything. You Yeah.

Scott Dillingham: 16:22

When we're looking at lenders, if they have a 3 to 5 day turnaround time, like that's not acceptable. Like you need so much faster than So then we just won't even work with them until they they pick it up. Because it's seasonal. Like, sometimes they're busier or sometimes they're faster. No.

Scott Dillingham: 16:37

That's a great point. So awesome. So we we have to wrap up for the day, but how does someone who's buying or selling that would be interested in working with either of you 2, how would they reach out to you guys?

Steve: 16:48

Yeah. We've got we're all over the socials, and that's important in this industry now too is the marketing through social media. You can basically find us, at our tag lens Realtors for life, your Realtors for life. And, we're on Facebook. We're on Instagram.

Steve: 17:03

Our website is www.realtorsforlife. Ca. Okay. And, yeah, if you guys need any help out there, anything at all, we are always available. We're always ready to jump in and help, and you can reach us at any of those socials.

Steve: 17:15

I think it's the easiest way.

Scott Dillingham: 17:17

That's awesome. Well, I really appreciate everybody coming, and thanks for your time today.

Steve: 17:21

Thank