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Nerds On Tap
Welcome to "Nerds on Tap," the podcast where tech industry leaders, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts gather to explore the exciting intersection of technology, business, and innovation. Join Tim and his co-host as they dive into lively discussions, valuable insights, and thought-provoking conversations with a diverse range of guests.
From the latest trends in technology to the world of startups and entrepreneurship, "Nerds on Tap" covers it all. Each week, Tim shares candid conversations with industry experts, seasoned entrepreneurs, and rising stars, uncovering success stories, lessons learned, and emerging ideas shaping the future.
Grab a cold one, pull up a stool, and join the conversation. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur seeking advice, a tech executive keeping up with industry developments, or simply a curious listener who loves exploring new ideas, "Nerds on Tap" is your go-to podcast. Tune in, subscribe, and join the community of nerds who love to tap into the fascinating world of tech and business. Cheers!
Nerds On Tap
From Hops to Homes: Jessica Duncan's Award-Winning Real Estate Approach
Join us for an enlightening episode with Jessica Duncan, an award-winning Pensacola real estate expert, as we savor some craft brews. Explore the Pensacola real estate market, understanding the impact of COVID-19, finance laws, and how AI and technology are reshaping the buying and selling process. Jessica sheds light on navigating the market, especially with the constraints of discussing school systems under the Fair Housing Act.
Delve into Jessica's vibrant passion for real estate, her client success stories, and her innovative beer tour business that supports local breweries. This episode offers a unique mix of insightful real estate knowledge and inspiration, perfect for enjoying with a refreshing drink in hand!
Sponsors:
Digital Boardwalk Managed IT Services
Smarter Web
Special Guest:
Jessica Duncan, Realtor, Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, Main Street Properties
Beers in Order of Appearance:
- Fairhope Brewing Company Cheap Sunglasses
- Perfect Plain Brewery
- Golden Road Brewing Company Mango Cart Wheat Ale
Mentions:
Thanks for listening!
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Welcome to another episode of Nerds on Tap, where we're going to get nerdy today with Mrs Jessica Duncan and we're going to talk about real estate. The show, as usual, is sponsored by Digital Boardwalk, one of America's leading managed service providers, and SmarterWeb, an AI-driven, data-driven marketing company. An exciting show today, where we dive into real estate with Jessica. A little bit about Jessica she's an award-winning real estate agent with over eight years of experience specializing in properties in the Pensacola area, where she was raised.
Jessica Duncan:Born and raised.
Tim Shoop:With a background in marketing, she expertly leverages her skills to give her clients the best possible advantage, whether they're buying, selling or investing. About helping people achieve their property dreams, Jessica brings a unique local perspective and unwavering dedication to each of her client interactions. So welcome to the show today, jessica.
Jessica Duncan:Thank you. Thanks for having me. Sort of weird to sit here and listen to you talk about me, though.
Tim Shoop:That's funny. We ran into each other at a restaurant not that long ago, caught up for a few minutes. The first time we hung out that I remember is when we hung out at was it an IHOP or something off a podcast.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, or Denny's some sort of breakfast place.
Tim Shoop:And we were talking about business ideas a long time ago.
Jessica Duncan:Absolutely. And I look at you. And look at you, I mean come on.
Tim Shoop:That's what it's all about, right? It's the American dream. It's never quitting.
Jessica Duncan:That's right and we're proof it can happen.
Tim Shoop:So we're going to talk about the following topics today, jessica. We'll discuss the current real estate market trend, so I'm excited to hear about what's going on, especially in Pensacola. We'll discuss the impact of technology on the real estate market, and then we'll talk about how you can find the right agent for your needs, and we're going to sample some really good brews that are sitting right in front of you today. I'm excited about that. So welcome to the show. So let's kick it off by drinking a beer. How about that?
Jessica Duncan:Perfect, that's how you convinced me to come on the show, right? Yeah, I get to drink beer and talk, absolutely.
Tim Shoop:If we didn't have beer on the show, I wouldn't have any gas, I would have a one man podcast and I'd be sitting in here getting drunk all day. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nerds On Tag. I'm your host, tim Schuitt, and I couldn't be more excited to embark on this nerdy adventure with all of you. So grab your favorite brew, because things are about to get exciting.
Tim Schaffer:Three two, one go.
Tim Shoop:Welcome to Nerds On Tag. So, mr Tim, why don't you introduce us to the first beer of the day?
Tim Schaffer:First beer today is Cheap Sunglasses Fairhope Brewing Company, founded in 2012. Lower Alabama's first production Crap Brewery Sense Prohibition. This brew is a light and refreshing Coast style golden ale. This is that easy drinking boat beer you've been looking for. Which one is this? What is it called again, cheap?
Tim Shoop:Sunglasses. Okay, cheap Sunglasses. Cheers, cheers.
Jessica Duncan:Oh, that's pretty good.
Tim Shoop:I like that one. I need to remember that.
Jessica Duncan:That's perfect for the boat.
Tim Shoop:I need to load that into my arsenal. So let's kick this thing off, let's talk about current real estate market trends and let's just get right into the nitty gritty. So why don't we talk about the real estate market right here in Pensacola? Because this is what you know, right?
Jessica Duncan:Absolutely. I know this area. You get outside of the Florida Panhandle or Lower Alabama and I'm lost.
Tim Shoop:So tell me what's going on.
Jessica Duncan:So we're in a little bit of a changing market from what we've seen the last three years, but not a scary market. Some people think, oh, it's awful. No, we're actually still doing very, very well, but we've been spoiled for the last three years. You put a house on the market on a Thursday. By Monday you're in multiple offers. People are overbidding. That's not quite the case right now. What we have right now is a lot more balanced market and if you look back to what we had in 2018-19, similar market to that which we thought was a great market then Now people are saying it's not.
Tim Shoop:But aren't the prices still elevated?
Jessica Duncan:Prices are still elevated, but when you look at the days on the market, we're running more similar to the 2018 or 2019, which is actually still a good, balanced market. Depending on the price point depends on the average days on the market, but when you're over 500,000, you're looking somewhere between 100 and 125 days on the market. That's average. It's not a week anymore, but our prices are definitely still up. We're not seeing prices drop, we're holding and still growing a little.
Tim Shoop:What happened in 2020?
Tim Schaffer:COVID what happened.
Jessica Duncan:I know COVID happened.
Tim Shoop:Well, I remember a little bit of 2020. Pretty much beer, but tell me about the real estate market in 2020. Because what I saw was a slowly changing market that all of a sudden just skyrocketed between 2020 and 2021. People were snagging up real estate when it was still low and now they're reselling it since 2021. Is that what's still happening?
Jessica Duncan:Not necessarily so what really happened? To look at what happened in 2020, you have to go back a little further. You have to go back to look at what happened in 2008, 2009. Because of some of the financial changes that happened, you really stopped a lot of your developers and builders from building. Okay, so during that time period, real estate fell. Everything happened. Finance laws changed. We had some federal acts that changed and prevented builders and developers from being able to build and develop land. So when you stop building, natural attrition of houses coming out whether they burned, hurricanes, whatever stuff just comes out of the inventory. So that all happened and created this shortage of inventory. And this is before COVID ever hit. We had a major shortage of inventory. Matter of fact, there was several studies done and published locally that if we kept building at the same rate we were in early to or 1920, those rates, we could build at that rate for the next five years and still couldn't catch up with the amount of inventory we needed. So you had that happening. So here we are shortage of inventory. Covid hits and everyone wants to move to Florida. We weren't shut down like other states were, and so we had a massive movement of people moving from other states.
Jessica Duncan:When COVID hit, first I freaked out a state home six weeks and then I was like screw it, I'm getting out of here. I'm either going to die of COVID or you're going to lock me up in a mental institute, but I'm getting out of the house. So I went back to work and the interesting thing was our phone rang off the hook with people coming from out of state. We work 100% based on referral. That's how I get my business. People refer them to me. Our buyers were 80% local people being referred to us. Covid hit they were 70% out of state. That's a huge change.
Jessica Duncan:Still being referred.
Tim Shoop:What areas? What areas were you seeing Well?
Jessica Duncan:all over. So basically your states that were a lot more locked down. So California, oregon, washington, chicago, new York, new Jersey we had a little bit from the center, but not much. So it was more of your hardcore states that were definitely locked down. People were coming here for freedom and if they could afford it they just came down here and bought to get away and be free.
Jessica Duncan:And so you had all these people coming from these more expensive places to live who all of a sudden discovered this great town and that Florida's free and so they can't free as in more free and laws not free to live and very reasonably priced. So they came down here and we're just overbidden paying cash, which is a good thing, because we don't have a lot of upside down home buyers like happened in 0607, which created the crash, or 0506. Most people are at least 20% equity in their property, so they're not upside down or anything like that. So all of a sudden you get this massive movement of people here. Everyone's moving to Florida.
Jessica Duncan:We already have a shortage of inventory and you create this explosion and bidding and it just continues to grow and value everything did and now we're stable to a more reasonable rate of growth, not a 17% year over year growth, which is crazy. We're now at a more stable rate of growth, which I'm excited about. I mean, I want to keep it affordable to live here, but we do live in paradise and fortunately for us good and bad our little town got discovered. Not a lot of people used to know about Pensacola.
Tim Shoop:Yeah, now we pay for parking.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, I mean, can you see a list of where to live or where to vacation or where to retire or best beach town that we're not in the top 10?
Tim Shoop:Yeah.
Jessica Duncan:I mean, we have been discovered.
Tim Shoop:You know it's funny. I brought up parking for a reason, because I hear a lot of people complain about the paying for parking downtown. We just we were spoiled, I think. For so many years you could pull down there and you could get a parking spot, but it was also like a ghost town. You didn't have tourism, you didn't have people going out of their way to go downtown and enjoy, you know, our beautiful downtown.
Jessica Duncan:No, years ago we didn't go downtown, it was a ghost town.
Tim Shoop:You went to the beach, yeah.
Jessica Duncan:I mean, and now, I love our downtown and when I bring people they come from out of state. That's one of the things I do when I do tours with the local hospitals and stuff. They bring people in and I take them around and I take them downtown, I show them. These are these great, amazing restaurants we have now. I never thought we'd have restaurants as good in our town, so many of them I know.
Tim Shoop:I remember, me and my wife, we used to go let's go out, let's go out, let's go find a restaurant. Well, which one of the few that do you want to pick from this one, this one or this one, because it's all we had. I miss Trayford Telly's.
Jessica Duncan:Oh, I love Trayford Telly's. That was my favorite, yes.
Tim Shoop:That was my go-to and then it closed. But now it doesn't matter because we have how many dozens.
Jessica Duncan:We do, but you still need a reservation at many, as I saw not too long ago, we were taking some clients on like a Wednesday night randomly and every place was booked up on a Wednesday night at 5.30.
Tim Shoop:Yeah, you know, but that's good though, because, yeah, we're paying higher prices, but that's national. Paying higher prices national, yeah. So that's the things we pay for in Pensacola now that we were spoiled on before, that we didn't have to pay for. But look at our economy. So if you're spending money here, it's going into someone else's pocket. They're spending money somewhere else, that person spending some money somewhere else, and then maybe that person's going to come hire Jessica to buy their next house, so that money turns in an economic circle, and that is why it's so important to build and prosper, not just be spoiled.
Jessica Duncan:Absolutely, and I think it's you know here we have been very spoiled with a small little town. That was great. But we've wanted to grow and we've grown, I think, at a good rate, and Quint Studer has a lot to do with it.
Tim Shoop:Oh yeah, he does. I love him. Shout out to Quint yeah.
Jessica Duncan:Our town would not be what it is without him and the vision of bringing talent here and saving talent, keeping talent here so we can recruit these good paying jobs to bring up the average pay in our economy. I mean, our town has grown how it should, I think. Yeah, we got to pay for parking, but look at beach towns across the country. Where can you live this affordably with this beautiful resource? You can't beat it.
Tim Shoop:I mean, god, I just remember coming down here. Yes, it was great when you could go out on the beach and get lost in a sand dune and not you know, and literally sleep in a sand dune and nobody would bother you. Now there's, you know, but we have tourists here now, which again comes back to the economic impact that it has had on our community. So let's get into that. I want to get into my next. We'll stay in this segment. I want to keep talking real estate, but I want to talk about all the factors that affected the Pensacola real estate market. Outside of what we already talked about, include the economic, social and environmental factors.
Jessica Duncan:Okay.
Tim Shoop:I'm going to put you on the spot, jessica. I want to, I'm ready. Your point of view I mean, I know what I know, but I'm a techie. You know and I follow what I follow, but I'm still a techie I want to hear from you what you think, what all like environmental and social and economic factors kind of boiled in to the real estate market as we see it now here.
Jessica Duncan:I think let's talk about environmental factor would be our beach and the prices on our beach. So when you look at our island, because our beach is an island and 80% of that land is protected, 80% of that land is protected by National Seashore, so that only leaves 20% of our island to be built on. Anytime you have scarcity, prices go up. Well, I don't know if you realize. Now there's no more condominiums can be built on our beach besides one place.
Tim Shoop:I did not know that.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, so Portofino is the only place left that you can build.
Tim Shoop:You're building one more, right they're supposed to build six and seven.
Jessica Duncan:I don't know when and if they are. They've been talking about it for years but that lot can have six and seven on it. But the last other lot that you could really build a multi-dwelling unit was where the new Fairfield Inn just went in. So what you see now on our beach, without some major law changes because of evacuation purposes on a barrier island we're limited by that you won't see any more really high rises on our beach without tearing current ones down and building new ones. So we won't ever look like Destin. We're always going to have this beach access, which I think is great.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, so us being a barrier island and protecting those resources and our state, protecting those resources and our federal government, as well as the safety of the people on the island, has really limited the inventory and anytime you create scarcity, value goes up, especially on a high demanded product.
Tim Shoop:You know it's funny. I kind of want to let's dial back a little bit. I remember us talking about the real estate market and how the inventory affects the prices and how back during COVID there wasn't as much, that wasn't just happening here in Pensacola. I put two offers in on two different vacation homes in Alabama and got outbid. And I went over and still got outbid by $100,000.
Jessica Duncan:Yes, it wasn't just happening here, and let me back up, though, to what happened during COVID and the inventory problems. So we started out with a shortage of inventory, but then what happened during COVID was not just an inventory problem. It was actually a velocity problem. So we had more houses coming on the market than ever before. We had more houses selling than ever before, but they were selling at such a fast rate where our average days on the market went from 90 days to 34 days. So it was a velocity problem. It appeared to be an inventory problem, but it was just moving at such a faster rate.
Jessica Duncan:So we had an inventory problem pre-COVID. Then we had a velocity problem during COVID because a lot of people did put their houses up. Prices shot up If they had rental property they weren't using. If they had a house they had been debating on whether or not to sell, it wasn't their primary residence. That thing went on the market.
Tim Shoop:So I get letters in the mail. Oh, you know where I'm going with this right. I get letters in the mail, and now I'm starting to get phone calls of people wanting to buy all my properties.
Jessica Duncan:So let me explain what that is. Most of them are called wholesalers and they actually make my life really difficult sometimes. So we will have a customer who wants to be in a specific neighborhood. We have a lady we recently she lost her husband, wanted down size and move into the neighborhood that her daughter lived in. So we're sending letters out to this neighborhood. We've found, use tech, find every owner, every email, every phone number. We're reaching out to these people to try and see if they are interested in selling, because we have a cash buyer who truly wants to buy in that neighborhood or market value, good price. We want to pay you good money, cash for your house.
Jessica Duncan:Unfortunately, these wholesalers have bombarded people so much that they think our offers aren't legitimate and we are. And what these wholesalers do is and I have mixed feelings about them. I know there's a need for everything, but to me it's taken advantage of people a little bit in a tough time. So what they do is they try to find people who are in a tough financial situation and they may owe tax money, they may be in debt, they may have a situation where their insurance is about to cancel them because of a roof, whatever, and so they offer them normally 25 to 50% on the dollar, and a lot of them. What they're doing is they get you to agree to sell your house for ex-mounted dollars in what's called an assumable contract. They turn around, put your house on the market and resell it for more money and they make the gap. They never actually buy your house. They bought the rights to sell your house.
Jessica Duncan:That is all. It's called an assumable contract, and you know I mean to me. I think it's awful. There's definitely some people, though, that it's probably helped because financially they were in a hard time. I think if they could have talked to an agent and maybe found out what their house was truly worth, maybe they could have profited a little more. You know, when I meet with a customer, sometimes we'll say listen, you want to sell it, as is cash, quick clothes, here's what I can get for it. If you're willing to do this, this and this, here's what I can get for it. And I let the customer make the educated decision by providing the information they need to make that decision. You know the wholesalers. I guess there's a need for them. I don't know.
Tim Shoop:I'm not a huge fan. These people are worried about the bank stepping in and foreclosures, so they Some of them are free and clear houses.
Jessica Duncan:They're not always that. Sometimes it's some kids inherited a house, some adult kids inherited a house and no one wants to deal with it and everyone lives out of state. They've never set foot in the property. They don't know what it's worth.
Tim Shoop:Don't split the money.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, I mean there's so many different reasons why it happens. Not all of them are in a foreclosure situation, but unfortunately they are bombarding the market. I get them myself and I'm an agent. I get the postcards, the phone calls, the text messages. You're not getting texts yet. You'll get those soon. Oh, I get them yeah.
Tim Shoop:I get them. I've blocked all, every one of them. They just roll over to the next phone number. So all these new projects that I see popping up around downtown, on the beach, everywhere, all around me, they're all going on. How do you, how does Jessica, whittle into these deals? How does Jessica get involved? I know you're in there somewhere in that ecosystem on those different projects. Tell me from a if it's not confidential information how someone in the real estate market or someone you know in your position gets involved.
Jessica Duncan:So there's a couple of different ways. I think we're still a small town and there's still a small group of us who are actually doing the work. So, for example, the top 100 agents in this market do about 80% of the business. So there's this very small group that are in the know. We, you know, we all talk to each other. We let each other know what's going on. There's different ways to see what permits have been pulled and, of course, a lot of stuff is done under different business names, developer names. So sometimes it's just knowing the right people and staying connected and being from here.
Tim Shoop:I have a feeling you know all of them. You can never know everyone everywhere I turn, ladies and gentlemen, I see Jessica's face and that we have.
Jessica Duncan:I'm sorry.
Tim Shoop:No, it's good that you know, and the first time I saw your van I was impressed. It made me want to go out and buy one of those vans. I got two for sale. Well, you'll have to tell me. So she has a van that is built out in a way where she can entertain clients while they're driving around looking at real estate. I have a feeling there's some bottles of champagne back there.
Tim Shoop:Oh absolutely Okay. Tell me about that, van. Tell me how that came in, and that's not even on my script. I want to know about it because it really I was impressed.
Jessica Duncan:So in late 2017, mind you, I started November 1st 2014 in real estate. By late 2017, I had basically reached max capacity. And you know me from a previous life. I was a strategist sort of what I do. I look at the numbers. I'm a numbers girl, I'm sort of more of a nerd, but I know right.
Jessica Duncan:I love it. So I sat down and looked at my time. I had someone follow me for four weeks, track everything I do, put it into an Excel spreadsheet and go through the numbers and ultimately what I realized is I was driving four hours a day. Well, I'm at max capacity. I can't do any more business in a day, but I'm not done growing. I want to do more, want to do more. So I'm like, well, if I could free up four hours a day, what could I do? How much faster could I return phone calls, emails? So I was like you know, I need a driver, I need a driver, I need someone to drive me. I could work while they're driving. This is great. So then I started researching vehicles to figure that out. I tried riding in the back of just a normal, like SUV style. Didn't work that well, wasn't that comfortable. Came across the sprinters and loved them. I needed something that was easy to turn around and hold a sacs, but also could run for long periods of time.
Jessica Duncan:And you know all the did all this research on the different types of vehicles. Tried to explain it to my husband. He's like so you want a limo? No, he's like, so you want a minivan? No, I dreamed up this vehicle. Didn't know it had ever been done before. So I dreamed it up, sort of started doing research, figured it out and figured out I was the fourth that I know of in the country to do it. So as I'm doing my research, I do find that there are three others that had done, of course, in your big cities New York, beverly Hills, and then one over in Arizona. So as I'm finding this vehicle, I'm like I want them to be able to see everything. I want to be able to connect my computer to the screen you know, and be able to show them where the property lines yeah.
Jessica Duncan:And so, as we would go show property and they're like, well, hey, what's the disclosures? How old's the roof, where's the property line, I got it all right there and when the market went crazy, we'd walk out of that house and I could have that offer written, signed and sent to the listing agent before we were back in the office, sometimes before the next showing was done. So I want to talk about time being essential. That was really. They have their own Wi-Fi network set up in them, so it really just just became my mobile rolling office.
Tim Shoop:So when you don't have a client in the van, I have a feeling you have certain parking spots where you hang out Mm-hmm. Make all your phone calls right Somewhere downtown.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, so I never drive the vans. Okay, there's someone driving me, but you're in the back. I'm in the back.
Tim Shoop:Yeah.
Jessica Duncan:And there is a partition in the bigger van so that we need to talk about privacy. Oh, that's awesome, so that they can talk. Fine, cause I get into nitty gritty. Finances Is this the sprinter.
Tim Shoop:This is the sprinter.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, I get into the nitty gritty finances, you know, and I don't. I don't want them to have to worry about feeling comfortable about that. So we have a partition there where they can't hear, installed a couple of refrigerators under the back seat so we can keep whatever the client likes cold to drink there, from champagne to beer to water, sodas, whatever, mm-hmm.
Tim Shoop:But football back there.
Jessica Duncan:That could.
Tim Shoop:No.
Jessica Duncan:Actually, it even has TVs in the back. You could tailgate on it. Never actually got to use those. But when I don't have a customer in there and let's say we're in between meetings, there's several parking spots a lot downtown Drivers are really good about finding a high traffic area to park me in so I get lots of visibility. But I would park, they'd park, and I just sit there and work and if I got 30 minutes in between appointments, I'm working on the way to that appointment, I'm working so, but they're going away. So the business is changing. That's what I launched in 2018 is when I launched them. Had the idea in late 17, launched it in March of 2018. But the business has evolved and we're evolving too.
Tim Shoop:So Well, you know, the cost to be on the show is one van right.
Tim Shoop:Oh is it, I'm kidding, I'm kidding let's, I'm excited to get into the next beer. I've got one more question before we get into the second beer. Let's talk about potential buyers and sellers out there want to know how to navigate the trends. They want to hear some tips and tricks from Jessica. Let's talk about, maybe tools they can use for exploring the market, tools they can use for evaluating homes and properties and you know, like tax assessments and planning tools and things, because we all do it. Not everybody knows where to go and then they go to you. So usually everybody does a little bit of R&D and then they get an agent involved. What tips can you give everybody in regards to some research they can do when they're shopping? I mean, you know what I do. I sit on Zillow not to look at prices, to look at properties that are up for sale. I sit on there and I go, oh, that's a nice, and I save them, and then I come back to them when I'm ready to get more serious.
Jessica Duncan:Right, so a couple different things. I mean, I think, when you're talking about selling and what the home's worth and the value of it, that's really hard to get from any site. Of course there's all the sites that'll give you the testament or whatever you want.
Tim Shoop:Oh yeah, I know.
Jessica Duncan:You know, but they're off and there's no rhyme or reason to how much they're off over or below. So you can't even really determine a true value from that. You really need a person who can walk through the house, see what's in the house, see the different traits of the house and the things that are going to make it hard to sell as well. We've got a property right now we'd get really creative on, because there's a really cool feature there that people here just don't understand. So there's a misconception of it. So we had to get creative on how to overcome that. So you really need someone with experience to walk through to determine the value. There's no easy way to figure it out.
Tim Shoop:So what you're telling me is, I can go on, zillow, right, I love a house, right, but I'm like, oh, that house might be, I don't know, overpriced or it might look like a good deal, but a kitchen remodel or something, maybe pavers in the driveway which increase the I mean, obviously, curb appeal and things they can do outside don't necessarily factor in the Zillow's assessment of that house.
Jessica Duncan:Zillow, can't smell your house.
Tim Shoop:Zillow uses an algorithm an. Ai algorithm and it takes the last purchase price, the tax assessment and then the market trends.
Jessica Duncan:Well, so what it's looking at is price per square footage in a certain radius, but it's not looking at the age the home was built. It's not looking at and why. I say Zillow, can't smell your house, it can't smell that your carpet smells like dog or you know different things like that that people are going to walk in and notice.
Tim Shoop:Am I smelling a little bit of frustration in regards to Zillow from an agent's point of view?
Jessica Duncan:I mean, you know, of course, it's very frustrating. We live in a time where everything the customer could want is almost at their fingertips, right, but they believe it all and it's like well, just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's true.
Jessica Duncan:We don't all believe it, and just because it's on Zillow doesn't mean it's true. You know, there are definitely times where we find huge errors on there, even with our own listings. I mean, I've had to argue with them. I don't know how many times I'm like would you take down those pictures from 10 years ago? Or you've got the square footage wrong or the bathroom's wrong, and so you know it's not as easy as just typing it in Now.
Jessica Duncan:When it comes to buying, though, there are a lot of resources out there that customers can use. Not only do I think they should be looking at the market ahead of time. If I got someone who's not looking to buy for three to six months from now, I'll go ahead and set it up on my website. Start sending on property that fit their parameters, because I think it's good for you to do your research and be able to know what you get for the money. Don't wait till it's time to start looking, to start looking, then you may come across a great deal right away, and you didn't even know it because you weren't comfortable with where the market is. So I do think starting early, looking at what you get for the money is very, very important.
Jessica Duncan:There's definitely sites you can look at. On the taxes, you can see what the taxes will be, but our taxes are misleading here. So because we have Homestead Exemption, you can have two houses next door to each other that have very similar assessed values or very similar value not assessed value but market value and their property taxes are complete. One could be double the other one, and the reason why is because with our Homestead Exemption here we cap how much that house can increase in value per year as your primary residence Homestead. So if someone has lived in this house for 15 years as their Homestead and the other one's been a rental, that assessed value that your tax don keeps going up on that rental each year but that Homestead it doesn't. Or if that one next door maybe changed hands two years ago it was reassessed. So there are just definitely places you can look.
Jessica Duncan:But versus seeing what the current taxes, santa Rosa County has a site that'll show you. I don't think a Scambia County does. But you can actually type in the purchase price of the home and, based on the millage rate, it will tell you your approximate taxes. So Santa Rosa County has a pretty good site and tool for doing that. I use it when we're having to estimate what the taxes will actually be in the future, because right now they may be super low. We also have a lot of misleading information when you have a disabled veteran in the home. Florida is great on exempting them from paying property taxes, which I think is wonderful to in a great service to our veterans. So if you see a home and they only pay like $400 a year and it's a $500,000 value home, it could be because it's a veteran.
Tim Shoop:Oh, I got it. They have to be 100% disabled to receive that but this is a wealth of knowledge, a lot of things that I'm learning today, and I appreciate you. I'm excited to get into the next beer. How?
Jessica Duncan:about you. I am too Well, the first one was so good, I'm excited for the second.
Tim Shoop:Tim, why don't you introduce the second beer for us?
Tim Schaffer:Our next beer is Perfect Plain Fest Beer, pensacola, florida. Originally founded by Pensacola's mayor, dc Reeves. Traditional German fest beer. A smooth, clean, pale German leger with a balance of malt and light hop character. Made with 100% German ingredients, 6% ABV.
Jessica Duncan:Pretty good.
Tim Shoop:You like that one?
Jessica Duncan:I do, I think, a different style than the first one. The first one's perfect for a boat, this one's great for gallery night yeah.
Tim Shoop:And shout out to DC Reeves for bringing another brewery to Pensacola.
Jessica Duncan:Yes, absolutely, I love that place.
Tim Shoop:So we're going to get into video technology in real estate, something that I'm excited to learn about how you guys are doing your thing. So let's talk about how technology has changed the game in terms of real estate and how you conduct your business every day and how you market yourself, just like an actor we talked about acting before the show. You're the product. I mean, you are your product. So tell me how you use video, first of all, to put yourself in front of all your prospective buyers and sellers.
Jessica Duncan:So we use video a lot, as much as I hate being on camera. I understand I am my brand. Oh, trust me, I could talk for hours, but put me on camera and I'm not as big of a fan. I never watch my own videos, though, because I will critique myself and will never air anyone.
Tim Shoop:Oh yeah, you never watch them.
Jessica Duncan:I never watch them, but so we started using video not only to promote our properties but also to promote our brand and our localness, our knowledge of the area. So we started a couple different series. We do one called Journey with Jess, and it's where we journey around Pensacola and the surrounding areas and visit my favorite places and businesses.
Tim Shoop:I've seen a couple of those. Yes.
Jessica Duncan:I love that. I mean, and it's really places I go to. It's my favorite places, because all of our customers who are especially moving here from out of state, what's happened in the last couple of years? They kept asking me hey, what's the best coffee shop, what's the best this? Where should I go for that? So we started Journey with Jess and then we've also done a video series called Just my Opinion and it's literally just that. It's just my opinion. It's catchy.
Jessica Duncan:You can message me something on my Facebook and I will answer it on there. We have people. When I hear a question being asked multiple times by customers, I'll do it. Just my opinion on it. So it comes from a variety of sources, but just a way to get some information out there and answer questions and help show our value.
Tim Shoop:So what's your opinion on this show?
Jessica Duncan:So far, I like it.
Tim Shoop:Well, good, we have beer. She told me before the show the only reason she came on was because of the beer.
Jessica Duncan:That's not true. I would have come on here just for you, Tim.
Tim Shoop:So let's flip the script a little bit. Tell me how you're driving in using technology on the other side of the spectrum to help promote the properties. Obviously there's drone technology. Now there's 3D cameras, walkthroughs. I imagine you set those up and you have software that does those things. I've seen you do a lot of video work with your. Specifically, I think it's 3Ds and walkthroughs.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, so we do a couple different things. So on every property we do three to four different types of filming and video combination, which sounds crazy. But you have so many different platforms now. So when you're putting something on the MLS that goes on Zillow, that's a certain type of photography. When you're putting it on Instagram, that's a total different type of photography. And then you have drone and then we do what's called a 3D Matterport, so Matterport where you can, and we use the high-end Matterport. There's different levels of walkthroughs and some are sort of hard to get through and you really can't. I just want to shut the computer because I get so frustrated by them. But we use a high-end Matterport but it's where you can click and literally walk through the entire house and see the trim work and zoom in, and so we do that. We do reels that are a lot more faster, quick walk throughs through the house to get attention on social media.
Tim Shoop:But are the devices that you're using, or any of them, specific to the industry?
Jessica Duncan:Matterport. Matterport is the only one and that's it's about a $2,500 camera as well, as you have to have the subscription to the service. That is just for real estate. It's very real estate specific, but everything else we use is probably similar to what you would use. Yeah.
Tim Shoop:I mean, like when you go out and about and filming, you might be using or using an iPhone, or using iPhone, iphone. You know, that's what I do.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, so all of our journeys with Jess that's done on an iPhone are just my opinions are done in my kitchen with an iPhone, awesome. So we use a basic lapel mic and an iPhone. So and and Jackie, my marketing rock star, does an amazing job of editing them and taking out all my mistakes and making me look when is she? Is she here? She's here, jackie you're in the studio with us. She's off camera.
Tim Shoop:Do you want to be on camera? Oh, she's okay, ladies and gentlemen, but thanks for hanging out, though.
Jessica Duncan:So seeing like right now. I'm sure she's going to take pictures of this today and make a little real. I'm a little bit intimidated.
Tim Shoop:So let's talk a little bit more about that. We were talking about the camera technology. You know, here at our company I use an iPhone to do all of our skits. I actually will throw that on a boom and use a mic with it and we'll film skits because I can do them quicker and I can save all that. But here in the studio we're using Panasonic cameras because we have to capture multiple angles and stream. So you know, and there's so much more out there when I started doing the research to put this podcast together, oh my gosh.
Jessica Duncan:There's so much technology now, but it's amazing to me that how much we can do with an iPhone, and the new 15 even has a gimbal built in.
Tim Shoop:So I'm a little excited. I have a 14 Pro.
Jessica Duncan:I haven't got the 15 yet either. So actually Jackie's got a 14 and I got a 13. But I'm excited to try out the new 15, just because I want to see. Do we have to carry the gimbal around? Jackie does a really good job with the gimbal and keeping straight, but imagine not even being able to have that. It's amazing what we can do. It's crazy. So we do a variety. Customers are a little shocked when I'm like yeah, so we're going to do four different types of film and photography.
Tim Shoop:So tell me how long that takes. So back in the day, when I would hire an agent to sell a house, you know you get a little frustrated, especially when you're a nerd and you're in attack and you're in all these things, and back in the day a long time I'm talking a long time I haven't, you know, bought a main house in a long time and all they I was like I could have done that, I could have thrown those pictures up. But you're doing so much more Because all they did was throw pictures up, do a nice pretty description and I felt like huh, but there's so much more, even back in the day, that you all did. I think the buyer or, I'm sorry, the seller just doesn't see everything behind the scenes that you're doing. You're connecting people right.
Jessica Duncan:It's relationships, it is and it's a lot but we have. Because we brought it all in-house, we're able to turn it around really fast, and so by bringing it in-house instead of hiring outside people, I've now brought them on my team full-time. So I have in-house people. We can turn stuff around pretty fast, depending on what needs to be done to the house. I met with someone this morning and I need to have some window seals replaced, some pressure washing done to the house or some things. I recommend it's a second home or I think it's a fourth home for them.
Tim Shoop:You go around and you recommend what the seller needs to do.
Jessica Duncan:Absolutely.
Tim Shoop:Is this pre-inspection?
Jessica Duncan:This is pre-taking photos. This is, yeah, I mean and you know I'm not doing a full inspection on the house- Right, I'm not doing it.
Tim Shoop:I'm pointing things out that you see.
Jessica Duncan:Well, I mean, it's a waterfront house and the view is fogged by a broken seal in the window.
Tim Shoop:Yeah, moisture.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, so I want that replaced because we're selling that view. That's what waterfront's all about. It's linear footage on the water, so that's going to, I think, deter someone from buying the house. I want to showcase that view, so I recommended that. I recommended some pressure washing on the outside so they have a nice first appearance. First appearances are so important, that first impression, so I recommended that. And this is, I think, a fourth home for them, so they're not here. So we're going to handle all that for them. Get that done. Then get all of our photos and video and everything done, but depending on what the house needs, such as that type of stuff or painting or carpet flooring, depending on what it needs. If the house is ready to go in less than a week, we have everything done in the house on the market Wow.
Tim Shoop:Wow, and there's so much more that you guys are doing than back in the day.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah.
Tim Shoop:So you're going to be up in a week. That's pretty impressive. So how do you use video to create a compelling narrative around the house? That's the key. Right Is being able to turn that house into a personal story, To be able to show the character of that house through video. Are there certain angles you use? Do you approach it a certain way? Do you come in with a drone first and then bring them into the inside of the house and walk them through?
Jessica Duncan:I think all the above. It depends on the house and what I want to feature. So I've done some with drone, where I'm standing at a penthouse on the 18th floor of a condo on Navar Beach and start with a drone footage flying by showing the beach and sort of zooming out away from me. That's what I want to show that property. That's specific. When we talk a lot in there about Navar Beach and how great it is because that was running in California and Oregon and Washington and we're trying to recruit in New York and New Jersey, I want them to know what Navar Beach is. So you'll notice in there I mentioned Navar multiple times and Navar Beach on the Gulf of Mexico, While everyone here knows that these videos are going way more than just local.
Tim Shoop:And Navar has a lot of building going on out there.
Jessica Duncan:It does, and so Navar is still limited by the same things that the Bola beaches, but there's so much available space out there. I think in the next 10 years Navar is going to have a huge boom and it goes back to what you're telling me invest in Navar.
Tim Shoop:I need to buy a beach house in Navar invest in Navar further than I want to drive, though I'm kidding 10 minutes, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah. So I think Navar is going to be a great investment. I think it already is a great investment and I think we're going to continue to see it grow. And I think the reason why is because of our tourism. Our tourism has changed so much from what it used to be. You know, we used to be a fishing village. People came here to fish. That was our tourism and that was about it, and that's why Navar never really boomed, because there's no pass there. You had to go to Dustin or Pence Kola to go out to fish. Well, that's not necessarily our tourism anymore. They come here for much more than fishing. Of course they come to fish a little, but we have the families coming. They're not just coming here to fish. So you've seen the other areas really blossom and bloom and I think you'll continue to see Navar do just that.
Tim Shoop:Well, good, so what we're going to do? I have so much more I want to dive into. I want to talk about the future of technology in the real estate industry and the future of the industry as a whole. In regards to that integration, what do you see happening? Where is it going? I mean, yeah, we talked a lot about video. We talked about using social media and Instagram and those ways to promote properties instead of just MLS, and we've talked about going around visiting other business owners to promote Jessica. But what is the next step? Do you have a crystal ball? Have you been doing any R&D? I mean, are you guys going to I don't know, are you going to push something out that makes everybody just kind of funnel in? I mean, what is the next step?
Jessica Duncan:That's a good question. Our industry right now is possibly going through some major changes. There's some lawsuits going on and a bunch of changes and who knows how it's going to shake out. I can't predict the future, Unfortunately. If I had that crystal ball, I'd be a very, very wealthy woman, but I can't predict it exactly. But what I do think is going to become important and what I think we're going to continue to see the individual being the trusted partner, the trusted advisor to their clients and that's going to come into all resources, Whether it's, you know, who do they use to remodel their house and who do they use to service their AC. And you know, you see your big tech companies going into this. I mean, if Google could get into our house and recommend people right, they're already trying.
Tim Shoop:They're already doing it. So is it. So is Amazon.
Jessica Duncan:Exactly so. I think that's where it's going and I think it's the relationship, but with technology merged. I don't think we can lose the relationship, and I do think that's where some agents will miss the boat is when they try to rely 100% on technology and not the relationship. But I think you have to merge a combination of the two and I think, ultimately becoming more of the resource. However, your customers are hearing it, whether it's technology wise, it's podcast wise, it's video. However, you can most deliver the information to your customer where they're going to engage with it.
Tim Shoop:But as far as the tools that you're using. So here's, here's what I see. So I'm in the tech industry and you know AI is the big buzzword over the last couple of years. We've mentioned it a couple of times in this show in regards to Zillow, and we have been leveraging AI here at digital boardwalk for probably the last seven years. Now. It's only been a buzzword for two years. Ai has been around for probably since the 50s I don't know 50s or 60s People just don't realize it. It's been used in a lot of different ways from a, you know, in a lot of different perspectives since that time. But now we've got chat, GPT, Google's got its own product, there's other things being pushed out, and we're using it in our marketing company now to do some really cool stuff. And AI, I think, is going to be a game changer for a lot of industries in regards to how they approach not just the customer and lead generation, but how they push products out and how they use their products.
Jessica Duncan:So we're using AI a good bet, Talk about that and we use it. I think, while it's been around for a while, it's really gotten a lot better recently, and so we've started using it more. But we still have to have the human filter on it, because sometimes it says stuff that isn't true and I'm like whoa, what is that? So we use it for a multiple things. I mean from writing social media content generation to writing property descriptions.
Jessica Duncan:So we use a paid AI version so I can build my message, my toning, it gets to know my style, so that I'm not having to reinvent the wheel.
Tim Shoop:How long have you been using it for generating content? How long have you been doing that?
Jessica Duncan:I've been using six months Wow good. Yeah, so six months, jackie says we both started using it about the same time.
Tim Shoop:So did you learn that you were using it by reading it and going? Jackie didn't write this.
Jessica Duncan:No, actually we both started experimenting with it together. So yes, jackie is my amazing marketing rock star. This looks like a robot wrote it.
Tim Shoop:I don't understand why it is rewriting the same keyword five times in four different paragraphs.
Jessica Duncan:We actually started venturing in it a little bit together. You know, while I have such a marketing background, strategist background, that while Jackie definitely leads our marketing, I still want to be involved in everything. I want to understand it, I want to be. You know, hey, can we tweak this, can we tweak that? I'm not completely out of it. So we started using AI, for we use it to write property descriptions, we use it to improve property descriptions, we tell it what the great features are the house and find different words. Good Lord, we can't use all the same words all the time. It's boring.
Tim Shoop:You know what I tell my marketing team? I go well, let's let chat GPT write it and I'll edit it, because chat GPT makes me sound smarter than I am.
Jessica Duncan:Yes, I used AI recently to write a Facebook well, to write sort of a position description and an ad to recruit someone for our team, and it found the perfect person, which was sort of weird because it was a very unique position that had to have two very opposite fields of experience and it wrote it perfectly and we found the perfect person off of it. So that was per. I mean I could have asked for better results from that. We're also using it on our website. So if someone goes on our website, we have an assistant name Alex that talks to people and that's all AI generated and it's pretty. It's pretty cool if it says stuff like you know well, my mom just passed away, so I'm waiting to be able to move to the area. It actually realizes that and says, oh, I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your mom.
Tim Shoop:Yeah.
Jessica Duncan:You know, I mean, it's pretty intuitive and it carries on a conversation with them to a point and then it notifies us and we take over the conversation, and so Alex is a whole nother assistant in our office that helps us better work the leads that are coming in through our website.
Tim Shoop:Yeah, chat bots have been leveraging chat GPT technology for a while now and we had one on our website, on our last website, that was doing that and that that technology actually existed probably five years, about five years now.
Jessica Duncan:I've been using it on my website for about three, so it's been used for a little bit. It's improved so much. Three years ago it was awful.
Tim Shoop:I'm going to stop you right there. Your beer is empty, so we're going to introduce the next beer. Jessica, tim, why don't you go ahead and taught? And so this last beer, just so you know. Now, don't take the. I brought this last beer on because I felt like it might be up your alley and you can punch me if it's not and go. Tim, that is unacceptable because it is a fruity beer.
Jessica Duncan:I like a fruity.
Tim Shoop:Okay, good, I wasn't sure.
Jessica Duncan:I'm a true Huffa Wisin with some fruit undertone. A good wheat beer, you know.
Tim Shoop:Yeah, I like a Huffa Wisin and I like a wheat beer. So when I traveled Germany, that's all you do at the taps is wheat beer, so I love that.
Jessica Duncan:I love a wheat beer, a wheat beer with some sort of good fruit undertone. A wheat beer with an apple undertone is one of my favorites. You know how hard that is to find.
Tim Shoop:The older I get. I used to be an IPA guy. I can't. I can drink them, I just can't do it very often anymore. They give me headaches. Pilsner's a good crisp Pilsner does me just right on a go to. But a lager or Huffa, wisin or something like that really gives me the gives me the zing, give me the wheat beer always. Tim tell me what we got.
Tim Schaffer:Last one here mango cart Golden Road Brewery, Los Angeles, California, founded in 2011.
Tim Shoop:I don't know, it's not bad.
Jessica Duncan:I still think the first one's my favorite.
Tim Shoop:It was mine too.
Jessica Duncan:First one's definitely my favorite, but it's not bad, I'll drink it.
Tim Schaffer:It was founded by Meg Gill, one of the few female founders.
Tim Shoop:Another reason we brought it on.
Tim Schaffer:I like it, just so you know. It's also good with the Tahin Chili Salt Rim, by the way.
Tim Shoop:Oh well, why don't we have a salt rim Tim?
Jessica Duncan:Hey.
Tim Shoop:I was a poet and I didn't know it. Oh, so we're gonna wrap up today's episode with the last segment Finding the Right Agent and Pensacola Real Estate is the name of our topic for the last segment. I wonder who that person could be.
Jessica Duncan:Well, I mean not necessarily always me. I mean, I think you really have to find someone that you connect with and that you're gonna have a good relationship with and be able to communicate well with, and that's not always me. Would I love it to be me? Sure, but let's be honest, not everyone is gonna connect with me. I'm very direct and so I'm not gonna sugarcoat things as much. If you ask me my opinion, I'm going to give you my opinion, and so I think that's what people want.
Tim Shoop:I've realized that in anything you do, honesty is the best sales tool.
Jessica Duncan:I think so, but I'm not everyone's cup of tea. Yeah, I mean.
Tim Shoop:You're talking about tea on a beer show. Come on.
Jessica Duncan:Oh sorry, I'm not everyone's cup of beer. Fine a beer.
Tim Shoop:Fine a beer.
Jessica Duncan:And that's why there's so many of us out there. You gotta find someone that you connect with. Of course, I want them to come to me, but you wanna find someone that you connect with, someone that you trust, someone that you're gonna be able to communicate well with, that your language is easy to understand. So, for example, if you are someone who wants to write five page emails to me and have me respond to it, I'm not your agent.
Tim Shoop:Okay.
Jessica Duncan:Email's a 24 to 48 hour way of communication for me. I'm less pick up phone. Have a quick call.
Tim Shoop:Or throw a text.
Jessica Duncan:Or throw a text. I mean, if it's more than a couple sentences we're gonna have a call. But I'm someone who wants to have that relationship and really understand you. In an email it's hard to get to know you and so when I'm meeting with customers, I'm talking to them about like we have customers we're working with tonight and they're doing a pre-scouting mission that they're gonna be moving here in a year. But I'm like what's your lifestyle like? How many times you go out to eat? What do you like to do in your off time? What hobbies do you have? I don't wanna know. Three bedroom, two bath. I wanna know what their lifestyle is about. That's hard to get through. Just an email.
Tim Shoop:They got kids. What kind of schools are they looking at?
Jessica Duncan:Well, we can't ask that question, but yeah.
Tim Shoop:Oh, you can't. Okay, I didn't know that.
Jessica Duncan:I mean we have to be pretty, I mean if they know. But if they know what schools they want, I can ask what school districts they would like to be.
Tim Shoop:Well, I can talk about it.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, we have to be. We definitely follow the Fair Housing Act.
Tim Shoop:I living here, unfortunately, and I don't wanna get too deep into this, but the Scambia County school system isn't, in my opinion, all that great. My kids don't go to. They go to a private school for that reason. But you know it's unfortunate and I don't know how to fix that. But I didn't realize that an agent couldn't talk about school systems.
Jessica Duncan:I mean, if you say, hey, I wanna be in the school district, obviously I can help you get in that school district, but I can't tell you if a school's good or bad. I can direct you to a website.
Tim Shoop:But you can talk. That can be the rating. Yeah, okay.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, but I can talk about what school zone it's in. But you know people call and they say, hey, I need to be in a good school zone. What's a good school? I can't tell them that I have to send them to other places to do resources, to look at resources for them to find that.
Tim Shoop:So you mentioned earlier that you need to find a real estate agent that understands you, right, someone that understands you. So to do that, they have to interview you, they have to meet with you. So let me interview you for a minute Now. This isn't scripted. This is me. This is me being me.
Jessica Duncan:Has anything been scripted here today?
Tim Shoop:And we're on our third beer, so cheers, cheers. Here's your interview, so I'm gonna ask you three questions and you can ask them, answer them or not answer them. I'll try not to be too mean in my interview. How many clients do you represent at any given time, jessica?
Jessica Duncan:It varies.
Tim Shoop:And do you get that question?
Jessica Duncan:Oh, yes, absolutely, it varies both a balance of buyers and sellers. So you know, on average I do 100 plus transactions a year, So-.
Tim Shoop:That's a lot right. Yeah, yeah, you're a top producer. Yeah, Is that a buzzword in the industry? Top producer oh absolutely.
Jessica Duncan:And when is your award? When are you name?
Tim Shoop:it. I didn't even know that.
Jessica Duncan:So definitely, you know I handle multiple customers at any given time. But my question back to you would be you're asking that cause I'm sure you're afraid that I'm not gonna be able to be responsive.
Tim Shoop:I want you to answer my emails within five minutes, I want you to answer my text within 30 seconds and I want you to meet me and drop everything that you're doing when I have a need at a property I want.
Jessica Duncan:So, mr Tim, I'm gonna be very upfront with you. I'm a very high producing agent and I do have a lot of customers because of the results I get for them. Unfortunately, because of that, I will not be able to meet those standards.
Tim Shoop:So how do you get around that? Tell me, how do you accommodate 100 clients at a time? And I know you're gonna have a good answer. And I know you're able to do it because I've seen you perform. I've seen your face on a lot of signs and I've seen you on every social media platform and I've seen you out there. That's why you're on the show.
Jessica Duncan:So I set the expectations from the beginning. So when we have our meeting, one of the questions I ask is let's talk about communication what style of communication you would like and what are your expectations At the end of this transaction? If you said this was a great experience, what would that look like? And so I have that. How do you like to be communicated to? And then I also let them know listen, if there's a problem, I don't believe in avoiding it. I think problems only fester and become worse. So I'm never gonna avoid calling you because there's something bad. I'm gonna call you immediately and let you know what it is. I do also ask I said hey, if there's like something small and issue comes up but I can handle it with one phone call, do you want me to handle that, or do you want me to come to you and tell you first what would you prefer? I try to understand what they want so that I can help guide that and make sure I'm meeting those standards.
Jessica Duncan:I also use video for this, so we let our customers know. Every contract gets a video every week. We do weekly videos for every single customer. It's a quick iPhone video. There are 45 seconds to a minute, and it's here's where we're at. Here's what we're working on for you this week.
Tim Shoop:So you're using a hosted platform that emails the video.
Jessica Duncan:No.
Tim Shoop:And it no.
Jessica Duncan:Simple technology we pull out the iPhone.
Tim Shoop:Oh, okay.
Jessica Duncan:We film it in front of our light, very similar to your light. Here we film our video and we shoot it off.
Tim Shoop:Okay, good, no editing, no method. No, I like it.
Jessica Duncan:It's complete, simple. I mean cause we're doing so many at one time every week Like.
Tim Shoop:It's easier.
Jessica Duncan:And also what it does. So it started.
Tim Shoop:So you're not using a webcam, you're not sitting there filming yourself, talk to them and hitting a button, and then it goes out to a hosted platform and into emails. Nope.
Jessica Duncan:Old school text message.
Tim Shoop:And I like the honesty piece because the best, like I said earlier, the best sales people have two traits they listen. So you listen to your customer that was one of your answers and you're honest. You'll tell them dude, listen, I may not be your agent because I'm not gonna do that. Yeah, Right.
Jessica Duncan:And I do tell them. If you have to ask me what's going on, then I feel like I failed to do my job. So I try to over communicate what's going on. When we have an open house on the weekend, I'm then reporting back. Here's what happened. Here's the feedback we got, both good and bad. Here's how many people we came in. We did a tacos and tequila broker open yesterday.
Tim Shoop:Well, I wasn't there.
Jessica Duncan:Well, you're not an agent. I like tequila. It was good for trends.
Tim Shoop:That's my favorite. That's my favorite.
Jessica Duncan:And my homemade margarita, which, I have to say, is pretty good. So we did that yesterday and literally as soon as I walk out to the car, I'm on the phone with the client. Hey, I wanted to tell you this is how many agents we had come through the house. Here's the feedback. I think we're on the right track, giving them constant updates. I will say having a driver definitely helps me communicate a little bit more, but also I have a great support staff back in the office. My team is just amazing, from Jackie and Tabitha and Micaela I mean, they are absolutely amazing.
Jessica Duncan:So I can hang up with a customer hey, can you shoot this over? We all use, of course, technology, drop box things like that, everything. Everyone has access to everything. So I can just shoot a quick message hey, can you forward this to this client or send this to them? They can actually even see my emails, so they help me even be able to respond faster. Now they're not going to just answer my email, but as me. But if they see a client's asking for something and they can get it faster than I can, they're going to make sure they get that ASAP.
Tim Shoop:Well, and it's a relationship business. I mean, when I was in the restaurant, buried in a taco, you said, hey, and that's what you have to do, right, you have to identify. So I'm going to ask you a couple more questions in regards to the interview. I'm going to try not to make you feel too uncomfortable. But what can go wrong in a deal and how do you handle that?
Jessica Duncan:So there's a lot. So am I selling your house or buying your house?
Tim Shoop:Let's just say you're selling my house. Let's say I'm the. Because I'm the seller, I want that house sold. I want top dollar for it. So tell me and I have a feeling I know the answers to some of it in regards to funding but oh, there's so much, oh, I'll bet. Tell me what can go wrong and how do you handle that kind of and keep it going?
Jessica Duncan:Right. So there's a lot that can go wrong. Remember how, when I first walked through the house and I was asking you how old the AC and how old the roof and how old all these things are, those are all things that are going to stop insurance and that's why I was asking those and making sure we're good there, because insurance is a big issue right now in Florida and that does stop a lot of transactions or create a lot of repair costs that were unexpected, that maybe a seller wasn't ready for. So I try to front load my presentation with that and really getting them prepared for that. Hey, these are possible items that could come up and here's how we're going to address it. And, of course, I have people and resources to handle it all. But I want to bring it up front versus hey, where are we going to have before closing and they can't get insurance. So I address that up front.
Jessica Duncan:And then, when it comes to financing, financing obviously falls through. There's issues with that, but there's a lot that we do on the front end to try and prevent it from falling through. There was one, as interest rates are going up and down. I was really glad I do this. I actually reached out to the lender and was like hey, so I noticed this pre-approval was from 30 days ago On an offer we received. I noticed this pre-approval was from 30 days ago and the interest rates have went up a point and a half since then. Is this still good? Or can you double check and make sure these people still would qualify at the current interest rate before we accept the offer? And unfortunately they did not. And the reason why that's important is because we accept an offer and we come off the market and then we have to go back on the market. It does hurt our marketability and it makes it look like there was a problem with that.
Tim Shoop:Because it's public knowledge right. It's got a public footprint online.
Jessica Duncan:So we try to do everything we can to prevent stuff like that happening by asking the right questions up front here. Recently I have noticed that there's been a lot of pre-approvals without that don't have contingencies to sell in the pre-approval, but the customer actually has to sell a house to be able to buy. So I have been reaching out to the lenders on almost every pre-approval. Now I reach out to the lenders and just say hey, your client has submitted an offer on this and I got their pre-approval. I just wanted to verify. This is what it says on the pre-approval. Is everything correct here, and is there anything that's not on here?
Tim Shoop:Very cool. So I was gonna ask you one more question how do you stand out in the market? But I think we already answered that in segment one and segment two. Through everything public presence, social media, all of that. So when I'm choosing an agent, what factors do I need to consider?
Jessica Duncan:Other than communication. I think a lot of people will pick someone because they're their friend or they know them. This is the largest transact, one of the largest transactions of your life. I think you need to interview someone, find out their skillset, find out their experience, find out their background, find out their stats. You know how many properties do they sell and a lot of this you can see. You can go on realtorcom. I get actually a lot of people who find me and call me off of realtorcom because you can go on there and see how many houses I've sold in any given area and you know it shows all my not all of them, but a lot of my staff.
Tim Shoop:That's the girl right there. Right, they're going. Yeah, that's her. Look at this, Look at this activity.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah. So I mean I think you need to. You need to ask the right questions and not just pick someone because they're your friend and you know them and you know it needs to be someone you're comfortable with and that you're going to trust with a very large purchase or sale of probably the largest sale or purchase of your lifetime up till that point.
Tim Shoop:All right, we're getting close to wrapping up. I'm going to drill you with maybe a couple more things here. We kind of touched on a lot of this, but I just kind of want to recap it Jessica's personal approach to ensuring her clients are matched with the perfect property. How do you incorporate your love for Pensacola into your work? Is that a good question?
Jessica Duncan:Absolutely so. I love this town. It's the town that raised me. It's the town that I give back to as much as I can and I really try and showcase the beauty of Pensacola to our customers. I really want people to know all the great features of this town and I want them to know all the great features that we have in different areas. So, by getting to know them and understanding their lifestyle, like we were talking before, you know, if I know they like to play tennis and they go play tennis four days a week, let's make sure they're near a tennis court. You know, I really want to know their lifestyle so that I can say, hey, is this important? You know this area has this. This if they're a boater, it's so funny.
Jessica Duncan:These people call me and they want to buy a waterfront property and I say, okay, why do you want to be on the water? Well, because I want to have a boat. What kind of boat? Well, I don't know yet. I haven't bought it yet. Well, what do you want to do on the water, that matters.
Jessica Duncan:Yeah, they're like what do you want to do on the water? I don't know yet. I just want a boat and I'm like we have so many waterways here, like do you want to be up in the river, do you want to be in a bay? Do you want to be on the inner coastal? Like there's so many different waterways and what type of boat you have matters. This morning, at a listing appointment On the water, one of the first questions is how deep is it at the back, at the dock, how deep is the water? I mean, you know what type of boat people can get.
Tim Shoop:And is it dredged going out, and how hard is it going to be able to? Because I know that, like off of our coast, I live over in Star Lake. So if you're on the water in Star Lake there is a certain path you have to use to get out to the main water area. I bought a center console to fish and all I did was drink beer on it.
Jessica Duncan:Right, which that's okay, but if I know a center console, I know you need at least three, four foot of draft. You know, I know you're not looking for a sailboat that I need to deep water slip.
Tim Shoop:But if I were to buy where I just said, right off of Star Lake, I would probably recommend you know if they were just using it for entertainment a pontoon boat. Absolutely, because you can float lighter. Yeah, so we're going to wrap it up, we're going to. We'll get in the last thing here. I'd like to hear a couple of personal antidotes. Maybe a success story from your career. Maybe look at the camera and this one right over here. Okay, we'll have a close up on you, tim, if you can get a close up on Jessica. Let's talk about a great success story that you had during your real estate career, how that affected the customer in a positive way and how it affected you and your, your the emotional impact it might have had on you.
Jessica Duncan:So I think one of probably the most impactful situations that I remember and we have a lot of these cause we do help people during very tough times deaths in family, deaths of a loved one, things like that. People normally buy herself because something's changing in their life, right, but I had this one that she was facing foreclosure and someone told her hey, just talk to Jessica and see what she could do. And so she called me out. She called me and I went out there and I'm like, well, when she showed me the paperwork she was served and I was like, oh no, when's it going up on the docket? So I realized we had 60 days before her house was sold on the courthouse steps. So we had 60 days to do something and we needed to do a couple of things to be able to get the house to make her the most amount of money. And I was like, look, if you can do this, this and this and this amount of time, I can have the house on the market in a week. We can have it under contract. I can probably get under contract for X amount of dollars and if this happens, you can walk away with X and avoid foreclosure.
Jessica Duncan:Luckily she was. She was going through a hard time in her life separation with her spouse as well as they owned a business together. So she lost her husband, lost her job and everything all of that and everything all at once and was facing a foreclosure. And we were able to help her walk away with over $60,000 in her pocket and no foreclosure. And that was a great, great situation to me to just give her a whole another restart at life. And I'm just so glad she actually reached out and called, because so many people don't and they don't realize how much we can help them. I mean, the worst thing that happened is I can say there's nothing I can do. But those situations where people are going through a tough time and we're able to relieve a little bit of that burden, those are the ones that leave that impact and tug on your heart.
Tim Shoop:Are you still in touch with her?
Jessica Duncan:Oh, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, and we, like we just had another one. Her mom passed away and and she moved to Chicago while everyone else is moving here. She moved there and she went ahead and left and we were able to handle everything on the house, handle getting the repairs done and and getting the house staged and getting it to closing. And you know she, she thanked me afterwards for going above and beyond and gave us a great review and you know, just being able to be there and make a difference in people, people's lives, oh, I got a good one that I'm so proud of right now.
Jessica Duncan:So I helped this first time couple by a first time home buyer couple by a house, probably about five years ago, and I just recently met with them and you know I do talk a lot with the customers about making extra payments and how they can save money on interest by doing that and putting there.
Jessica Duncan:I really believe you go to work to make a living, you buy real estate to build wealth, and so I talked to them about building wealth and and different things they can do to be able to build wealth. So I got to meet with them. Here we are, like five years later. Their family has grown. They are in one of the best financial situations I could have asked for with a couple that bought five years ago. I mean, they are just almost paid their first mortgage, their house off and their family's grown. They're further along in their careers and making a lot more money and now we're able to help them move up to the next house, help them sell that house, take that equity out of it, move it into the next house, and that just to be a part of that life.
Tim Shoop:You'll be their agent for the rest of their life.
Jessica Duncan:I hope so. It sounds like I hope so Because of what?
Tim Shoop:you've been able to do with that family.
Jessica Duncan:It just makes me proud. You know I love being able to make that kind of impact on someone's lives and when I see you know social media has its good and its bad, but when I see the photos families enjoying their pool that I helped them get in and that was a dream of theirs or enjoying Christmas by in their house you know Christmas morning photos Like that makes me proud that I was able to help create that for that family and that impact is so much more important than anything else we do.
Tim Schaffer:Sounds like you have a real passion. That's great.
Jessica Duncan:I love it.
Tim Shoop:It's amazing, and that's why we wanted to bring you on the show, because I knew I could get all this out of you today, jessica.
Jessica Duncan:And you're going to turn me into a softy.
Tim Shoop:I think I made. I saw a tear. I saw a tear.
Jessica Duncan:Let me keep my heart exterior on.
Tim Shoop:So we'll go ahead and wrap up. I want to thank Miss Jessica Duncan, mrs Jessica Duncan, for being on the show and, you know, taking the time out of your busy schedule to come hang out and be nerdy with me, for a little bit. And I want to wrap it up by before we cue the music, to let you maybe tell our audience how they can find you and how they might be able to work with you.
Jessica Duncan:Sure, so the easiest way to find me is to call me or text me 850-554-1783. My number is everywhere and if you don't remember the number, don't want to write it down, just Google JessicaLoveDuncancom. Yes, my middle name is love, literally, so Jessica Love, duncan, jessicaloveduncancom.
Tim Shoop:I'm on Instagram, I'm on Facebook, yeah, so and make sure you mention Nerds on Tap, because we get commissioned now. Cue the music.
Jessica Duncan:Hey.
Tim Shoop:Cheers. My fellow nerds and beer lovers. Stay tuned for more Nerds on Tap. Oh, and one more thing Help us spread the nerdy love and the love for grape roots by sharing this podcast with your friends, colleagues and fellow beer enthusiasts. Let's build a community that embraces curiosity, innovation and the enjoyment of a cold one.
