Podcast Episode 168 Transcript

Episode 168: Mastering Las Vegas Real Estate: Unveiling The Viper's Nest w/ Camila Lincowski

folks this week on the PreReal podcast we were joined by Camila Lincowski uh Camila came over from Puerto Rico and in 2015 moved out to Las Vegas and essentially started her career in real estate with nothing um fast forward eight years later she is the top performing agent out of 20,000 in her district and she's done it on personal service grit creativity connection and authenticity uh this is it really reminded me of the way things were done years ago in the real estate game uh tremendous insights really really great ideas she's having all the success in the world she's uh she's representing all sorts of stars and athletes she's gone right to the top camil linowski it's a good good episode great fundamentals check it out are you ready to bring your real estate game to the next level my name is James Prendamano I'm the CEO and founder of creal and over the past last 25 years I've closed over a billion dollars in transactional real estate each week I'm meeting with outstanding investors High performing individuals and Visionaries operating in the real estate space these are the people that are actually out there in the real estate game right now getting it done this podcast aims at bringing anyone's game to the next level this is the PreReal  podcast welcome to the PreReal podcast folks we're joined today by Camila linkowski she is a like an agent doesn't properly phrase this she is the agent at players at Platinum um a remarkable story incredible following heck of a book of business Camila thank you so much for taking the time of joining us today thank you for having me that's our pleasure so people don't wake up and you know become an agent to athletes and and the Stars uh I'm sure you've had a heck of a journey and it's it's important I think when we do these shows and we have top performers on like yourself that we give a little context for the audience um it can be intimidating and people feel like they're talking to an avatar so um can you talk a little bit about the beginnings for you where you're from originally and and a bit of your journey to get here sure uh so I was born in Puerto Rico I was raised in Miami uh I moved to Vegas because of my then now husband uh well he's my boyfriend then my husband now and uh I started here in Vegas with nothing like I didn't know anybody I didn't know my left or my right and uh my husband's one of the top lenders here in Vegas and at the time was as well and uh we one day we sitting and we're eating I'm like hey what do you think about me you know getting into real estate my background I did uh reality TV and I got my masters in communication and and like they say you know communication degrees is like useless but I did learn a lot uh so he's like yeah check let's see let's see how you do so I I mean I did the course I passed the test I mean the bars set pretty low I'm sure everybody knows that you know to pass and I I don't know I just told everyone I met that I was a real estate agent and I remember us going one day to a Super Bowl party and I didn't know when one and I remember this woman said um so what do you do and I'm like I'm a real estate agent and she's like oh well my husband wants to sell his bachelor pad can you help us and I was like yes and that blossomed into a great friendship um and she referred me a bunch of people and she bought a couple houses herself for me and sold a couple houses so it it block like that is what I would say is you got to tell everyone who is listening that you're real estate agent even if there's a million real estate agents in the room because there was when I was there at that party so you're in a a district that has plus or minus 20,000 agents and you're in the top of those agents uh consistently and that does noten by accident and it certainly doesn't happen just just from having a conversation but I think the the key piece there is action you have to take action in this business you have to be constantly moving uh what are some of the other things that you've done over the years to build the brand establish the book continue to prospect what could you offer to aspiring agents or agents that are moving up through the ranks uh some tips tricks things that you've done that have landed so you know uh when I first started with my first athlete and this was during Covid um we developed a friendship you know and because everybody had to be isolated so we developed a friendship and I remember him calling me and saying and I was pregnant too during Covid and he goes hey it was like August it's was like 110 degrees out I was like seven months pregnant he like listen there's one of the guys brought their real estate agent he's like you need to come here tomorrow and you need to meet all the guys because you're a great agent so I went with my big pregnant self and I just like introduced myself to everyone I also like followed a bunch of them on Instagram and I it was good to put like a name to the face because you write them DMS you know and they get so many that when they write back it's great you know but you you can have like a conversation and then it may go somewhere or it may not so it was nice for them to to be put in front of them but also like in my neighborhood for those who don't have an athlete client or what have you I do like popeyes I there I have 78 homes in my neighborhood and I started this by like I make really good salsa and everyone always ask like you should sell your salsa so I just do like I started with like December like two or three years ago I did like little mason jars the whole thing probably cost with the 78 homes maybe like 350 bucks and I just put like uh spice up your holidays love candy your neighborhood realtor and I put my car and all that I got over like 10 leads from that which was great you know so and then I just constantly like stay in front of them now I do pop eyes like I just did one on October 1st I did uh you know bottle openers and they were little magnetic bats and I put some candy and it was like a little decorative Halloween box and I put my cart that again cost me like $350 you know so it's stuff like that I think personalize stuff and you like take the effort to go to their home to drop it off and have a conversation with them that stuff's Priceless so something agents look past frequently is we don't do business with people we don't like and they use social media as a way to talk about just listed just so just listed just sold and I tell the folks here and and the Agents that we mentor and communicate with with over the years and now decades nobody gives a if if you just listed and just sold something if it's a real specific campaign and you're establishing value in a neighborhood and you're providing stats and information and you're educating the folks in that neighborhood okay but you've got to connect sorry about that all good you've got to connect with people you have to establish some sort of a if it's I like to fly fish post about flyfish um you know I I like to think I'm super dad a lot of stuff with my kids other people relate to those things that's the initial catch so for you to make your you know world famous salsa and drop it off to everybody in the community is that an organic thing or is that a product of you reading books and you know trying to find ways to cultivate the business how do those things come to you oh that just was organic if I'm honest with you read any books about it I just felt like you know if I'm if somebody's going to trust me with the biggest purchase in their life you know I want him to get to know me you know like it's just common sense it's logic you know so you I'm going to give you the salsa and you know they're going to remember this salsa because it's so good and and and it got to the point now that they messaged me hey are you passing out salsa this year you know like that kind so it's one of those things where like you want people to remember you I mean obviously I do mailers as well you know that's just a plus do I do the just stole just listed yeah I do that too but that's just the plus you know the core is getting to know someone you know like I know some of my neighbors don't like it spicy so I literally have some mild set aside and then I have some spicy set aside you know because I take the effort to get to know these people and I also do like uh I do it twice a year and I do one in the summer and I did one in the fall and I get a coffee truck for the neighborhood and then I'll do a Italian ice truck for the neighborhood in the summer and it's just like a good way to get the neighbors together but also you know I won't even talk to them about work I'll just have like a flyer there with what's sold what what's on the market you know how the market looks but if you can pick it up you can pick it up that's great but if you don't that's great too like doesn't matter because they know I did it and they know where to find me so as you're putting this book of business together that first athlete that you connected with on Instagram was there any connection prior to that had you been messaging athletes and stars in general or was this a random thing how did this come about so it started with uh you know the Las Vegas Raiders they were coming to Vegas and obviously that wasn't a market that was tapped into because we don't we didn't have we have the golden kns but I hadn't had my license yet when the golden kns came so I thought okay this is like this is an even playing field essentially so I was gonna I'm going to get on it you know I'm verified on Instagram now everyone could be verified if you want but at the time there wasn't so that was my Edge that was my advantage so I would DM them I would then see if they had any wives I would DM the wives you know I would just I mean what are they going to say to you no okay you know like and I would say 99.9% of another time you know I got a response because they look at your profile they see whether it's the wife or whoever they see I'm married they see I have kids they see I have a family you know and then so they'll respond to me and be like hey yeah but I'm just looking to rent you know that's fine hey I'll help you no problem guess what they get that bigger contract they're going to buy and that's what happens when they do get the bigger contract they come back to you the person that made the effort when they just needed a rental and you know would message them after game or when I would go when I go I go to most of the home games and I see them I you know I say hello and say hi to their family and I drop gifts off for the holidays I mean not like huge gifts but you know like little Popeyes that kind of stuff even when it's a rental and they clo on it I still bring them like a nice bottle of champagne with glasses and I usually get it like personalize the the label so you know stuff like that and it's those little things that people remember and they appreciate and snowball without a doubt Personal Touch and again you're taking action where others are not um that's a remarkable amount of or percent of people to respond is was this early in your career had you been selling for years prior to or did you jump in and say I'm going for the top here let's let's hit it and go basically yeah so I've had my license for like 5 years I I got it 2018 but that was at the end and I didn't really yeah like the end of 2018 so I started I got married and then that's when I was like okay let's let's get into this and then the Raiders were coming so that it it it just was like a perfect storm really like I was like all right I'm gonna do this and I'm not going to lie I faked it till I made it like don't get me wrong people were like how long have you been in the business couple years you know yeah I mean I faked I mean I had my broker if I had any questions you know I didn't make any rookie mistakes but at the same time I I I've seemed really confident I came off like I knew what I was doing you know that kind of thing so that definitely helped because when you come into this business timid and your client can see that they they don't want that they want someone that's going to guide them through this process because they don't know how to buy home what to do when they buy a home you know so that's a great Point another thing that I I feel agents devalue if if they give value to it at all we have knowledge and most folks don't and what we do um ties to as you touched on earlier it's likely the most expensive thing this individual is ever going to buy sell or rent in their portfolio full stop and that's powerful stuff and as agents we conduits to this information and we're there to provide a service and a personal one at that so you're you're building this book of business um what type of tools are you using for data management for example like you said certain neighbors like mild salsa other other neighbors don't um you I'm sure you're you're logging this information somewhere right unless you your mind is a supercomputer I don't log it wow you're doing all of this on the Fly I don't have a CRM I mean listen I know people use CRM and I wish I was one of them I just don't like if I have I need a reminder I'll put it in my calendar like a reminder to follow up with somebody on something like that I know it was like a we have a time constraint on but I don't I I do everything like it's all up here I know it's crazy to say and it's probably yeah no I don't have a CRM I don't have anything that I log anything in probably should wow so you've built a a hell of a following and a heck of a brand uh any tips trip tricks thoughts ideas to share with agents on content information how to get going and and maintain it just be consistent you know uh one thing I learned and I try to tell this to agents and I know people are like I'm broke like I can't pay $350 for mailers or whatever so and I get it so what I did too was you know guess what they're talking about interest rates right now everywhere you know and your local news on Facebook um Instagram everywhere guess what you do I this is and I've done this too and this is how I started getting leads you look at the comments and you're going to see people saying I can't afford it I can barely afford my rest I can't do this so I always respond and say hey check your messages you'd be surprised but you can't afford there's a lot of down payment assistance programs that's how I message them my like I said my husband he's a lender I say hey I'm going to connect you with somebody you know I think that you you're underestimating as to what you can afford you know so connect them and then that's a lead right there you know and that is something that's free and easy and you're always on your phone anyways you know so why not just Check the comments another one is you go on Twitter now x uh and you just put moving to Vegas in the search bar and when you do that you'll see what's come up with people saying I'm moving to Vegas I'm doing send them a DM hey I see you're moving to Vegas is there any way I can help you you know that kind of stuff and that's free leads right there so are you at this point dealing with just an exclusive clientele I deal with everyone you deal with everyone yeah everyone I mean whoever need I mean everybody needs a house whether it's a rental or you're going to buy or or they they don't know what they want to do you know I I don't discriminate so what does the market look like out by you now it's a little it's slower like everywhere else you know uh when a nice home comes on the market like a unicorn that's like TurnKey and ready to go it goes quicker than others you know it's just harder because every a lot of people are priced out with you know interest rates where they're at so cash is obviously King at the moment but there are also I have a lot of people coming from California where they're like I don't care about these 8% or 7% interest rates like I just need to get the hell out of here so can you do a FaceTime tour you know and that's I just do FaceTime tours and they're like okay that's fine that's what the offering I'm coming this weekend so there is a little bit of both yeah there's a massive shift my entire investment thesis where we bought a lot lot of property and projects out in New Mexico is built on this unbelievable decentralization that we're seeing from the major cities and the digital assets we sell property all the time now through the metaport tours and we have really good assets digitally and it's literally like being in the home now the technology is so ridiculous that you know we have to tell clients like put your ma away when we come in and do the shoots because you could read the mail on these tours oh wow yeah uh and folks like you said are just feeling like I I need to go um I'm coming out of a market where prices have risen to such a a level that it doesn't matter because it's such a step down in price from where we're we're coming from and it typically is a commensurate step up in size and quality you're getting right so I think that trend is probably here to stay for the foreseeable future um is there a certain price point that you have found has slowed down more or less or has it been kind of across the board you're seeing this this change or is it dependent upon up to a million under 500 over two million I mean I had a deal die that was you know 3.6 million and if the rates were at where they were last year he would have saved over $4,000 on his morgage so the deal died you know so obviously the higher the price point the harder the blow you know so it it's it's Hit or Miss really you know it's those people that are like I don't care I'll refy I don't care I'll refy in a couple of months but then there's the like these first-time home buyers that they're like I don't have like I thought I was gonna pay this much you know and I I don't have this much so now I have to you know go to a home that's let's say $400,000 right but then they're getting beat out by cash buyers you know because cash is King right now obviously so it's it's Hit or Miss really I have I've been really fortunate in this market to where like my buyers that I've had have most of them have like been like I don't care I just want to close or I need to be here so so it's interesting um what we're seeing in the market and people forget that this is a cycle and every time this is the third full cycle I I'll have gone through it's remarkable to me how even the the grizzled Vets forget it's a cycle and things are going to turn and if they don't turn we all have much bigger problems and it doesn't matter right so the we're preaching to our clients by value now if if you can if you have the resources obviously and you can afford the payment there is value out there in the market this is not a time to sit on the sidelines it's quite the opposite uh sellers are starting at least by us we're seeing the sellers are starting to understand the realities of the market and pricing is now starting to adjust um commensurate to those r that rise in interest rates so prices are coming down and there's value on the table and when rates go back down um and there's a lot of reasons that we think this will happen sometime in the middle to end of next year the market kicks off again right and it starts a new cycle so what are your thoughts on that do you think that there's value out there in the market today I do I mean I think that if you're like this is what people like don't understand is that they're like well I'm going to buy this house I don't I don't work with investors but they're like I'm going to buy this house they're like well what if next year the value goes down I go how long do you plan on staying in this house oh like 20 years probably said so what does it matter if it does go down it's going to go back up you know like I can't tell you where your value is going to be in 20 years but I can tell you if you're going to stay here you know from now you know until 20 years it's going to go up down up down up down you know but you will make a profit at the end at the end of the day you have a home that is yours if that's what you want right you know like what are you now like some sort of investor I don't know about you know so I get where coming from where they're kind of like what about the value but if you're gonna to stay there what I mean does it really matter if you're going to leave in 20 years right what what's the value going to be next year or next month yeah it it doesn't real estate's a Long play and uh there is a lot of value that we're seeing built into the market right now and there is a growing pent up demand of people who don't have the resources who can't sell who can't make that move now but that pool is growing every day right there's more and more folks that feel trapped and they want to make this move they don't have the resources to do it when rates tick down and Congress passed uh 40-year mortgages a few months ago right so now people have the ability to stretch that out another 10 years commencer at almost 30% drop in payments with a drop in interest rates we feel that the the housing market is is headed for some great times we've got another rough year or so to get through but this is where you stack the value and and like you said when the tie turns you're refinanced and you're in great position yeah and you know it what goes up must come down and you know what goes down must go up people have to see it that way you know even though we're yeah we're down here I get it you know but it's gonna it'll get better do I think we're going to be back at that 2% interest rate I don't think so you know I think that'll be TI like if it happens it'll be a long ways away you know agreed but but I even if if you think about it is 7% really that bad if you think about it historically it's not the first house I bought was 13% yeah you know what I mean and I get it people are like well when it was 2% I understand that and I get I see where people are coming from but we can't live in that past either because then what if it like God forbid we get to 10% and they're like man I should have gotten that 7% you know like could have should have would have you know some people say like what do you think is gonna happen I'm like I don't have a crystal ball I wish I could tell you if not I'd be like you know in the Maldives if I knew it was gonna happen well like you said no one's got a crystal ball but we do have uh markets and cycles and history and factors that we can look at uh and value is value period if the value is there and you have the resources we're all in and we're encouraging uh our clients to do the same thing um when the market was hopping there were did you have that bidding war period for like a year and a half where everything was a bidding war yeah it I mean I had this my one client even tried to give season tickets to the Raiders wow and and he still got beat out wow yeah it was intense the biding Wars that were going on what are some of the things you do in in that market I mean is there anything you can do when things are that way to try and distinguish your bids I mean I had one client and offered pizza every week every Friday for six months yeah because they owned a pizza shop you know and and they got it so that's great you know but at the same time I like to tell my clients like do you love this house like you and I know your house a house is only worth what someone will buy it for okay so I'm like I don't I I never pushed my clients to put a bunch of money that you know over because I didn't want it to wear like God forbid they're like well this house is a hole and you made me go 50 ,000 I nope I never encouraged it I always say that's what you guys want to do go for it but I advise you not to do it you know because I don't want them to come back at me and be upset with me you know I want it to be their decision I don't want to persuade you if you love The home and you want to do that then great I will be more than happy to put in the offer but I try to stay away from that whole bidding war thing and a lot of you know a lot of clients like they're hireing their businessmen a lot of them so they're like you know I'm not doing this I'm not going to go back and forth with them this is my offer and that's it they take it or leave it so do do you prefer uh being a buyer rep or a seller rep buyer why buyer 100% buyer just nice I like you know uh somebody once told me and it really stuck with me was deals are made in the car so a lot of my clients like I said are out of town or their athletes just coming in so they I pick them up from the hotel you know and we are you know we're I'm getting to know this person you know and they're getting to know me and I'm talking to them about their life and they're talking to me about their life so it's just you get to like a personal level to where like I trust you you trust me like so they'll be like Camy I what do you think what should we do instead of I want to do this and there's no you know communication so I really like being a buyer agent because you know we get to go see houses together you know neighborhoods and I and then every time I get out and we go in the car I'm like okay so what do you think rate the house one to five what do you think and they'll tell me their you know the pros the cons and then we discuss it on the way to the next house you know so I really like being a buyer agent I like being listing agent too but buyer agent is really what I mainly am as a buyer agent and do you contract with your buyers do you have them so it's completely dependent on you being available and delivering outstanding service I'm not going to make someone work with me that don't want to work with me I'm not g to be like well I'm going to bind you to this paper no if you don't want to work with me I probably don't want to work with you and I fired one buyer yes one buyer I have fired because the lady was calling me while I was giving birth and I was I was like I'm in labor because I pick up my phone all the time oh oh that's so great congratulations so um listen about that I'm like kiding me I was like No And I mean yeah H that one was gone but other than that like I've never had any issues one of the things that I was attracted to in the bio is you say you're not a 9-to-5 agent you're a 24/7 agent and I am you know you're not going to deal with camil's assistant you're going to deal with with Camila um so many agents Miss The Mark with that personal connection and how this is again likely the most important thing in their they're ever going to buy right it's probably the most expensive thing they're ever going to buy or sell and building that Rapport doing the drives that's a an art 30 years ago that's the only way we did it we made the client come to the office they got in the car with us and and they drove over nowadays um there's a lot of just show one house they meet you there people don't want to be bothered with it and that is an art that that has been lost and is incredibly power powerful in this world where nothing seems real anymore between artificial intelligence and CGI and all of the things that are going on there's people miss that human connection they want to be able to sit and talk to somebody knowledgeable yeah and you know and I think as well like some of these newer agents that come into real estate are they want like this instant gratification and that's not going to happen you know like people want like I showed you a house what do you mean you don't want to buy this house like what do you mean and they're literally looking up their you know their commission the moment they they see the houses and stuff like that and and that's where you lose your authenticity that's where you lose yourself you know I I have I had a friend and we got into like a little friendly debate because she's like I I want to get my real estate license I just want to make an extra like 10 grand a year and she works in medical sales and I said so what are you gonna do you have a buyer that says hey I need to see this house right now and you're in the middle of a surgery what are you gonna do and she's like well you know I'll tell them to wait I go they don't want to wait they're not going to wait for you because if they see that this is not your main job and that you are doing something else and you don't have time for them well guess what they're not going to make time for you it's that simple I mean it's people don't get it they think that oh because I showed this person a house they're my client now and they should have put about that house and they owe me money and it's like no you have to put the time and effort into it you have to earn your business earn it from them no doubt you have to be authentic you have to be available um and there's got to be that connection there has to be that common element that thread that you share with this person and you build trust and the best way to sell is to not sell at all yeah yeah so what's next for you we film something that's coming out soon but can't really say what it is but it'll be a big thing for Vegas uh it's about real estate and myself and other real estate professionals and uh I that's all I can say but it'll be on a big Network so in the middle of like negotiation so hopefully that'll be done by year end yeah well best of luck with your Raiders this year I know they're off to a tough start it's okay they got this they got this okay yeah it's uh they're a gritty team so I think that the there's obviously plenty of Runway left and hopefully they turn it around Camila where's the best place for folks to find you Instagram uh CAMI_Li and I respond to all my DMs I see all my DMs you know I'm always here to help if anybody wants any help I always you know I listen I can give anyone the knowledge it's whether or not they want to do it you know people are like why do you tell people your secrets I'm like because I can tell you right now that most of them aren't going to do it yep they'll say they are but they're not yeah with with all the information that's available to agents today all of the tools in the toolbox um wow I mean this this game has changed so dramatically from 30 years ago when we were getting a book every two weeks and you had to really hustle and show personal service and we were working off prospecting cards to artificial intelligence and the stuff that's out there today there really is uh every tool you could ever need and free information right folks like yourself are sharing the way to do it what you laid out today is so authentic and so true and so easily repeatable if you have the mindset the commitment the drive which of course is The X Factor but the secret sauce is just you you offer legit authentic personal service and you're available I mean that's what it comes down to so your phone please that's it uh all the information is always folks will be below uh camil Lincowski appreciate your time thank you very much and best best of luck with your project thank you and thank you for having me my pleasure as always everyone please stay safe [Music]