Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Tuesday, October 8th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here and we're welcoming into the studio David Farnborough
and it's Reality Radio.
David, how are you?
I am very well thank you, good to be here James.
It's great to have you with us and to the audience that they're used to us talking real
estate a little bit in other, another named segment.
This is a new branded version of this segment, a great name by the way, nicely done by you.
Looking forward to this David.
Now one thing that I've talked about with real estate many times and I think the biggest
thing I learned is that real estate is such a reputation business and how much of your
reputation relies on this and when it comes to being a new business starting out, I can
only imagine that that has some things that you have to do to accomplish to get there.
But it has to help when you come in with an established reputation already, a solid
reputation already with doing this.
So one of the things I want to dive into with you, David, is how that reputation plays
into starting a new business and what it takes to start up a new business in this game
in the real estate game.
Absolutely.
Now, as realtor we do invest quite heavily in advertising and some of that is obviously
marketing ourselves as real estate companies but also of course marketing the homes that
we're selling.
Now the thing that has surprised me somewhat is how much of my business has not come through
the advertising I've put out but just through my personal contacts and as you say this
is all about reputation.
So over the years since I've been in Wisconsin Rapids, I have built a reputation through
other businesses I've been involved with.
I have been involved with newspapers, I've been involved with photography and I've also
been involved with a lot of nonprofits, volunteering and being on the boards and all those things
have helped to get people to know me personally so that they know that they can trust me and
trust is really very important.
I think that's a great note on, you know, certainly if you were, I look at the real estate
agencies that you trust out there, look at the people that you trust out there, oftentimes
you don't just know them from their business, you know them because they're on a board
or they volunteer at an event or you see them at local events or anything.
It adds to the business, it adds to your reputation.
That's a great point on that and it speaks to the trust that we have whether it's subconscious
or not in this industry and the people that we work with in it.
And then there's of course the things that you mentioned were very well noted and then
there's word of mouth that also is a big part of this.
And there's another one where that word of mouth could spread a lot more if you're seen
by more people, if you're known by more people in the community.
You come into this as I mentioned with not only that wonderful accent but more importantly
a reputation that the community knows, the community has seen you, trusted you for many
years they have.
So going into this I think as somebody from the outside I would think well this seems
like a no-brainer to do this, of course you would start your own kind of, but this
took some, took some heart, took some thought and everything to do this and it certainly
took a lot of steps.
Yeah, that's absolutely right.
Now when you're a realtor in almost all cases you are working as a contractor with a
brokerage.
So having my own business is not something I'm new to.
I first started working in real estate when I was 18 back in the 1980s, I remember them
and high interest rates were a real problem then.
In hairspray?
Yes, absolutely.
And hairspray used to trouble me a little more then than it does now.
But in the 1980s I started working in real estate in the UK.
I was working more on the legal side but actually a lot of what I was doing then is very similar
to what I'm doing now as a realtor and I worked in that industry for 23 years and built
up a good reputation, as you say it's a reputation business.
And then when I came to rapids I wanted to try other things.
So I worked as I said in newspapers, photography, I did a little bit of radio as well.
But then I went back into real estate in 2018.
I realised that this was something that I really wanted to do and I worked as a contractor.
So I worked as a contractor and I always thought I'd love to have my own brokerage.
But I knew I needed the experience and so I worked with two real estate brokerages and
then after that I thought yes I'm ready.
Now I can do this on my own.
And now that you're at this stage what were the steps that you had to do to kind of establish
Rapids Homes which is the name of David's new company, not a new company but your outfit here,
Rapids Homes.
Yes, there are a lot of steps involved.
I did actually engage a business consultant and also put together a business plan.
There's a lot of planning it's taken months to get everything ready.
I also consulted with some other realtors in the area who had set up independent brokerages
because I thought it was good to benefit from their experience.
And thankfully all the realtors in the area have been really friendly and supportive.
This is not a business where we're sniping at each other.
So that was a big help.
I did have to set up an LLC with that go things like getting your EIN from the
IRS.
You also have to set up a business bank account.
You have to get insurance.
This is most important to protect myself and my clients.
You need to get errors and emissions insurance.
There are a lot of mortgage lenders who won't work with me unless I've got that.
I had to get a brokerage license from the state.
So I've already got a real estate salesperson license.
I've got my real estate broker license, but I needed a third license for the actual brokerage.
It's a lot of licenses and wallet, that's a lot of money.
That was perhaps the most frustrating thing because I couldn't apply for that until I left
my previous brokerage and they were not the fastest to deal with at the state of Wisconsin.
That was something I had to do.
There's been a lot of changes I've had to make on websites.
I've had to go into all the official websites, so the National Reels Association and the
State Association, I've had to contact them and have those changes made by them, things
like zillowreelser.com.
From the Chamber website, everywhere, I've had to go in and make the changes because
I don't want anybody, even someone who's going to look on Yelp, yes, people do still
use that, to find details of me at an old brokerage, I want to know about rapid homes.
There's been a lot of planning with that.
Also I've had to put together marketing materials, had to create a logo.
I did that initially myself, that I work with a colleague who's a designer, Steve Livin
Ash, who's great at those things and he'd help put the finishing touches, get just the
right colours that show up on the signs.
That's another thing I had to have the signs made, business cards, had to get a whole
load of lock boxes from the central Wisconsin real estate MLS.
I've got the special digital lock boxes which can only be accessed by members or affiliates
of the local MLS and that's just so we can, for security, so we can track people going
in and out of the homes that we're selling.
So yeah, there's been a lot and I'm pleased to say I've had a lot of support from my wife,
from my family, from the chamber.
I know you were just talking to them and they've been absolutely wonderful, but also from
my fellow realtors and that's really heartwarming.
I want to come back to that when we have a chance, David, but I do want to hit on something
that you've kind of brought up, you've brought up before and we've talked about before.
When it comes to this industry, you mentioned previous jobs, other things that you did
and I know that a lot of those who enjoyed, I know that you're very good at them as well.
It's not surprising for those of us and I think we know each other fairly well that the
people that know you to know that you would go to this industry, that this is where you
would end up, if you will, because while this is such a good business and it's a good industry
to be a part of, you can make a good living at, it's also an opportunity to really help
people, to really be there for people.
It's interesting you mentioned the Chamber Promise and I were talking a little bit about
this when it comes to you, when it comes to real estate.
Actually, the last time I saw my daughter, we were talking and you came up, because my
oldest daughter, Brea, is a, does services, does wedding services, you know, marries people
and everything.
She does this not really for a religious reason but more so she loves being a part of people's
special day and just being kind of like a fly on the wall on a way and bringing people
together and some of those things.
It made me think of a lot of what you've mentioned about real estate and the idea of the person
finding the right home and helping people make this purchase and helping people have something
that so many of us look forward to and it's oftentimes the biggest purchase any of us
will ever make and helping people find that right fit and getting them in the good place
with that.
Yes, that's absolutely right and for me, I had realized that I did a bit of calculation
and worked out that with everyone I helped when I was in real estate in UK and everybody
I've worked with since 2018, I have probably helped about 6,000 people by or sell homes
which is astonishing when you think about it.
Now it is, as you say, the biggest investment most of us will make in our lives but it's
not just a financial transaction.
Yes, I want to make sure that people get good value for money and that their investment
is protected but it's more about people's life changes so every house move is usually
for a reason that's unconnected with money.
Once in a while it's money motivated but most of the time it's because people need an extra
room, they've had an extra child or they're downsizing or maybe it's their first home
and all these life changes can be stressful but if you have someone who really cares holding
your hand and giving you the best advice it can reduce that stress.
I mentioned the reputation part of this business.
In part for one, it's a way to start the show, I'll admit that but it's also such an
integral part of all business.
All business is a reputation business really when it comes right down to it but this one
is a little more intimate in many ways because of the personalism of it because of how important
the home is to a person so it becomes even more meaningful to trust your realtor to be
able to go to somebody that you know knows the area and trust the area and has an understanding
of that and when it comes to that that's information and while one person is going to know
something another person might know a little bit more than another so you mentioned earlier
about getting support from the other realtor in this area and everything in the sharing
of information and that only makes our area that much stronger.
It doesn't hurt anybody's business it only brings people up, a rising tide raises all
boats.
We've learned this from our nonprofits in this area when I was a kid and I first moved
here we would see a lot of crabs in a barrel kind of thing with a lot of our nonprofits
and a lot of our businesses.
Over the years that really grew and changed to where okay we're going to cover this you
guys cover that or oh we're covering something similar let's work together and it's not surprising
that a pandemic happens in this area survives that a lot better than others.
We are stronger together and it's not just nonprofits it's all of our businesses and
to hear an industry that I think to a lot of us that are on the outside looking in well
that's probably pretty competitive.
To hear the sharing of that to hear the camaraderie of that only strengthens our community
it doesn't hurt anybody it only strengthens us I appreciate you sharing that.
Yes it is competitive and the competitive edge isn't taken off by the fact that we are
professional colleagues who support one another.
The competitive nature of it is actually better for us and it's better for consumer because
it means that we always try and do better and sometimes one realtor might see something
there's another realtor's doing them think hey I can do that I can give a better service
so it's better for everyone if we if we do that.
The other aspect to it is that when you're in a real estate sale situation you often have
a buyer's realtor and a seller's realtor and we have to work together all the time and
what makes it easier to work together is that we do have a reputation we have a reputation
around here my realtor colleagues have a reputation for being friendly and professional and
I think those two things combined make for a good experience.
With rabbit's homes David what are you hoping to kind of bring to the community and do with
this a great new outfit that you've started this great business?
Well it's in the name really a rabbit's homes is my focus so it is based in Wisconsin
Rapids and this is the primary community that I'm servicing although I do also do a number
of sales in the local municipalities so I usually sell a house or two in Marshfield a year
in Stevens Point and in the town of Rome and also the small communities closer to here like
Vespa Beer and Pitsville and Port Edwards so Rapids is the focus of it and homes is also the
focus so it's primarily residential but I can do commercial as well so that's not excluded
that was something I had to deal with when I took out my insurance I had to make sure I was
covered to do commercial property sales as well and rentals so Rapids homes is exactly what it says
it's homes in Wisconsin Rapids so my concentration is in this area I do know the area very well I
even though I sound like I've just got off the boat I I have lived here now for 16 years I know
the area and its history very well I know which areas might give your house that's more affordable
I know the history of the houses when they were built you know someone shows me a house I can say
yep that was a mill house built in the 1940s I can say yes I can tell by looking at this house
that it's a prefab built in 1970 or I can tell if it's something that was built in you know more
recent times and you know certainly what I need to look out for in terms of potential problems yeah
it's not just a great name it's also a very it tells you exactly what what David's focus is where
he's able to put his microscopic focus on to when it comes to getting you you're right on the home
and the home that you're looking for here in the Rapids area you mentioned the chamber David I did
want to take a second to just touch on that because with Provis was in we brought you you were
rabbit's home is a business of October so we were talking about that a little bit she was
mentioning that you've been a chamber member before and for a while and one of the I always like
to give a chance to let people chamber members touch on why they're a chamber member and why
they continue to be a chamber member yeah initially I joined the chamber as as an individual
and it was before I started any business I would love to go to the events it was a very good way
to network it was a good way to get to know people in the community and then when I started
my first business here which was photography it was useful to expose my services to other
businesses in the community and also to other people who weren't necessarily businesses but who
could use my services I do think the chamber is very good value for money just
just this month or in the last couple of weeks I've had a ribbon cutting and I'm business of
the month so I really can't complain that they're not giving me wonderful service but even without
that there's so many things I think every month of the year they have an event and it's probably
more than that because they usually do one of their business after hours every month and they have
other things less frequently like the downtown grand affair and today we have the business
expo there's just so many opportunities when it all the things David said 100% along with the idea
David of showing that you support your community that you're a part of the community and being a
chamber member often does that it shows I'm supporting local I'm a part of local and this means
something to me so all the things you said along with that on top of it and it can encourage
people enough to be a part of the chamber and reach out to the chamber to find out more
David with with your business if people want to contact you or do you have a website up yet
are you able are you on social media yeah actually I have two websites the one I've had for about
five years is rapidshomes.com and when I was thinking of a name for the business I thought well
why don't I just use the domain name I've had for a long time you know I spent a lot of time
racking my brains trying to think of a a good name for the business and I thought well I've got it
I've got it already rapidshomes.com so you can find me on rapidshomes.com or you can text or call
seven one five three two three eight five nine four and you can also find me on the chamber website
because I'm on that and be sure to when you find these things bookmark them share them on your
social media you just never know who might see them that wouldn't otherwise by local support local
everybody and David's going to be joining us once a month going forward here at least for a
little while here and everything we're looking forward to that and one of the things that I think
we we have an opportunity with this to be able to do David is really dive into topics involving
real estate that we don't always get a chance to we don't always find the time to or the ability to
one of the things that I wanted to be able to get into with you that you brought up in our
notes is AI on real estate and how that affects real estate going forward I think we could use
some time on that one we've got like seconds left for this one yeah so I would love to get into
that with you in the future I think that that's a really interesting topic yeah that that is
something where we can really enhance the service that we give to the public and I do think it
is something that merits a longer discussion time so yes maybe I'll come back next month
and we can talk about that it seems like a deal all right we'll do that I'm looking forward to it
already always look forward to you being in studio and hanging out with us David thank you so much
again for the time one more time if you wouldn't mind how can people going to touch with you if they
would like to find out more well they can also find me on Facebook I'm under David Farmer Realtor
very easy to find with a quick search thanks for the time David we'll talk again real soon and
then we'll have another episode next month of real estate radio right here on 975 FM 1320 AM WFHR
we are locally grown radio
