Speaker 1: 0:30

I'm John Tobrey. I'm with Century 21 Redwood. My office is actually located in Fairfax, virginia, but I do serve Maryland, dc and Virginia. I'm a Maryland native so Maryland and DC were kind of natural to me. Had to learn northern Virginia a little bit but met a girl, ended up living in Virginia, so might as well get that license too. And at the end of the day, real estate is real estate. Especially for our region it doesn't change that much. As far as a DC metro, I got into it. Basically I started out after college. I didn't really know what I wanted to do and was working as a shipping manager and that was okay for a while. You know, just as learning the ropes, I guess, of adulthood right.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Yeah, where were you? A shipping manager?

Speaker 1: 1:16

That was in Frederick, maryland. It was a small mom-and-pop printer called Valley Graphics Kind of taught me a lesson in life early on because the boss there used to say that they had a line in printing, that there was death taxes in printing and then printing died. So it was kind of like, okay, the world changes right. But yeah, started there there and then my brother-in-law and I got into contracting so we did like decks, uh, basement refinishing or finishing, uh you know obviously handyman projects, all that kind of stuff and uh, then eventually the economy kind of took a nosedive there in whatever 07, 08, whatever that was, and things changed again.

Speaker 1: 1:58

Yeah. So the big guys started doing what was kind of our niche of projects and they could get materials cheaper because they were bigger companies. So I hung on for a little while and stayed in doing some of that kind of work and then ended up in industrial sales, which was terrific. I could read blueprints, I could do all those things. Didn't know anything about steel, to tell you the truth, but that's what steel fabrication. So kind of learned the ropes of that. But that changed as I was kind of getting into it, from being something where you were out there and you know taking clients to golf or this or that and kind of winning them over in that way to here's the drawing, how much can you make this widget for. And so it was very impersonal and I kind of just that wasn't my thing. I didn't like that.

Speaker 2: 2:53

Did you miss the interaction and the hands-on?

Speaker 1: 2:55

Yeah, yeah, because basically I was just talking to procurement managers and that was. You know, I'm not saying that was terrible in its own right, but it was just very. Once you got in the door, there really wasn't much to it anymore. Right, it was just here's a drawing, what can you make it for? And you either beat the other guy's prices or you didn't. So, yeah, so I was looking for something to be a little more, you know, personal, you know, really having an effect on the public, I guess, in a way. And somebody said to me well, you have this experience, you have this sales experience, why don't you get into real estate?

Speaker 1: 3:31

She was the managing broker at Long and Foster, georgetown, was a friend of the family, and so I got into to real estate. I guess that was 2018, okay, so now, six years in, and and started like I said. I started off. I obviously got my DC license because I was that was where my brokerage was and I was from Maryland and then got my Virginia license and had that, had all three now, I guess, for four years. Three years four years.

Speaker 1: 4:00

Four years, I want to say. So your family friend suggestion worked out well, yeah, yeah absolutely Very well, it was a natural fit, because it is. I try to keep the real estate, while my girlfriend's a birth doula. So I've come to discover that these two worlds are very similar. We're having the same conversations, obviously about two very different topics. Yes, Right, but they're two of the biggest things that happen in a family's journey Very true.

Speaker 1: 4:29

Right. So it's been interesting to kind of see that from that perspective. But it also gave me the idea of wow, this is very serious and you know it's a lot of money, no matter what price range you're in. For you individually it's a lot of money, but we can still have some fun and lighten that mood sometimes and I think that's a big part of it.

Speaker 1: 4:57

In that mood sometimes and I think that's a big part of it and something that's recently come up several times with some clients' feedback and testimonials and those kinds of things they've commented on how patient I was and it's been interesting to kind of chew on that, think about it. It was something I was just naturally doing. I didn't really try to do it, let's say, but to get that feedback and really think about it, I understand, because there's so many questions, there's so many things that you don't expect or you think you're headed down this lane and all of a sudden you're making a left-hand turn and now we have to kind of recalibrate what we're doing and there does need to be patience in that Right.

Speaker 1: 5:33

There does need to be patience in that Right, and so I've. I enjoy that part of, I guess, the journey for people as much as anything is kind of helping them, because I find that many of us come in with an idea we're going to go this direction, we're going to look in this neighborhood or this area, and then you know just a little bit of hey well, this area over here is very similar. Why don't you at least take a peek, you know kind of thing, and that really gives people better insight. Sometimes they still go back to where they were originally thinking, but it helps them zero in on what it is.

Speaker 2: 6:06

Do you think it's hard to get people to kind of think outside of the box once they have a set thing in their head?

Speaker 1: 6:12

It kind of depends on the person. Yeah, some people, I think, I think definitely once they've got it in there it's hard to steer them in another direction and with those you just kind of just gently, kind of keep putting it in front of them, right? And other people, I think, as soon as you say something they go oh, I never thought about that, right. And we'll immediately take your advice or two cents in that part of it and at least take a look at that other scenario and see what that can do for them. And a lot of times I think it works out well because you never know exactly. In housing I don't feel like you ever know exactly what you want. I've used the kind of the thing to reframe people's thoughts sometimes.

Speaker 2: 6:56

I love that expression reframing.

Speaker 1: 6:58

It is, I think, because that's what it is too, because I mean, we're all guilty of kind of having this set idea and you just kind of little adjustments. It's not like it's a major 180 degree turn, but reframe them with the idea of, let's say, you have 10 wants and needs when you're looking for a home. House has six or seven of them. That's a heck of a house. You're not going to get all 10 things. I used to use Tom Brady and Giselle as my power couple, so I'm kind of playing around with who my new power couple is.

Speaker 2: 7:32

That everybody knows. But even.

Speaker 1: 7:34

But even them with all the money in the world can't get everything they want in a house. The plumbing's over there, you can't have this thing over here, you know, or whatever. It is Like. There's always going to be those kind of situations in a home, or you know, or your budget a lot of times is a very determining factor of yeah you might get the interior, but you're not going to get that exterior you're asking for, or vice versa, right?

Speaker 1: 8:00

So you kind of have to. You have to be willing to give a little bit in real estate, because it's very hard to accommodate everything you may want or need. Um, particularly in our area we live, in a very expensive, high cost of living type place, and so it's really hard to accommodate all those things and then throw on top of it travel times.

Speaker 2: 8:23

Do you find that challenging for people coming from outside the area?

Speaker 1: 8:27

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 8:28

Do you see people in sticker shock? Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 8:30

I think there's sticker shock. Don't understand the travel time. Back to that, they'll say I need to be within 30 minutes of X and it's like, well, what time of day are you telling me 30 minutes? Yeah Right, because in the middle I used to use I live in Burke, virginia Fairfax. Basically.

Speaker 2: 8:47

I grew up in Burke. Really, there you go See.

Speaker 1: 8:49

You actually know where Burke?

Speaker 2: 8:50

is I do. That's why I always kind of phrase it as Fairfax. I always say Burke, fairfax, yeah right.

Speaker 1: 8:54

Because people know Fairfax right or Braddock Road one of the two right. But when I was at the Georgetown office I would say to them okay, if I want to go there at lunchtime, 35-minute drive, no big deal park, I'm in the door. Whatever, I had to be there for 10 o'clock sales meeting on a Tuesday, 50 minutes hour and 15, I don't know right Like it was, and then you'd get there and couldn't park and the earlier I left I was still 10 minutes late. It really didn't matter. When I left I ended up 10 minutes late.

Speaker 2: 9:28

Yeah, from about five in the morning till nine yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:32

Right. So you know but I use that as an example of trying to give people the idea of this is how much the traffic changes. And another great statistic it's a 2019 statistic, not absolutely true anymore, but it still works is that DC's population, or DC proper, is roughly about 700,000 people. Dc's daytime population ranges between 1.2 and 1.6 million. Oh, wow, so you add three, four 500,000 people to somewhere. There's a lot of traffic, and I kind of use that because, again, not everybody is going to DC at the end of the day, but there's a lot of people traveling from, you know, the whatever the North side of DC to the South side of DC, to for for a job or whatever it may be.

Speaker 1: 10:23

Right, and we have you know whatever.

Speaker 2: 10:24

six major highways. We're in a big circle, so everybody's connected.

Speaker 1: 10:27

Right, right, exactly. So you know that helps, but I do find that, yeah, relocating people that have been here, particularly ones that have, you know, kind of been to the area for a weekend or a week here or there, for some sort of work, function or whatever it is, just really don't get it. You know, because they know DC is a relatively small city and in city terms right, but at the end of the day it's such a big expansive thing so it's hard to make that adjustment for them.

Speaker 1: 11:00

Yeah, I do find that interesting, and then and then the people that it actually is very different yeah all the way around the beltway is really different areas? They're not.

Speaker 2: 11:13

It's not just the same at all, not even close, right, I imagine it's challenging coming from outside the area to kind of learn those different areas and where you want to be, and yeah, it's going to work for you, commuting-wise and house size-wise and all of those factors right.

Speaker 1: 11:30

Yeah, because it changes greatly depending on where you want to be and, like any area, there's always the push out because of the prices going up. So even that's changing. Whether you're talking about Woodbridge and Fredericksburg or Fort Washington or Frederick, maryland, or whatever it is, all those places are much different than they were five or ten years ago because people were getting pushed out to drive further but get the house and land that they want.

Speaker 2: 11:59

What are you doing for marketing these days? How are you getting people in as far as advertising and social media?

Speaker 1: 12:06

Yeah, obviously doing the social media and trying to do the videos. It's not necessarily my favorite.

Speaker 1: 12:12

I'm comfortable on camera you know, as we sit here, right, but it's not necessarily my favorite thing. Social media in general, just because of the other stuff that goes with it, right, but, yeah, definitely do some of that. You know some postcards and mailers, those kind of things when it's when it's appropriate for certain areas and a lot of it, though, is just is word of mouth is still the best advertisement I can get. Having someone like you know, that that I've worked with, say to their friend or their family, hey, I like this guy, he was comfortable to work with, is better than anything I can do, but I do feel like the videos. At least you can get some idea of some personality and see how people are and that kind of thing, and at least give you a feel of this is how I operate in general. What you see is what you get. I'm not anybody different than how I'm sitting here today You're very transparent.

Speaker 2: 13:04

Yeah, this is just what it is.

Speaker 1: 13:05

Let's have honest conversations. No-transcript best for you.

Speaker 2: 13:38

It sounds like you had two whole careers before getting into real estate. So what advice would you give somebody that's looking to make a career change kind of a little bit later in life?

Speaker 1: 13:52

That's a heck of a question. Be prepared, I guess, to just jump into the deep end. You know it is one of those things, because it's while your experiences help you in any career, right? Like no matter what you've done, you've been dealing with the public or or B2B kind of stuff, which you know. I, obviously, when I was in industrial sales, that was a lot of business, a business type thing, but I think it gives you. You have a foundation and then do the extra work to figure out what are the ins and outs of this new career. Right, and and I real estate's a perfect example of you take these tests and they say, oh, here's a license. You don't know how to do the job at all.

Speaker 2: 14:37

Like great. What do I do with this paper?

Speaker 1: 14:40

Basically, that's all it is. You obviously learned things from that. I'm not saying that it wasn't important, but it's a lot of the laws and technicalities and regulations and those kind of things, where then there's the actual doing the job and that's a totally different thing and you kind of have to feel out. I think it's nice to kind of look at the different ways different people do it take that in and go, okay, how do I make that mine right?

Speaker 1: 15:08

and and I I would say that's probably it is pay attention. Some of the best piece of advice I got when I first started real estate was then it was a different world than pre. Covid was just be in the bullpen and that was kind of like. In that particular office setting there was like a middle section where everybody was and there were some offices around the outside but there was a lot of communal conversation there and you could just just pay attention to the conversations around you. You could learn things. Just two seasoned agents who had been doing it forever, talking about some situation that they had run into and that was. That was like free experience.

Speaker 2: 15:44

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 15:45

Right, and I even had that in construction where I worked with a gentleman Unfortunately he's no longer with us, but he was older than me and had seen all kinds of different houses and done different things. He could put together some pieces that I hadn't experienced yet. I hadn't worked on some house that was built in 1940 or whatever it was. He already knew how the framing kind of was going to be. Because that's one thing I don't. I don't think people totally understand the houses are built so much different, some good, some bad.

Speaker 2: 16:18

I'm sure it's evolved.

Speaker 1: 16:20

Right, yeah, you know what I mean. We can go back and forth, but you know, I hear a lot of different things about homes being built today and how this is terrible or that's terrible. It's just a different world. It's not that it's better or worse kind of thing, it's just different. Just different, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:37

And adjusting to those changes, were you able to take your experience from your last two jobs and apply it?

Speaker 1: 16:44

Oh yeah, absolutely, you know. So the industrial sales obviously was more of a true sales job, right, and real estate really isn't sales in that way, but parts of it are right. I'm not selling a product. I'm not selling you a house, right, I'm helping you identify what's best for you and filling in some gaps of knowledge in a lot of cases that you don't have. But the construction, I think definitely, if you make me do my elevator pitch part of somewhere in there, I will get in. I know more about houses than 95% of the other agents out there I'd say 99. It just sounds too cocky, right, and they do exactly that. They laugh. It lightens the mood, right. But we can kind of get into the conversation.

Speaker 2: 17:27

But it is true that you know a lot about construction.

Speaker 1: 17:30

Yeah, absolutely. One of my favorite parts is negotiating the home inspection because the majority of the time I know more about it than the agent on the other side or anyone else involved other than the inspector. And the inspectors that I use that have gotten to know me now and know I have that knowledge base. So when they explain things it's just usually top level and they expect me to ask the questions where I need a little bit of more information, because I generally know what I'm talking about, but occasionally that gets me.

Speaker 1: 18:01

I just had a very recently, my client's in Germany and so we've done most everything virtually and that included the home inspection, and so we didn't have very good cell reception in the basement. So I shot a video as opposed to doing like a FaceTime for that part, and my inspector was so used to dealing with me, even though he knew what he was supposed to be doing, I had to kind of push him a little bit to give them the rest of the information. Sure, Right, but it was nice because the client you know, obviously by that time we had looked at a bunch of different houses and he was comfortable with me and knew that I would ask the questions that he would want to know kind of thing, and after he got the video he was like man, that was great. It was like we were there because we were getting any information that we needed.

Speaker 2: 18:55

It doesn't really matter if I'm seeing it, it would have been just right over your shoulder, right, exactly over your shoulder right, exactly so.

Speaker 1: 18:59

So, yeah, I definitely think it pays off for for the clients in that way of because I I find in particularly we're we're in a more, say, white collar area where people aren't as as knowledgeable about how to fix a car, fix a house or whatever systems right right so.

Speaker 1: 19:19

so, having that kind of knowledge to kind of help them along, and something I say to clients, I was like you know, obviously I was your agent for this transaction, but I want to be your agent for life. So if a year from now or two years from now, something comes up and you're just not sure what is the actual problem, or is this something I could maybe fix myself? Or do I need to hire somebody? Just give me a call and most of the time I can walk you through it or get you headed in the right direction.

Speaker 2: 19:45

I'm sure that gives your clients a lot of peace of mind. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:49

And that's ultimately what I want for the client. Right is to know that you're taken care of in this process Because it's a major deal, right? It's the biggest purchase most normal people are going to make.

Speaker 2: 20:02

Yeah absolutely.

Speaker 1: 20:03

We're not all billionaires. We're running around and buying yachts and everything else, right.

Speaker 2: 20:08

No, this is it Barely buying our houses. We're trying to hold on to them at the lowest interest rate that we can.

Speaker 1: 20:13

Yeah well, that's an interesting conversation to bring up interest rates now where they're at and as busy as the market is moving. Rates now where they're at and as busy as the market is moving. People sat around, I think last year and didn't know what to do with the interest rate and there's a lot of bad advice out there and sometimes that comes from friends and family, Sometimes it's from the news, whatever. But I think people finally just decided to bite the bullet. They got comfortable, Even though the interest rate, if you look at it historically, is at the 40-year average. Basically, the 40-year average is 7, a little bit above 7. Right now I think we're 8, maybe a little above 8 right now. It's crept up over the last month or two but it's still not a bad interest rate.

Speaker 1: 21:05

It seems like it's bad when?

Speaker 1: 21:06

Because it's so far from what we're used to yeah, when you got twos and threes there. For a little while during COVID I actually talked to a more of a millennial aged client and we were just meeting for a buyer consult. I had helped her rent the year before she was considering buying. And as we were talking and this was, I guess, a little almost a year and a half ago now I looked at her and I said wait, are you thinking you're going to get a two or 3% interest rate again? And I could tell the answer was definitely yes and she kind of smiled sheepishly at me and I said look, if we see one in my lifetime, I'm going to be amazed and I'm like I'm in my mid forties, yeah, I don't think that's something.

Speaker 1: 21:49

That's maybe, but we got it in a weird situation. I'd rather have a little higher interest rate and not have COVID if we're going to just be like that Right affecting everything else, yeah right.

Speaker 1: 22:02

So it all depends on how you want to look at it. But I think I get asked the question of is it a good time to buy? And I for a while used to kind of answer it in different ways, and now my answer every time is the exact same it's the right time to buy when it's the right time for you, it's a good answer. Yeah, because there is no right answer. Right, and sometimes you get lucky in real estate and sometimes you don't.

Speaker 1: 22:30

I was at a bar listening to a conversation that was going on behind me, and this gentleman was acting like he was a real estate genius because he had bought at the end of 2019 or beginning of 2020, right, and at this point it's a couple years later and now he's made all this money and equity on his home and he's acting like he was so smart and I finally like I, there was some sport conversation going on that we were kind of, but I heard this part and I'm just I finally looked at him. I said so you knew COVID was coming. And he kind of looked and I said, well, that's why you made all the money on your house is because COVID came and the market exploded.

Speaker 2: 23:06

Yeah, right, and you got a little bit lucky yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:09

Congratulations, like good for you, like don't get me wrong, but that's just something that happens in real estate. You can't plan on those kind of things, or even when a crash happens, because we had the opposite side of it. As we got further into the COVID years of real estate, I started talking to people who were telling me oh well, there's going to be a market crash and the prices are going to drop. And I was like, well, where are you seeing that data? Where can you please provide me with some of that right? I'd love to see it. They never would, because it didn't exist, was the truth right? And now some of those people are still sitting on the sidelines and their mortgage rate would be, you know, double what it would have been if they would have just bit the bullet and paid more in the price of the home right, but you're going to pay for the house one way or another right and when it's the right time to buy, it's the right time to

Speaker 1: 23:58

buy, and that's why I started moving to that phrase, because that's how you have to think about it. Stop worrying about all these outside pieces and what the news is saying or whatever else. And even friends and family, while they mean the best for you because they love you and care about you and all of those kind of things, it doesn't mean they're an expert on anything.

Speaker 2: 24:24

Right.

Speaker 1: 24:24

Right, and let's face it, most of us will buy a handful of houses in a lifetime, right? You know you figure seven to 10 years is roughly the average of living in one. So if you go on that, most people maybe three or four houses maybe, maybe yeah. Well, the market's different in 2015 than it was in 2020, or it is in 2024. So their experience while some of it will go on and on right, some things don't necessarily change Other parts of it are drastically different. Right?

Speaker 2: 24:54

I mean just between 2019 and then when, by the end of 2020, after COVID those were drastically different times and if you told any of us that was happening, we would have never believed you.

Speaker 1: 25:05

Right, I wouldn't have believed myself, right.

Speaker 2: 25:08

As we wrap up here, I just wanted to ask you what advice would you like to leave our listeners with? If you had one piece of advice, it could be life advice, real estate advice or a mantra that you live by.

Speaker 1: 25:21

I like that because real estate is one thing, but I think life is more important, obviously taking care of yourself. I've kind of been on my own journey as I've gotten a little older and having to readjust in life, right, yeah. So I would say try to eat right, make sure you're getting plenty of fluids and figure out some sort of exercise routine, whatever that is. I walk every morning. I do do some other things with lift some weights here and there and whatever, but I walk every morning and it's become my favorite part of the day. It's pretty much non-negotiable. Occasionally, tomorrow in fact, I am breaking my normal thing because I do have to do something for a client and we have to do it early. It's a relocation person, so I have to help them do something and it has to be early in the morning for this particular situation.

Speaker 2: 26:14

But self-care, so you can take care of it.

Speaker 1: 26:16

Yeah, but that's exactly it right. When I've started my day off in a way where I've gotten the blood flowing and feel good, the rest of it just flows much easier. So I would say figure out whatever that routine is for you and stick to it and do that.

Speaker 2: 26:32

I'm very much the same way. I like that Well, thank you for being here today. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

Speaker 1: 26:38

Absolutely Thank you for having me. Yeah, I appreciate it.