WELCOME

Hello from Miami! Rather, hello from the car going from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale where we’re about to see a $39M listing because I am all about maximizing my time.

By “we,” I mean me, Lucas, and Victoria, as we’re planning to mix some business with some pleasure. The pleasure started with the first time either of these two have ever flown first class. I’d be tempted to tell them, “Don’t get used to it,” but the thing is, I do want them to get used to it. I do want them to experience the luxuries that life can provide when put your all into what you do.

What it all starts with is our topic today, and that is the importance of consistency. If you make it your job right now to be consistent, you’ll open up a world of possibilities as time progresses. So, if you prefer to be greeted with a hot towel and warmed nuts when you fly, let’s get into the swim of it.

THE REALITY OF REAL ESTATE

I’ve seen a whole lot of things in my years in real estate, from markets going up to markets crashing to buyers crying in their car… but this takes the dang cake. Now Zillow thinks it can tell you what to offer on a house?

I’m talking about their new “offer strategies” tool. Bless its little algorithmic heart, it allows buyers to choose their offer strategy and then it gives them feedback on how strong the offer is. Plus, there’s options to make offers anywhere from strong to weak.

Do y’all see what the problem is here? Real estate is not a spreadsheet. Real estate is not numbers on a screen. Instead, it is human, emotional, and nuanced. Want to know what this tool doesn’t tell you—but your agent will? If it backs up to a chicken plant, or if the neighbor’s got 17 Rottweilers and a drum set. The offer strategy tool doesn’t know that you need to move in before school starts or that the seller just found out he’s getting divorced and he and must close in two weeks or else she’s gonna toss his golf bag in the pool again.

Who does know? We do.

I do not even need to explain that Zillow isn’t licensed, that Zillow doesn’t negotiate. Zillow is sure as hell not calling the buyer back at 10:00 pm when they’re panicking about inspections or whether the house has “good chi.” Zillow doesn’t show up with cupcakes at closing to appease the grouchy cheating spouse with those rusty Callaway clubs. But we do.

The reason this tool is so scary is that it’s basically clickbait in disguise. It’s like giving a gun to a four-year-old, because they don’t know how to use it. And I suspect Zillow is aware because their disclaimer reads something like: _{“Offer insights is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute an appraisal of professional valuation from a licensed real estate broker, agent, or appraiser. Any decisions regarding real estate transactions should be made in consultation with a qualified professional. Offer success percentages are generated using Zillow data, data models that rely on local market data to estimate the likelihood of an offer resulting in the sale, no-take-backsies, la-la-la,no, I’m not listening and I can’t hear you with my hands over my ears.”} This is no different than the CYA fast-talk disclaimers you see at the end of pharmaceutical commercials.

So let’s not trust a machine to do our jobs, not now, not ever. Remember what I said last week—I don’t follow Zillow’s lead; they follow mine. Real estate is a relationship business, and if buyers think they can win a house with a popup suggestion and a pixelated price point, they’re the ones who are going to be crying in the car before they even leave the driveway.

I think Taylor said it best…

STORY TIME WITH GLENNDA

The Life Changing Magic of Consistency

I planned to write a little something about red flags today, but as I listened to myself dictate my thoughts, I realized the throughline here—it’s consistency, so keep that in mind as you read, because it all comes together at the end.

I started thinking about red flags and I asked myself, What are the biggest red flags we should look for from either a buyer or a seller? It hit me like a lightning bolt—the biggest red flag is inconsistency. Let’s say they are inconsistent in their communication, if they are inconsistent in what they want, if they are inconsistent in why they're buying, if they're inconsistent in their story, if they don't have a record of upkeep, if the upkeep is inconsistent—any of those things are big ol’ red flags.

Let’s say you've got a seller, and the seller tells you, “Oh, I had an appraisal for $689K,” or “I have an appraisal for $6.8M,” yet in either case, they never give you the appraisal. Or sometimes it’s, “I have an appraisal for $669K,” and I’m like, “I thought you said it was $689K last week.” That’s a big red flag.

A lot of times as real estate agents, we want to romanticize whatever the buyer’s inconsistency is. We want to say, “Well, you know, they're really busy. That's why I haven't heard from them. Or they weren't available to go out looking this weekend. You know, they're really trying to do it all.”

Let me promise you this—the  longer that it takes for them to get back to you, the worse the relationship is. Relationships with buyers and sellers and real estate agents are very similar to relationships with a partner. You know where you are in the food chain by how much attention you're getting.

The other red flag is when the seller doesn't have records of any work that they've done. Typically, if you replaced your HVAC unit, you would have a paper trail for it. Even if you didn’t have an actual paper receipt, you have the ability to get the record. It's 2025, for God's sake; those records are available with one or two clicks. The only reason that sellers don't turn over records of repair, or, if it's been an Airbnb, records of receipt, is because it's inconsistent, because there's something within it that doesn't look right. Maybe they bought a used HVAC unit. They put in a low-quality HVAC unit. They've only done the heat and haven't done the air. They've only done the air and they haven't done the heat. Anytime that they don't have a record, that's a huge red flag.

I had this conversation with some agents the other day. The deal is that the best place that you can be in your career is when you have an opportunity to say, “It's not worth the time, energy and money to put into this person.” A lot of times as real estate agents, we don't value our time. We get caught up in thinking, If I didn't have this client, I wouldn't have another client.

That's not actually true.

Wasting your time with someone who will waste your time is a missed opportunity. The best luxury that you can have as a real estate agent is the ability to pick and choose. (The second-best luxury is being able to decipher who's going to be a pain in the ass and avoid them accordingly.)

I learned a ton through my early failures, when I was new and I could only attract the red flag clients and I have the battle scars to prove it. There is nothing like a trial by fire. But my point is that you’ve got to keep yourself in a position where you don't need the deal, that you have a steady enough pipeline to walk away from those who are just waving those red flags.

So it all goes back to consistency. If your business is inconsistent, you're more vulnerable to having to work with just anybody. However, if you are consistent in your phone calls and consistent in your farming and consistent in reaching out to your past clients and sphere of influence, then that consistency then gives you the opportunity.

That consistency gives you the freedom not to have to work with people who are difficult and don't value you.

Amen.

Win the Listing Before You Walk In — Free Q&A with Glennda Baker

Get chosen before you even step through the door.

I’m sharing exactly how I win the listing before the appointment even starts. From powerful pre-listing packages to authentic video messages, I’ll show you how to make sellers say, “You’re the one.”

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👉 Watch the free Q&A — on demand now!

GLENNDA’S GURU

Welcome, James Dwiggins, Part Two!

My talk with James Dwiggins, co-CEO of NextHome, was so great that I wanted to continue our conversation this week. So here’s more!

Thanks again, James!

GLENNDAISM

Today’s Words of Wisdom

GLENNDA BAKER & ASSOCIATES

That Country Club Lifestyle

What if I told y’all that you could have that country club kind of lifestyle, minus the luxury price tag?

Believe it!

Oh, my stars and stripes, I am so excited to share this listing which is part of the Creekside Golf and Country Club. This fabulous four bed/two bath home is just as fresh and crisp as can be, with new floors, lighting, countertops, paint, landscaping, etc. Plus it has more than 1,000 square feet of unfinished terrace level, so there’s a world of possibilities, and what’s more exciting than that?