How To Use Local Market Data To Locate Deals Automatically

Benson Juarez: Train. Jump on the steep train. We real estate disruptors.

Steve Trang: Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us for today's episode of real estate disruptors. Today, we've got Benson Juarez with Privy, and Benson flew in from Denver to share how to use local market data to locate deals automatically. Now I am on a mission to create a 100 millionaires. The information on this podcast alone is enough to help become a millionaire in the next five to seven years.

If you'll take consistent action, you will become one. These days, I may hear a lot of people saying things like my acquisition guys aren't buying deep enough. Our dispo guys can't sell our deals anymore. If you're hearing things like this, we might be able to help text leaders at 33777. See if my team can help you with that.

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That way we can all grow together. And don't forget, we do a part in the disruption tomorrow and certainty talks on Friday. And this is a live show. So please ask your questions for Benson to answer. You ready?

Benson: Ready.

Steve: Alright. So first question is what was your life like before real estate?

Benson: Well, I've always been an entrepreneur, so I've I've always been looking for some sort of a hustle to get involved with. And before real estate, I was in kind of a transition period, because it was right before like, nine eleven had just happened. And so at the time, I was, in the national guard for the air force. I was military police. And so I I just finished a stint with another company that I built for six years.

It was a retail nutrition store company called, one on one nutrition. And, I was transitioned out of that, and I decided to go back to school to get a master's degree in business so I could just figure out what I was gonna gonna do next.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: And then nine eleven happened, and then I got thrown into, like, the opposite of entrepreneurship, which is working for the government. Yeah. And then I started to do my side hustle while I was at the base and doing my active duty, which was, like, learning real estate and slinging mortgage loans and hard money loans, and that's how I move forward into the real estate. So it was kind of a weird time before getting into real estate where I was, like, you know, to the max, working for the government, doing business school, and then leaving a business that I had sold.

Steve: So so one on one on one nutrition?

Benson: One on one nutrition.

Steve: Is that kinda like a GNC and a stop one or or one stop nutrition kinda deal?

Benson: Yeah. Yes.

Steve: Buy nutrients and whatever.

Benson: Yeah. Nutritional products that that what we thought was different, which hadn't been done a lot. Now it is done a lot because of the Internet. It's easier with the consultation element. So they would come in and they'd get, like, a workout program and they'd get a nutrition, you know, list and meal plans.

And so that's how we kinda tied it together was to give the consultation with the products themselves.

Steve: You were involved in it involved in what capacity?

Benson: Oh, I was the owner.

Steve: You were the owner. Yeah. And being the owner, you went from that to working for the government.

Benson: To that well, to knowing that the Internet revolution was coming and knowing that that was the competition to, like, okay. I don't wanna be be sitting in a retail environment anymore. I'm gonna go back to college, figure out what the heck is going on in the world, and then nine eleven happened. Yeah. And then boom, at a base.

Steve: Got it. What compelled you to join the national guard?

Benson: To pay for school.

Steve: Okay. So it was a help. Pay for college was you agreed to this, and then you got introduced into a war that you had no idea was happening. That was gonna happen. Right.

Benson: Yeah. But that was always you just never know Right. When that's gonna that sort of thing's gonna happen. But I I liked the aspect of, yes, some money, but also, like, the experiences that came out of it. So, my brother actually ended up joining them at the same, group I was in.

Mhmm. And so we would actually volunteer for all kinds of of deployments. So I got I went I went to, The Caribbean twice. I went to, Italy, Germany. And then when we did the the full, like, active duty, that we didn't have a choice where we went at that point.

Right. And then I was in Kosovo for the majority of that deployment.

Steve: Okay. And then during this time, you're doing loans, and you said, you were doing mortgages and, private loans or hard money loans?

Benson: Yeah. So it didn't start off right away. However, I was at the base. We would do, twelve hour shifts.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: So you do, like, three twelves, and then you'd have, like, two days off or three days off. And sometimes those days off would be right in the middle of the week. And so me being kind of a hustler and a entrepreneur, I wasn't just gonna sit around for three days. So I'm like, well, what could I do with this time? And I had a buddy that was doing mortgages.

And so I'm like, well, you know, can you teach me how to do this? And so I was pretty soon spending more time doing that than I was time at the base Mhmm.

Steve: But

Benson: all during the day because I was starting the base work at night to twelve or actually 6PM to 6AM.

Steve: Okay.

Benson: I go home and sleep for a few hours, and I'd go sell loans, sleep for another couple hours, and then go back to the base.

Steve: Where were you selling loans?

Benson: Just to people I knew. Just my my sphere of influence.

Steve: But these are people that are looking to buy houses at this time, and even though you're a different part of the were you a different part of the world?

Benson: No. Well, it depends on what point it was. At that point in time, I was in Colorado.

Steve: Okay. So you're in Colorado?

Benson: Are bay based there. You were

Steve: doing loans for people buying homes in Colorado? Mhmm. Gotcha. Okay. So you you went side hustle doing mortgages, and then you said hard money loans?

Benson: Hard money loans eventually.

Steve: How did you get into hard money loans?

Benson: It's the office that I was in, it was this weird office called Moneytree.

Steve: Okay.

Benson: And, they they had a title company there. They worked with a lot of investors. They did hard money loans. They brokered hard money loans. So they were just integrating at all levels.

Steve: Gotcha.

Benson: A lot of people were licensed as agents and doing mortgages. And so it's just like a lot going on.

Steve: And a little bit more wild west before Dodd Frank came around.

Benson: Exactly. Yep. Yep. So I eventually got licensed as an agent. I'm still licensed.

When they when they made me choose which to do Yeah. It was agency work.

Steve: Okay. And then somewhere along the way so you're already heavily involved in real estate. Somewhere along the way, you've got involved with Clout.

Benson: Yeah. What was that? So Clout was, I've done annual investing. That's what they call it. Right?

So you just you invest in in technology companies or startups. And, I found a a company that was a fintech or financial technology company, from a buddy of mine that I went to college with who was in the same business school as me. And so he had this concept of, merchant funded rewards. Think about what Rakuten is now, if you've heard of it. What is it?

Rakuten.

Steve: I'm not familiar with it.

Benson: I think I'm pronouncing it right. It's basically like a, a rewards based system where if you buy a certain product, you buy a promotion, you can get VIP, you know, rewards, you can get gifts, you can get cash back. It didn't exist then. Mhmm. And so we were kind of ex I think we were a little bit ahead of our time.

But Clout was basically a merchant funded rewards program where you could get, you know, cashback, VIP access to things, special promotions. And, Trying to think.

Steve: Is this something I saw, like, on, like, Shark Tank or, like, there was a I was like and you you can get into special clubs in New York. Right? Like, if you had this card. Right. Yeah.

But this is this is LA based. The one you have?

Benson: We were gonna be based out of LA. That's where we were doing it. So I actually picked up and moved to Los Angeles for four years

Steve: Got it.

Benson: As we worked on that.

Steve: Okay. And then when did you start investing in real estate?

Benson: That would have been 2003 or '4.

Steve: Okay.

Benson: 02/1934.

Steve: Alright. So you've been investing in real estate this whole time. So even though you were you had you know, you you want to get your master's degree in business and you went to military, you were investing this whole time.

Benson: No. So sequentially, when I went back to to college, that would have been, like, 2001.

Steve: Okay.

Benson: I I just done all of the GMAT work and done all the studying, like, learning how to learn again. And then once I got accepted into business school, then, nine eleven happened, right, shortly thereafter, and then that was right back into the military. And then I had a time frame where I was learning real estate Mhmm. And loans and all that sort of thing. And then, you know, 03/2004 is when I started to start investing in real estate.

Steve: Got it. Okay. And then, was there and tell me about, like, your first deal because you were doing this. Sounds crazy. Right?

Because it's, like, almost twenty years ago. It was, like, it was a different era. Tell me what it was like investing real estate back then.

Benson: Well, it was much easier to get a loan. So they had

Steve: Yes.

Benson: No doc loans. Right? And so stated income loans, basically, you could just say how much you made, and it could be owner occupied or non owner occupied type loans. Mhmm. So the criteria is different.

Like I said, before Dodd Frank, everything was just a different and it was like a law law west. You could actually go and you could talk to the appraiser. I remember those days. When you show up when they do the appraisal. You can

Steve: go yell at the appraiser. Like, yo. Like, I don't know. Get your head out of your butt. Like, this is strong value.

Totally.

Benson: Right? And and we had our appraisers. Everybody had their appraisers that they used. Right? If you had relationships with them.

And so, you know, right or wrong, probably more wrong.

Steve: A lot of undue influence.

Benson: Yep. You know, things are things are better now. Also, there was, like, you know, subprime loans then. Right? So you get really low interest rates, arms, you know, adjustable rate mortgages.

It's just a different game then. Right. So things yeah. They have changed considerably.

Steve: Oh, you were buying deals in Colorado?

Benson: In Colorado.

Steve: Okay. So were you you're buying deals predominantly to hold to, to keep his rentals?

Benson: That was some of it. It really did depended. Like, I actually started off doing that, and then I learned how to wholesale by accident

Steve: Okay. Tell me about that.

Benson: By getting well, by getting to a property that, like, just didn't fit my my buy box at that point. Like, coming across a deal and be like, oh, this is great. And And then figuring out, like, oh, it's got too much work. Like, some of these properties we would buy sight unseen. So we were we were, going through and doing, buying doing a foreclosure list.

And we had this really cool software at the time. It was pulling in public record data, and and then we were able to kinda find, properties that were in foreclosure, and we could see we'd pull, their relationship with the title company. And they'd pull ONEs for us, so we could see which ones had liens. Yeah. ONEs?

Mhmm. Ownership and encumbrances.

Steve: Okay.

Benson: So that's like a modified title, you know, pulling a title that a title company would do. Okay. And back then, you could they could just give them to you for free. So this is another thing that regulators changed is the title companies can't give you anything anymore because now they're earning your business and they're regulated. So that's

Steve: I understand. Sure.

Benson: Yeah. So we're just getting, like, hundreds of these things. And so we're just pulling liens, and then we would be we go out and we buy, like, an HOA lien or we buy, like, a municipality lien. And at the time, that, there was a redemption forty five day redemption period for foreclosure. So we go buy a lien, and now we're in a redemption line.

So this is also the time when they were doing a lot of eighty twenty loans. Right. So eighty percent first, twenty percent second, so you could avoid paying the private mortgage insurance. And, so they would start the redemption process, and there'd be, like, you know, three or four lanes on this property. And then the redemption process would start, and the the first mortgage would always get their money.

Sure. Second mortgage comes up, and they're like, well, we're not in the business of owning real real estate, so we're gonna just walk away. So that 20% lien just disappears, poof, in in this thin air. Mhmm. And then it goes to the third one.

Maybe it's a HELOC or, you know, some sort of, you know, other equity line of credit. And then it comes down to the lienholder. So I got a $100 HOA lien that I paid $50 for, and all I gotta do is pay off the first mortgage. Mhmm. And now whatever equity that was there before, I get that minus whatever the other lien holders they walked away from that didn't redeem.

Got it. And that was my whole strategy. So I was knocking on doors. I knocked on hundreds of doors. But when they would come down to the auction, we would just, you know, write offers.

And, we got a lot of properties that way. Got it. It was fun.

Steve: Do you sell properties that you bought back then? Did I sell them? Did you sell them, or do you still have them?

Benson: Oh, they're all gone.

Steve: They're all gone? Yeah. Okay. The seven to eleven crunch kinda

Benson: Totally. Yeah. Yeah. So So talk

Steve: a little bit about that because right now we've got a little bit of a little bit of this, interesting market right now. Mhmm. And there are people that have been through this who might be suffering a little PTSD.

Benson: Right.

Steve: There are people that have not gone through this and have no idea what's going on. Yeah. And there are other people that have gone through two of these, and they're like, I'm excited for this third one. Right? Yeah.

What is your take, and what are you doing in this market?

Benson: I fit more in the latter of those different scenarios because, you know, I was talking earlier to your team and they were asking about one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made, and it was it was being unprepared for those downturns Mhmm. In the market. And so part of the what the strategies were that we were using at the time when we're buying properties, we were doing the BRRRR approach that we'd we'd fix it up, turn them into rentals, but then we'd refinance them and take all the cash out that they would give us.

Steve: We call them BRRRRs back then?

Benson: No. We weren't.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: Yeah. We were calling them birds. I don't know what we called them.

Steve: Alright. Anyway

Benson: And then we take that money and do another one. Right? So all these properties were were leveraged to the max, but then we just had, like, a good model of just acquiring more and more real estate, the cash flowed. But then as soon as the dip came Mhmm. The values took a hit.

Then, you know, there was also, you know, unemployment rose. We had vacancies. You know, we're taking a hit on cash flow. And then, the market just took a crap. Right?

So we had to figure out a way to manage that, and, we lost properties through foreclosure. I actually had a business partner who was my partner in the mortgage company I started, at the time, who decided to just up and leave and take our entire bank account balance with her. It was over a $100,000 that we had for our rental properties for, you know, maintenance, and it was just like our reserve account and just stole it.

Steve: Disappeared. Wow. Were there any legal legal ramifications for her?

Benson: There wasn't. For for many years, we didn't even know where she was. Got it. We eventually figured out where she was. And, you know, we talked to some lawyers, and they're like, you know, statute of limitations.

She was an owner in the company. Like,

Steve: it was her agreement allows her to do that. It would. Right?

Benson: Right. And I don't even remember. I I think it was just a regular partnership.

Steve: Yeah. But generally speaking, the operating agreement allows either parties to, like, enter the bank account to for for business purposes.

Benson: Right. So I was stuck with all the mortgages, and that's what I actually had brought to the table because

Steve: Got it.

Benson: She was one of the women that I met at that mortgage company who while I was actually on at the base, we we started this mortgage company, like, right as I was leaving. Like, I was went right from active duty into, like, owning a mortgage company. Mhmm. And then we went right into doing all these real estate deals. Yeah.

And that was the strategy. And it was working for a long time, and we're doing well. And, then the downturn came and you know?

Steve: So she didn't take the 100 k, would would you sell those properties?

Benson: We've I lost them all through foreclosure.

Steve: Right. But if she didn't take that, would you still have those properties?

Benson: I don't know. For a long time, I was I was paying the mortgages out of my own pocket. Mhmm. But I realized I was just feeling the fire. And maybe I wasn't I was, like, digging my way out.

I was just prolonging the inevitable.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: And so maybe I would have figured that same thing out Right. If I had the money and Got it. And not taking it as far as I did with my own cash.

Steve: Knowing what you know now, would you start a mortgage company again? No. No? I don't I don't like the

Benson: I don't like the model. It's just there's so much competition out there now. And then, you know, with with the regulation and the rates and I don't know. I I wouldn't.

Steve: Yeah. We had But there's

Benson: better ways to spend money.

Steve: We had Daniel Marcus here, a few weeks ago, and, he sold his or shut down his his mortgage company back, I wanna say, around 2007. And his partners are shocked. They're like, why are you shutting this down? Because I hate working with realtors. Okay.

Well, then that's it. Yeah. Okay. So you're you're putting yourself in the latter position where you are excited for this market. Yeah.

And you're prepared for this market.

Benson: Better prepared.

Steve: What did you do to prepare for this market?

Benson: I think it was just time, really. It's just that I've been in the business longer now, so I I know what you know, how to pivot, and I won't react, as what's the word? I I won't be as reactive when things happen. Like, I'll just know, like, okay. It's not the end of the world.

Like Mhmm. Something happens, it doesn't mean it's the end of the world. You don't know how to better make, you know, better decisions during certain things. But, also, then, I didn't really fully understand, and I'm still learning. But, like, the whole, like, seller financing and creative deal structures, like, I didn't I didn't know any of that back then.

Steve: None of us did.

Benson: Yeah. And so now with properties that have very little equity, there's still there's still a way to make money on those. Right? And so that to me is is another tool in the toolbox that I had no clue about Mhmm. Back then.

But also now more, you know, access to more money. Right? Like, I've got investors now. Like, if I need to put a deal together, I can go find a private investor and make it happen. Right.

Back then, the only access to the money I had was through conventional means.

Steve: Yeah. Just through the banks.

Benson: Right.

Steve: Just And banks. And they had no more money. Right. Alright. So you're better better access to capital, more skills in the tool belt.

Yep. What are you foreseeing happening in this market?

Benson: I think it's gonna be much different than it was the first time around. I think mostly because everybody learned that process, banks being one of them. So now you're gonna see a lot more loan modifications. You're gonna see a lot more, you know, short sales. They're gonna take a lot less properties back through the full foreclosure process and then become REOs than back then Mhmm.

Which is where a lot of the good inventory came from

Steve: Right.

Benson: Was from banks. And so, I I think that's gonna be the major difference. A lot less REO inventory. Yeah. But what that will create is more opportunities for people who are working direct with seller to be able to structure some subject to deals or seller finance deals if they can, you know, cure the the delinquency Yep.

And get it out of foreclosures so they can stop those proceedings. If you can figure that out, that niche in your local market because every market's different.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: All the all the county or, you know, state rules are different with, you know, what you have to disclose. And even as much I mean, this is even, you know, five or six years ago. Like, if a house went into foreclosure in Colorado, like, you had to, like, a certain size font and certain things had to be in bold. And, like, there's so much regulation now about protecting consumers. Like, if you can figure that out with the whole foreclosure timeline, where can you insert yourself into that timeline to be able to, you know, buy a lien or help somebody out?

But I think also the key is is, not approaching it from the simple fact that you can make money, but you can help somebody out of the bad a bad problem.

Steve: Yeah. Right. So just, wanna touch on this because I think this is a great, great point, right, preparing for this. So that's actually something I've been doing as well. So, you know, I've reached out to multiple lenders, getting myself prepared.

Right? So that, you know, people are sub two or buying their property sub two, we need to get their mortgage current because they're going through financial distress. Lining myself up with private investors to be in that situation. Right? So family offices, people with access to big capital, so on.

So if you guys are listening and you guys wanna be part of this journey, right, we are looking for money to cure these people.

Benson: Right.

Steve: On their helping them get current on their, not helping them get current, but helping pay off what they're behind so that we can help them move on with their with their, with their lives.

Benson: Yeah. If you can start the timeline Yeah. That'll buy you time to figure out the rest of it. Right? So that's, like, the first thing.

Once you do that, then, okay, we got some breathing room. We're not we're not feel like, you know, things are gonna close in on us. At that point, you can come up with something that's that's more of a win win and not just so reactive, and they're, like, you know, making a decision and truly being in a situation where they can be taken advantage of. Right. That's what a lot of people out there you know, predatory people are are taking advantage of these people.

Steve: Yep. So somewhere along the way, you decided to launch a software product. What compelled you to launch a product?

Benson: It's it's a long story. But as a result result of the downturn, I kind of had to recreate myself. Mhmm. Right? So, you know, obviously, we I took an ego hit from, you know, losing all those properties and thinking, okay.

What am I gonna do next? Well, I was still licensed as an agent. I was still actually able to do I think I was still able actually be able to do mortgages at the time. So what I I found was there was an opportunity to align myself with, REO brokerages. Mhmm.

So there were certain brokerages that had already established bank relationships, and they had the this flow of properties coming from the banks. And you just see these REO signs all up all up all over the whole city. Yeah. And, I'm like, I I wanted to go and get in with those companies. I just figured out who all of us were, and I I went and I hung my license with a company that was doing a significant amount of listings for HUD and Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and then, you know, a lot of other, you know, major banks.

And just saying, like, listen. Don't give me anything. All I wanna do is just I just wanna manage all of the deals that call that come in off these sites. Yeah. All the so I just Smart.

Created, like, a really good CRM follow-up system, and I just nurtured all those leads and turned them into clients. Sooner or later, another guy joins the office. His name is Scott Fall. Mhmm. He's my business partner currently.

And so we sat across the way from each other in these cubicles, and we would just be asked all day, and we'd be on the phone hustling and doing deals and just going out and showing properties. And, you know, he had this really good approach. It was more of a systematic approach than than I was doing where he was analyzing all the deals every day and creating almost like a hot sheet of, like, these deals. And he would call his top investors because he was building the buyers list through all these people who were calling in. And, you know, and we're just throwing ideas around.

Right? And we're like, man, what if we could automate that?

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: Right? Be able to to really just automate it because we were as much as people think that the MLS is, like, the holy grail of data, it's just a deep dark hole that you get lost in when you go in there and you try to run comps or analyze deals. It's not designed for real estate investing. Yeah. So that the idea of Privy was born out of what we were facing every day, which is

Steve: So if we if we could automate this, what is this? Automate what?

Benson: Automate the process of finding, analyzing, tracking investment properties. Okay.

Steve: Alright.

Benson: And that was only just in the Denver market. Yeah. Right? So, you know, for a while, it was just more of a concept. And, you know, the the I idea developed even further, and this is about the same time that where I was still doing angel investing.

Right? So I had invested a a chunk of money into cloud out in Los Angeles, and my business partner there, raised a bunch of cash. And he was like, listen. We I want you to come out to LA. And, you know, things were going decently in Colorado, But I'm like, I can be a, you know, I can be a, you know, a next big tech start up.

Right? So I moved out there. And so I was, you know, trying to figure out what I was gonna be doing. And at the same time, I'm talking with my partner Scott now, and he's like, things are looking really good on on the Privy side. So I'm like, okay.

So here's some money. Right? So invested in that. Like, listen. I'm gonna I'm gonna do this thing here in in in California.

I'm gonna I'm gonna see it through. And the whole time I'm talking to Scott. Alright? And then at some point, he's like, okay. We found this amazing developer.

We've got, you know, the we got all the parts to be able to push this thing forward. And and I was getting really kind of just over with with the cloud situation. Mhmm. Personalities. Right?

You're always working with people, and you've got an amazing culture here. We talked about that earlier.

Steve: Thank you.

Benson: I've been unfortunate to be able to be in some really bad cultural situations

Steve: when

Benson: it comes to people in offices. But that's just that's just life. Right? So, but eventually, you know, Privy was really starting to take off. And, I talked to When

Steve: was this? Because you're talking about REO. You're working with buyers in REO days. So when did you start Privy?

Benson: Privy was started really, like, 2010.

Steve: Wow. So this is a twelve year project. Yeah. Okay. Alright.

I had no idea when back that far. Alright. So go ahead.

Benson: Continue. But the thing is is that he was never intended to be sold as a product. Mhmm. Right? It was just intended to be A solution to a problem

Steve: that you guys had.

Benson: Right.

Steve: That's how most software starts.

Benson: Yeah. And it's the best way. Right? Because well, it it actually isn't the way most software starts. Most people have these ideas.

Steve: The right way for software to start.

Benson: Yes. The and the way where successful ones are born out of it. Yeah. And so, yeah, we we were solving a problem. Right?

And so and while I was doing my stuff in in California and and Scott was out here grinding, you know, building a team and kinda getting it off the ground, Eventually, it came to a point where he's like, dude, we're we're ready to go. Like, I I want you back in in Colorado. And, I'm I'm ready. I'm ready. So came back.

And so now since, like, 02/1415, been, you know, was advising for a couple years and then finally operational. And so we've been it's been grinding for the last six, seven years, taking it from a a product that was just in a couple cities with only MLS data to last year, really, just launching nationwide was our when we bought nationwide data Mhmm. And being able to do this in the entire United States.

Steve: Got it. You said Scott was a partner. Anyone else help you along the way? Because it's, like, it's a long journey, right, to go from starting in 2010 as an idea to where you are today. Who are some significant people that helped you along the way?

Benson: Man, several people. I think our main one was is our our developer, Doug. Mhmm. His name is Doug Hayes. He's just an amazing developer.

He for many, many years, he handled everything from all the all the back end database development to the front end u UI, like, the graphical, you know, you know, user interface. That's how talented he is. And while I was in while while I was doing cloud out in Los Angeles, you know, we had development teams that had 10 to 15 people on them, and we outsourced all those overseas. And I won't tell you where those people are from, but Doug can do the work of 10 to 15 people that we outsourced from overseas. Yeah.

And way better in just oh god. It's it's it's worlds of difference.

Steve: Outsourcing is one of those things that sounds wonderful. Yeah. But my understanding of software is there's a lot of overlap and redundant work because it's really difficult to communicate exactly what it is you want. And they move slower, and they don't understand because they're not in the same room as you and communication there are communication challenges. Mhmm.

But I my understanding with software, it can become very over overrated very quickly because of the challenges as you run into it. So before we continue here, there's a couple of things I wanna touch on. So you were working as a buyer agent at REO Brokerages.

Benson: Mhmm.

Steve: So you were working with a lot of clients.

Benson: Oh, yeah.

Steve: Because we don't really I don't see it here anywhere in your bio, which makes sense because, you know, maybe you don't wanna brag about being a realtor. But you were a high performing realtor at some point then.

Benson: Oh, yeah.

Steve: Is what I'm taking from this here. Mhmm. And I'm asking this question because right now, we're doing disciplined sales training. Right? Within, as part of our disruptor sales disruptors, you know, brand offering.

We're working with a lot of people to how how to have effective conversations with investors to sell your deals. And what I'm digging into because the last few years, right, is order taking. You didn't have to be really that good. What I'm really digging into for the bag of tricks is really the conversations I used to have as a realtor. Right?

I have the buyer consult to ask you to come in, figure out what's important to you. Right? But back in the day, you come to my office. Like, hey. What's important to you?

I wanna be this three bedroom, two bath, the city, blah blah blah. Right? I say, perfect. I got a lender for you, and I connect you with my loan officer. And then as you're looking for bids, I connect you with my contractor.

And then after everything's done, you know, there's a home warranty. Here's a handyman. Right? Like and maybe a Home Depot gift card, right, along the way. Like, this is kinda like the buyer agent experience.

Benson: Yep.

Steve: Today, as a dispo, rep, I see a lot of similarities. Like, hey, Benson. What's important to you? What are you looking to buy? What's like, why are you buying why are you flipping?

What are you hoping to accomplish? Right? We're going into your why. And by the way, here's a hard money lender, so we send you our deals. Mhmm.

And here's a general contractor for your flips. So I've I feel like all those same conversations, you know, back, we used to say, hey. You know, why do you why do I need to come in your your office, Steve? Like, well, I wanna make sure, Benson, that we don't miss out on one of your perfect, you know, perfect properties. Right?

If I don't know exactly what you're looking for, we might miss out on your dream home.

Benson: And I

Steve: was like, okay. I'll come to your office. Right? Right.

Benson: I

Steve: had to sell the appointment. Mhmm. And today, like, just send me your deals. Like, no. I'm not gonna send you my deals because I'm gonna send you deals.

You're gonna ignore them. Like, how will I know if I'm sending you the right deals if you and I can't have a conversation?

Benson: Absolutely.

Steve: So I'm looking here at, like, the dispo agent, buyer agent, like, all those conversations. I'm having PTSD, by the way, like, when I do do these, trainings. Right? But I mean, are you seeing these same same similarities here?

Benson: Oh, yeah.

Steve: So to make sure I'm not crazy.

Benson: Very much so. I mean, well, you're talking about dispo, but I think even, like, on the acquisition, it's the same thing. Mhmm. Because and I was talking with your team, and they were thinking about, like, how do we, you know, communicate with people through the holidays and make sure that we're still kinda staying top of mind. That's like when the you know, what agents used to do with, you know, like, the Brian Buffini Oh, yeah.

System. Right? Where, like, how do I stay top of mind? You call them every so often. It's all in about the follow-up.

And, I'm like, what are you guys doing for anything for Christmas? Like, you could, you know, send them cookies or a candy bag or a gift bag. Like, most most acquisition people aren't doing that. Like Nope. How are you gonna separate yourself from that stack of postcards that are sitting on their kitchen table?

And they all look the same. Maybe one's got, like, a photo on it now, and it's been written with a computer signature, you know, an arm or something

Steve: that cards.

Benson: Yep. And so how are you gonna be do something different? And so it it is. A lot of this stuff that we're doing right now came from agents. They've been perfecting it for thirty years.

Right. It's all relationship building.

Steve: So it's really fascinating to say because I'm seeing, like, now that things are getting a little harder, or we have to dig into the bag of tricks. Like, we've been using we've been using psychology for for a while, but now we're gonna have to actually provide more service. Other thing too, you're saying you're in Denver and you're dealing with all these all these REO brokerages.

Benson: Do you

Steve: know that asset management companies were in Denver?

Benson: Some of them were?

Steve: I don't know. Of them were. So when you say Denver, I spent a lot of time in Denver getting drunk. Right? So what had to happen was I had to fly into Denver

Benson: Okay.

Steve: Right, where all the asset managers hanging out, find out where they like to drink, we'd go get drinks, buy the, get bottle service. Right? Get them drunk. Right? Like, that's what I Where'd

Benson: you take them? Do you remember?

Steve: Whatever bars were in Denver. Right? Like, I remember walking down. It's, it's a 16th Street Mall. Yep.

Right? I remember, like, stumbling back on 16th Street Mall, right, from the clubs into my hotel room. Right? And then, you know, going to these conferences at six or waking up at 6AM to go to these conferences, the REO conferences Yeah. And then start all over again.

But what always happened, if I took a banker to a bottle service, when I got back home to Phoenix, I always got new REO listings. Right? It's clockwork. Yeah. So when you were saying Denver, I was just wondering because you're dealing with you're in Denver and you're working with REO brokerages if you knew they were all in your backyard.

Benson: I I wasn't that close to the servicers or the banks. Yeah. I didn't get that far. Yeah.

Steve: But I

Benson: built amazing relationships so much so that, like, I was helping other brokerages. Like, I had a handful of other brokerages that I would do theirs too, and we just had commission split Right. Arraignments. And so, you know, I'm I'm kinda picturing some faces right now, but the one I was I was with the longest was, the Mercury Alliance, and I was with another one who we're still friends today, which was the Blake team. Her name is Lisa Blake.

She's a a big agent out there. She does a lot of work. And, she's still really tied in with a bunch of servicers. Yeah. Right?

And and, actually, she's one of the people I've been talking to a lot lately to figure out, like, well, what's going on behind the scenes? And that's one of the things that she told me is that about the banks being way better prepared. Oh, yeah. Six months ago, maybe even more than that, eight months ago, she's like, banks are hiring a lot of people right now. Mhmm.

They're hiring a lot of staff to bring on to help during, like, this what was it? The moratorium. Right? Like, the mortgage moratorium. Sure.

And the CARES Act was in place, and they had the whole plan on how it was gonna work out. But even after the CARES Act ended, banks were still changing how they were gonna start the foreclosure process. They had to be rate way more lenient on how they did it. Like, they had to do more workout programs than ever before, and they were planning for that. So they needed more people, more staff.

And so they're, yeah, they're way more prepared than they ever were Yeah. In the past. And we're

Steve: hearing the same thing too. Right? Where someone was asking, I was at a real estate panel, and, we had the the chief economist or Fannie Mae on the panel. Someone asked me, what what are you guys doing now? Like, how is this different than last time?

Like, oh, it's really easy. We're prepared this time. Like, we didn't have 2,007 last time.

Benson: Right.

Steve: So, yeah, they were and we got a chance to work through all the systems. So, what exactly does Privy do?

Benson: It it's a hard question to answer Sure. Succinctly because we do a lot of different things. What I will say is that we do a lot of things that most companies don't do. Okay? So one of the things that makes us different is that we've got direct to MLS data contracts.

So, I'm happy to announce that we just launched the Phoenix market, the greater Phoenix market.

Steve: Good. Because I was beating you up on that last time we talked.

Benson: You were. And it was a goal of mine to get that done for you, and your team because there's such a a high demand of I I call Phoenix the wholesale capital of the world Mhmm. Because there's just so much going on here. People still love it, and that's great. However, it's it's one of many that we are working on.

So we've currently we're approaching 70 direct to MLS data markets with

Steve: That's huge.

Benson: That that direct to MLS data, which is why why is it important? Well, it's updated more often than any other any other data source. You've got status updates, price changes. You get access to, information before it gets to the county. Mhmm.

So, like, if a house is fixed and flips and sells today and the agent reports that back to the MLS and they put it as sold, I mean, Maricopa County, it might be three weeks before they even know that that thing's sold. Mhmm. Right? Because they're so delayed and the county just they are who they are, and every county is different. But my users will know about it an hour within if they're if they're actually going and look.

Yeah. Right? That's a huge advantage to be able to really lock in that up to date information and know the value this is today because in a shifting market, like, if you don't have your finger on the pulse, you're gonna make a mistake and you're gonna be making a decision based off of data that's old or inaccurate. And, again, in a business where everything's based off of numbers, if you're off 5% on either direction on your value, that that's the difference between you making and losing money.

Steve: Well, not just making lose money. Also, maybe not getting the deal. If your numbers are wrong Mhmm. Right, and someone else has better data, they might buy it because they know more than you do. I mean, one of the best flips I've had was just total happenstance.

I just knew that neighborhood better than other people. Right? Like, there's just just one part within this, square block that is all semi custom built. Just this one just one little subdivision that's all semi custom in a in a tracked neighborhood. Right?

But if you were just if you didn't know that area, you'd pass in that deal. But we bought it off the auction block, right, and

Benson: Mhmm.

Steve: Killed it because we were willing to bid more than anybody else Yeah. Because we knew that neighborhood better than anybody else.

Benson: I call that local market intelligence. Yeah. And that's the other thing that we do that no other platform does. So we're tracking all the investment properties as they're happening in real time. Mhmm.

So I can come into any market, or I can do this nationwide. Let's say you're trying to choose a market because you're just you're tired of Phoenix and you wanna start looking someplace else. Well, where do you go? Well, the first thing people think is like, okay. Well, where do I have boots on the ground?

Mhmm. Where does my uncle live? You know, where do I go to college? Yeah. Where do I vacation?

Right? Thinking that that boots on the ground is gonna make a significant difference in their ability to execute in that market, which is It's funny

Steve: you say that because that is definitely the thinking process, but not how we should be making that decision.

Benson: Right. But it it so here's the thing. That's there's definitely a benefit if it aligns with the what the data tells you

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: First. So we look at the data, and I can I can show you on a map every single fix and flip that happened in the last twelve months? Okay? And why I bring up fix and flips, it's not because you have to do fix and flips, but the majority of the time we measure how good a deal is based off of a percentage of ARV. Right?

So the lower the percentage, the better the deal is. And if you're trying to make a property into a deal, if you operate in an area where there's high investor activity, it's gonna be easier for you to assemble all of the pieces you need to turn that into a deal because you literally can't prove after repair value on a house if you have no renovated comps. Right. So don't spend time looking for properties in areas where there's not investor activity because you don't have all the essential ingredients for building a deal.

Steve: And you're fighting an uphill battle when you do flip it.

Benson: Right. Absolutely. Right? Because if eventually and this is what we tell people. You think several steps down the line.

Yep. Right? It's like the seven habits of highly effective people. The second habit is begin with the end in mind. Mhmm.

And if you're thinking about, okay. If I go and I can find a property in this neighborhood, just say I can't, is there data around there that's gonna help me prove after repair value to a buyer? Or if you're a buyer, an an appraiser Yep. And if you think like that and you recognize and be you're honest with yourself, well, yeah, there's no one flipping in there. Then don't waste your time looking for properties there.

Steve: I mean, this is such a great point because I made this mistake. Right? Like, I flipped the house, and it was the nicest house neighborhood by far, but there were no remodeled comps. Mhmm. All the comps were, like, homes that hadn't been updated.

So I got a $10,000 bump over every other house. Like, I just spent $60,000 making this house look beautiful. You only give me $10,000 credit. Well, there's no data Right. To support your after repair bias.

Like, this sucks.

Benson: That's a hard lesson to learn.

Steve: Hard lesson to learn. That's that but that's your point here.

Benson: It is. It's and it's it's so fundamental to the business and how it works.

Steve: Logical when you think

Benson: about it. Teaches it.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: I say nobody. You I don't hear it very often.

Steve: Right.

Benson: What you do hear a lot about is, oh, here's which list you should buy. Here's how you should skip trace. Here's the script you should be cold calling with. Here's the CRM you should be using. It's all about lead gen.

Mhmm. And then what happens? They get a lead. They look at it, and they don't know if it's a deal or not. Yeah.

Because they don't know what a deal looks like.

Steve: Right.

Benson: And a deal in Phoenix is not the same thing as a deal is in Philadelphia or in Dallas or in Denver. It's different everywhere. And in this shifting market, it's ever more important that you actually are tracking activity as it happens in real time so you can see where the shift is. So I can show you specifically which neighborhood you should be buying in. Mhmm.

And then you can look around and be like, okay. Here's the last 10 deals that closed in the, you know, past month. They bought it for this much. They sold it for this much. They bought it at this percentage of ARV.

Here's who the buyer is. Here's who their agent was. Here's the before and after pictures. So we're we're filling an educational gap that has never been able to be filled before. There's a lot of really good education and coaches and mentoring and theory there.

Mhmm. And then there's the nuts and bolts of getting the deal done. In the middle is the local market intelligence. Yeah. Well and it's real estate education.

Steve: You're you're making, decisions based off of data, not, theory. And so one of the things that we see a lot of, and I've been guilty of this in the past, you know, is that we have this idea of what this can be. Right? And, like, oh, yeah. You know, if I do this, this, and this, this is the result I'll get.

But we're always we're we're thinking this thing that's 10 steps down that all nine things are gonna be perfect along the way.

Benson: Right.

Steve: Right? And the reality is you already have a data point here that shows you if you buy a flip in this neighborhood. This is a real comp in mind, and here's other properties you can buy at below that price. Now instead of starting and saying, I'm hoping all these things line up. I'm hoping I can sell this house for this much.

You're saying start when we know the delta is here in this specific neighborhood. Mhmm. Let's find some deals in this specific neighborhood. And when we do, we know the exact path to follow because this path has already been, been blazed.

Benson: 100%. Yeah. I love the way you worded that. It's it's a really smart way of looking at it. There's more, like, outside of the frame of, like, okay, data.

Right? It's more like just being logical about it. But it's hard to be logical about it when you've got your nine to five. Right? You come home.

You gotta eat dinner. You know, you know, kiss kiss the family, put them to bed, and then you got an hour and a half to work on your business before you have to go to bed so you're not not waking up groggy the next morning. And what do they do? Well, they're just like, oh, I need to do something on my business.

Steve: I need to take action.

Benson: Something. Something. Right? And it's it's not thinking logically and putting in a good strategy in place. It's it's action which is not gonna give them a good return on that action.

Yeah. And every minute they have is so important because they're only doing it a couple hours a week and maybe a full day on Saturday and a couple hours on Sunday. So if they're wasting their time kinda just floundering around without a a good strategy in place, it's based off of data Mhmm. They're gonna fail.

Steve: Right.

Benson: They might stumble into a deal. Right? And this is what happens a lot. Right? Maybe they say, well, you know what?

I live in I live in Casper, Wyoming. Right? This is a a town that's up in Wyoming north of where I live. And I look at that, and I think the last time I saw it was, like, 30 something deals that closed. Well, there's there's activity there.

So someone who lives in Casper is gonna say, well, you know what? My guru told me to look at my own backyard first. Mhmm. Right? Because, you know, if I can go look at that house with my own two eyes, I'm gonna better understand it's a deal, and then I'm gonna feel warm and fuzzy inside and

Steve: Feel more secure.

Benson: I'm gonna go and I mean, I can do that. Right? And so it's more it it's more, like, tangible for them. And maybe they they do a mailing campaign or they put out some band designs, and they stumble into a deal like, oh my god. I just made some money.

They make $5. Well, you're not gonna be able to build a business on that in that market. Anything that's that's gonna be sustainable long term. Yeah. And so they're they're gonna be like, oh, yeah.

I can do this, and then they don't close another deal for six months. And guess and then their wife's like, what are you doing? Come on. We got a family here we need to support.

Steve: Right.

Benson: Like, get back. Let's get back to reality and do this thing. Whereas, if they were more strategic and they said, okay. Indianapolis has 2,100 deals in the last twelve months. Dallas has got 3,800 deals.

Philadelphia's got 6,000 deals. That's where I should be spending that valuable time and effort.

Steve: And Privy can do all that.

Benson: And Privy does that for you. Gotcha. Shows you specifically which neighborhoods. And then within hours, not months or years, you could become a local market expert and know exactly what percentage of ARV that buyers are buying at, what prices they're buying them at, which neighborhoods are active, and then we show you who those buyers are so that you can pull their information up and contact them and start to build that relationship that you talked about earlier that's so important about filling out what their buy box is, what's their buying criteria today versus what it was three months ago. Mhmm.

And all that data is in inside of Privy. Now there's there's quantitative data, right, which is the numbers. Where they bought it for 300, they sold it for 600, they got it at 50% of the ARV. Right? They grossed 300,000.

That's that's quantitative data. There's qualitative data, which is, oh, this is the area they they they're buying in. Here's the before and after pictures. Here's the level of construction that's adequate for the neighborhood so that you're not leaving money on the table by putting, you know, glass tile in a neighborhood that should only be rental grade rehabs. Mhmm.

So those kinds of things are really valuable too. And even if you're wholesaling, I mean, you may not think it's valuable for you, but guess who it's valuable to?

Steve: And buyer. The buyer. Yeah.

Benson: And for most wholesalers, they tie their assignment fee 100% to just the price. Mhmm.

Steve: Just a delta. That's it.

Benson: What it should be is how good of a service you provide. Mhmm. And and that service is also tied to the relationship. If you got a good relationship with a buyer and you provide a good product, which is a a house that has been thoroughly researched, you got good comps, you've got links to comparables, you would you know, all the information that shows you that they're good comparables, and you give maybe an estimation of the construction cost, estimation, you know, maybe a a range of of after repair values, and you've got a good relationship with them, they're not gonna beat you up on your assignment fee. Right?

They're not gonna be, oh, you don't deserve to make $5,000 on that. You know, they're gonna they're gonna wanna work with you. So part of, like, this qualitative data helps a wholesaler to to build a better product and provide better service where they can actually have a good foundation for building a relationship with that end buyer.

Steve: One thing I really enjoyed when I was, you know, playing around inside there was that you could see actually the before and after photos of the flips. Not only have you identified the flips, but now you can demonstrate what actually needs to happen physically. Right? Isn't we were we were just mentioning a moment ago, right, the qualitative data, but it's a lot easier to understand the kind of works that we involved. You can just look at the before and after photos.

Only thing better would be an actual invoice for the for the rehab.

Benson: Exactly. Yeah. Wouldn't that be cool?

Steve: Yeah. So we were talking about using the MLS to what was it? We were saying how to locate, the best deals automatically. Mhmm. So how exactly does this help me identify the best deals?

Benson: Yeah. So there's a gap there right now. Right. Before we get to those kinds of deals, if you do that process, if you only did that

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: Regardless of what your strategy is from that point moving forward, whether you're doing off market foreclosures or you're doing off market absentee owners or you're going direct to MLS, you're gonna get a much better return because now you're looking in an area where the data is to support your values.

Steve: Right.

Benson: Right? So if you do a mailing campaign, you spend $10,000 and people are calling you, well, you're gonna be able to give those people better offers. Like, I was I ran some numbers at one point or another. It was 20 to 30% more you can you can offer somebody if it's in the same neighborhood as as Flip's as opposed to not, which means that your your acceptance rate goes up

Steve: Right.

Benson: From the simple fact of doing research. And that's just off market. Right? And then also too, you're gonna have a better experience on the disposition side now because when you go to sell that property and you were working directly with seller, the buyers are gonna I don't want that property because you have four fix and flips as comps. Like, they can't argue with the ARV on that house if you have four houses that were just flipped last week.

Yeah. Right? Right. As opposed to maybe you got one flip, and then you got three other homes that are unrenovated or maybe were updated. And then now that's where the disagreement comes in, and you have to negotiate with the buyer.

But You

Steve: gotta argue with the you have to argue the data. You do. Right.

Benson: Right. Now so so we also have that data, that off market data. Data. So we do have foreclosures. We have absentee owners, vacancies, tired landlords.

Those are inside of Privy too. Mhmm. You can pull list, stack list, do all that sort of thing. But the cool part about that is that, it isn't just creating a list. Our system is running comps on all of those properties that you're building lists for.

So if you pull a list of foreclosures that happened in the last twelve months, we build a comparative market analysis, and it updates live with real time MLS driven comparables multiple times per hour.

Steve: You're saying that right now, on a list I have, you can tell me what Privy believes the house is worth?

Benson: You can up yeah. You can find them inside of Privy, or you can upload a list. If you got a list of probates you got from an attorney buddy, you upload it to Privy, thousands of properties. Our system will build a comparative market analysis, pull comparables, and give you that format in that report, live CMA. It also appends all of the public record data, including mortgage information, right onto it.

Steve: Sounds like what Cloud CMA was doing a long time ago.

Benson: Oh, does it?

Steve: Yeah. Right. So, I was just asking because if if you can automate it Mhmm. As a user, what I would love is if you could just plug that data into Salesforce. Right?

If I could just click the seller leads, like, here's the address. Alright. Click. Alright. Previous says this house is worth this much.

Benson: Right.

Steve: I don't know if that's if that's in the pipeline, but I would be

Benson: Not exactly. Be

Steve: really grateful if you can make that happen. So there

Benson: would be a step there to be able to do it. Now we don't have, an AVM. You know, we don't have a like, a Zestimate like Zillow does. Right?

Steve: Got it.

Benson: And there's part of it is a reason. And mostly it's because the Zestimate just has such a bad name to it. I mean, they're a billion dollar company, Zillow is.

Steve: Yeah. No no one loves Zestimates. Everyone hates it.

Benson: Right. But they're a billion dollar company. Right? So what it tells us is that AVMs don't work. Mhmm.

So what we can do is by helping you through the process to get to a point where you have a house and all the comps we we do the comping for you, are flipped. Well, that's your that's your ARV. Right? Your ARV is what this the house down the street was just fixed and flipped and sold for. So what we do is we help you be in the best position to have that data available.

So the the after repair value is a no brainer. It's what that house sold

Steve: for,

Benson: right, within reason. Right? Plus or minus a bedroom or a bathroom or something. Now we can do that for you currently. All you have to do is just if you if you export that list from Privy, let's just say it's foreclosures, and it it has the link in there.

It has that that live CMA link. It's attached to every single property.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: You just upload that into Salesforce, and now it's there. And you can always click it, and it'll take you to the most current version of that updated CMA with the most current comps.

Steve: Got it. So, before we jump into the commercial break, you know, the stuff we're talking about here, this is Privy. So, you know, if you guys are interested in checking that out, it's mlsdisruptors.com. So mlsdisruptors.com. So you're saying that you can going going back to, like, identifying deals.

So we have the comps. Right? So we have, like, the the live comping, and we have, how to identify, what's, what we believe the ARV is. How do we get from all that to me identifying quickly what's a good deal or not? Is it off the MLS only?

Or how did like, what is the part about we're identifying here are the good deals? Here's the ones here are properties you should go buy right now.

Benson: So this part is is really cool for us because we actually have a patent pending on this.

Steve: Okay.

Benson: So, we basically have, like, a comparative search. It's it's a search where we reverse engineer. I wish we could show it, but, and people will be able to see it, through the link because there's a a short demo there.

Steve: Okay.

Benson: When we plot on the map all of the activity that's there and we show you where the the properties are being fixed and flipped, there's a button that shows up that says find similar active deals. So we take all of these successful closed deals, and our system uses as as a model for what a deal looks like. Yeah. Remember earlier, I told you most people fail with lead gen because they don't know what a deal looks like. Mhmm.

Well, we show you all that, but then we take that data and we put it into our algorithm, and then it goes and finds deals that you can buy today that are similar to the ones that just closed. Mhmm. And then you just define what discount you want them to be at. So if we decide that in Indianapolis, buyers are buying at 55% of the ARV, and then you click the button and you adjust it to 55% of the ARV, now that system will continue to look for properties that are at 55% of the ARV based off of what you know about the market, but also through those discussions you have with your buyers to confirm that that's the case today in today's market. Yeah.

So it it's all algorithmic.

Steve: So identifying the deals is identifying the properties that are active in the MLS that the numbers make sense to flow.

Benson: Right. And the way that that works is because we have a price.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: So when it's listed on the MLS, we can compare the ask price of the house. So let's say it's for sale for a $150. And if we tell the system we need a property to be lower than 55% of the ARV, if that house has a comp that's for sale that sold for 300,000, right, that would put it to 50% Mhmm. Then that property becomes a deal. We flag it as a deal.

We build a comparative market analysis for it. We send you an email alert with the link. You can click on your phone or on your laptop. It pulls up the CMA. It shows you all of the houses that support that 60% ARV or lower and then links to all the comps.

Yeah. And if they're flipped and if you've done the process the way we teach you to do it, those houses will be flipped, and then your ARV is right there.

Steve: Got it. And And you said there's a demo there on the website. Mhmm.

Benson: Alright.

Steve: So go to mlsdisruptors.com. So we have a bunch of questions here. But before we go into all the questions, let's take a quick commercial break. And and then, alright. So let's just go ahead and jump into the questions.

So, what what do we got here? Starting off with, Henry Washington. He says, Pervy is the goat. So thank you, Henry, on on IG.

Benson: What's up, Henry?

Steve: YouTube, Markisha Smith. Benson's amazing. My team and I really enjoy are really enjoying Privy. So, apparently, you're already popular with our audience. That's really cool too.

So, Julian on YouTube, we can find great price deals at asking price using preview. My question is to you is do you think we're able to find lots of competent buyers who'd be willing to buy these deals above list price? So, hypothetically, they found the deal. They locked it up because it's a good deal.

Benson: Mhmm. And now

Steve: they're gonna try to sell the property at a price above what's listed on the MLS, if I understand this question correctly. So I must imagine you get this question you've gotten this question a bunch of times. I have. Alright. So let's go with the script.

Or how do you say this?

Benson: Well, there's a really easy way for me to illustrate why the the question is is you can do it. There's a lot of real world scenarios where it won't work. The re so think about this. Let's say we go out. We find a bunch of buyers.

And, well, one of the cool things that we can tell in Privy is that, well, is a buyer willing to buy something from the MLS? So if we look at the house they fixed and flipped and sold last week, you say they bought from the MLS, they sold it for this much money, and they got it at 60% of the ARV. Right? And then we talk to those people, and then they'd be like, hey. You closed that deal last month on Main Street.

Looks great, by the way. You know, I'm an investor in the area. I come across properties a lot that, you know, don't meet my buy box or it just don't have the bandwidth for. Is this kinda what you're looking for? And they'd be like, yeah.

You know what? We're we're going up to about 58% of the ARV now. But if you can find something that's over the 58% of the ARV in this neighborhood, we wanna see it. Right? So now you've got some direction from the buyer Mhmm.

And what their buying criteria is. And then you're like, alright. Cool. So looks like you also bought this thing from the MLS. Do you have any issues with MLS deals?

Is that okay? Like, no. We'll do MLS deal. We have no problem with that. Awesome.

Cool. Well, sometimes we come across properties, and they're such great, amazing deals. Right? And if I could find a property that was at, say, 50% of the ARV, and I had to get it at slightly at asking price or up slightly above, is that something you'd still be interested in? As long as all your other buying criteria made sense.

Mhmm. They're gonna be like, yeah. I'd take a look at it. Right? So part of of what I said there is you're basically you're you're prepping them for the scenario down the road when that's gonna happen.

Steve: Right.

Benson: Now let's just say, okay. We we run a search. We find a property that's in Privy at 40% of the ARV, and you can find those all all day as long as you use our reverse priority strategy. And let's say it was at 40% of the ARV. Let's say, you could get it for $80 and the ARV was $200.

Alright? And that makes sense at 40%. Well, that should be a deal to the same buyer even if I have to pay, you know, 85 for it. Mhmm.

Steve: But let's

Benson: say I got it for 80. Let me just say I got it for asking price, and I wanna put $5,000 on it. And now this this property is at 43% of the air view, well, why shouldn't the buyer buy it if they just told us they'd go to 58%?

Steve: Right.

Benson: There's no logical reason except for ego. Exactly. Ego is what gets in the way of deals being done. And you can get around a lot of that ego by building relationships, by providing a really good service, right, where you have all the data there Yep. And then vetting them out ahead of time, like, making sure they know that those could come.

And, also, too, spending time with people who don't have a problem with that. Eventually, you're gonna figure out who will and won't do that. Alright. But if a buyer is really motivated by deal flow and they can get a property at 30% of the ARV, but they have to pay $20,000 over what I got it for. Mhmm.

And I got it at ask price. Well, who gives a crap as long as it's still a good deal?

Steve: Right.

Benson: It shouldn't matter.

Steve: I love that you're bringing all these things up. Right? As long as you provide a good service, and and the value is there. And, you know, we the the ego component, I think, like, the the big thing we talk about again, you know, with the dispo sales training is ensuring you understand what the reason is behind them buying properties.

Benson: Mhmm.

Steve: And if the reason is there, right, I wanna, I I wanna make enough money so I can take my family on vacations. Whatever they tell you it is. Right? Quit my nine to five. Okay.

So is that still important? Because right now, it sounds like that's not as important. Right. That should be able to diffuse the ego. The other thing I really enjoy what you did there, right, is you handled all the objections in the initial conversation.

Yep. Not later. Right? It's like, hey. You know, we come across deals.

Doesn't fit my criteria. Let me send this to you. Okay. Sometimes they're off to MLS. Is that an issue?

Okay. Sometimes they're on MLS, and so and you're paying over MLS. Is that an issue? And they said no to all three things. So now when it comes up, I I don't understand.

Like, we that's you and I talk. You you said as long as it hit your criteria, you're okay.

Benson: Right.

Steve: What did I miss?

Benson: Absolutely. Yeah. And then you do the takeaway. Right. And you're like, oh, well, that's fine.

I mean, if this deal isn't for you, I've got lots of other people that want it. Mhmm. Are we on the same page here, or should I give it to somebody else?

Steve: Right. Fantastic. So look at that. Look at how deep we went on that question. Thank you, Julian.

Alright. So, YouTube, AI entrepreneur, any future updates currently on, currently or for the future to find out attorneys, title companies, or closing clubs, and creative deals? So, specifically, he put a list here, subdue, innovation, seller finance, private notes, etcetera.

Benson: Nothing in in that realm right now having to do with title companies or, I I feel or, you know, other kind of service providers that are having to do with the transactions themselves is that Mhmm. That data doesn't really exist in the public format where we can just, on scale, grab it. It's gonna be more like a crowdsourcing scenario where we have a community and maybe people are like, hey. Here's my title company. Here's the here's my contractor.

Here's my agents. You know, we can we know who the agents are, and that's actually something we we are building, where you're gonna be able to search inside of Privy and say, show me every agent that's representative of Fix and Flipper or every agent that's investor friendly in this ZIP code.

Steve: Yeah. That's huge.

Benson: That's gonna be coming. And then the other thing that we're adding into Privy is short term rental data as well as more long term rental data. And so you'll be able to run a search that says, show me every agent that's represented a person that bought a short term rental in this neighborhood.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: Right? And so you'll be very specific on who you wanna work with. But that data we have. Right? So there isn't anything that I can connect a lawyer or a title company or something to a property.

Steve: Yeah. The only thing I can think of, and this is really Maricopa County specific. This is definitely not nationwide is, like, it's other. Right? Was this cash, conventional, VA, FHA, or other?

Really all

Benson: there is.

Steve: And that's usually not MLS data because that's usually off market data. It's true. And most people doing creative deals are are are not going to MLS. And Well

Benson: and we've got the off market. Right? We've got all of that public record and county record data that's associated with it. But I don't what do you mean? What would the attorney would be in there somehow?

What do you mean?

Steve: Well, when they record it, again, this is the county specific. Right? So, like, when we record here, we gotta go there's an affidavit of value. Like, what kind how was the transaction? Right?

That's a recorded document, but I don't know how you can do that at scale. And and the other thing too you were saying earlier at the very beginning how MLS is not this holy grail everyone thinks it is. And to your point, right, if you can find all the agents that represented a property that turned into an Airbnb.

Benson: Right? Right.

Steve: This is you cross referencing multiple, resources. This is not unless that is as a value you guys are talking about you're providing.

Benson: Totally. Yeah. We we definitely want to, you you know, connect more dots when we bring in this, you know, air for term rental data.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: You know, there's some good products out there right now that take you as far as being able to identify what the, you know, the short term rental rates are and vacancy rates, and you can see some information about that. That's where they stop. We're gonna be able to say, okay. Cool. Well, you've done that research.

We're gonna use our reverse engineering model, our our patent pending to me, like, show me every property I can buy today that gives me the same return on investment as that short term rental that's down the street.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: And then the algorithm kicks in and goes and finds that property and analyze it for you. For me,

Steve: it's scary at times how much we can do with data.

Benson: It is.

Steve: I mean, I'm still gonna take advantage of it, but it's still scary at times. On YouTube, I'm gonna completely butcher his name. I think it's Ifinny. Are you able to text sellers when driving for deals inside of Privy?

Benson: No. So that's actually a good distinction to make right now is that and there's some good products out there that do marketing. Mhmm. But we don't consider ourselves a marketing platform. We're more deal analyst analyzation and tracking.

So if that if you want to go and market, we'll help you build a list. You can you can pull list from Privy, and you can stack them, and you can, you know, get the CMA link. But if you wanna go into skip trace, if you wanna do a auto automatic redialer or what's a dialer thing Mhmm. If you wanna, you know, do any of those kind of marketing type activities, then those are other platforms, at least right now.

Steve: Yeah. And it's good. Right? Because you're you're you got a core focus. You know what you want, and you're doing what you're doing what's what's inside your strength zone.

So on IG, Majid, this is gonna be a fun question for you. What is the difference between Privy and PropStream?

Benson: Well, similar to what I I just mentioned. Right? So PropStream does a lot of things well. I I would consider them more of, like, a lead generation type platform where you're you're almost focused entirely on off market type activities. You wanna get directly to the seller.

That's what they do that well. We we have similar datasets. They only have third party MLS data. They don't have any direct to MLS. We've got third party MLS as well, but in areas where we've got direct to MLS, that overrides the third party.

So, you know, a a PropStream level experience would be very similar to ours in Billings, Montana right now, right, because we've got similar datasets. You could pull a list with them. You could pull a list with us. We don't do any marketing. So if if if they have, like, a a ringless voice mail service or if they got, like, a text messaging service, that would be what they would do.

We don't do any of that right now. The main the main difference from us is the direct MLS data, the reverse REA strategy. We track all that investment activity. It's that local market education. Like, being able to see with your own two eyes that before and after picture, where you can see what a house looked like before, what it looks like after, what percentage of ARV did they buy it at, what was their gross margin, where are those hot areas, which neighborhood should I be investing in today Yeah.

Or looking for deals in because there's a lot of buyers there. Like, all the ingredients are present to put a deal together. Being more strategic and intentional about where you look for deals instead of just kinda just doing the same old thing, which is what I think a lot of people do when they use a PropStream is like, okay. I'm just gonna pull a foreclosure list where I live. Mhmm.

Because that's all I could figure out through YouTube University. And then it doesn't work. You know, they spend, you know, $500 on a mailing campaign with no intention of doing it, you know, as many times as it takes to get a deal done, and now they're burned out of the Right. Of the business.

Steve: You mentioned Billings, Montana. Very unique area. Mhmm. Is it because Montana is a nondisclosure state, or is it because of the MLS access?

Benson: I picked it because it's an obscure market that doesn't have a ton of investor activity.

Steve: So the reason I'm asking this question is Mhmm. When we expanded to, Oklahoma, we had some challenges doing market analysis

Benson: Right.

Steve: Because it's a nondisclosure state or in New Mexico. One of those two, we had some major challenges. Heck, it might be both states. I don't remember anymore. It's been a while.

But we struggled doing CMAs in nondisclosure states. Right. For someone that's in a nondisclosure state, does Privy help them with that challenge?

Benson: 100%.

Steve: Okay. Because you guys have access to the MLS directly.

Benson: Because we have access to the MLS data. MLS data.

Steve: Because I know, like, for us, the only way we could get that data is if we had a licensed agent run the comps for us. So you're saying that because you guys even if you get if if the nondisclosure state, since you guys have buy in from the MLS, now you have more data that you can work with.

Benson: Right. Well, the whole idea is to enable relationships with with agents and and investors. Right? So Mhmm. When an investor wants to work inside of Privy, they likely wanna use agents too.

Right? And this is actually a new thing. And, you know, you know, Ryan Zolan and Jamil and other there's some people who've kind of been on the front edge of, like, this agent outreach Mhmm. Type, approach, which is why I I love you know, with privy is kind of in the we're in the perfect place right now. Yeah.

Because we were able to kinda connect the dots. So we've got all these agents here. They wanna work with wholesalers. They just wanna work with dumb wholesalers Right. Who don't know how to run comps, who don't know how to do the things, and they don't wanna waste their time.

Mhmm. Right? There's a lot of really bad wholesalers that have ruined it for the rest of the people out there that know what they're doing.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: And so I think that, you know, through this process, we're gonna be able to amend that as if that reputation.

Steve: I think it goes both ways. I think I think there are a lot of wholesalers that hate working with dumb realtors too.

Benson: Totally. Right?

Steve: So I think the eighty twenty rule applies on both sides. So maybe it's, like, you know, ninety five five rule applies for, like, both sides.

Benson: It really is. Yeah. And one of the goals, and this is something we will be doing, is is creating a, a certification to help both wholesalers and agents work together. Mhmm. But we actually plan on creating a CE type class for agents to be able to become more fiduciaries and investor focused agents who know how to run the numbers, who understand how to work with wholesalers, who understand how to use our data to be able to track markets and provide better service to their clients.

That's something that's gonna happen. And so maybe we can level out the play for a little bit there.

Steve: Yeah. That's fascinating. Work together better. That's awesome that you guys are doing that. Facilitating you too.

What's the best way that I can use Pervy to find off market deals?

Benson: Well, it's through the reverse ARIA strategy. Mhmm. So you really wanna make sure you are looking for off market deals in the proper neighborhoods. So don't look for deals where you live. Don't look for deals where you went to school or where uncle Joe lives.

You look for deals in the area where you know the ingredients are to build the deal, and those ingredients are buyers and after repair value comps. So houses that have been fixed and flipped that you can use to prove after repair value and help you be able to better understand what a deal is.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: So if you know what the ARV is of a three bedroom, two bath house in 80234 in Denver, that's 1,200 square feet, when you go and you market there and a buyer responds back to one of your ringless voice mails, and they say, well, what will you buy my house for? Well, you look at, like, oh, well, that's a three two twelve hundred square foot house in 80234. The ARV is 200,000. I'll give you a 100,000 Mhmm. Or whatever percentage is based off of what you know your buyers want.

So if your buyer said I want 60%, you're like, oh, cool. Well, I'll give you a 120 I'll give you a 115,000 for your house.

Steve: Right.

Benson: Because everything you know from learning that investor activity will show you what those off market deals are and what we should be offering the the seller.

Steve: Yep. And I like you know, you brought up, you know, Ryan, Zolan, and Jamil. Right? You're you're hoping to marry this community with a certification. I hope you can make it work because I've tried for four or five years now, and I've made zero progress on that.

I hope you can make it work.

Benson: Well, maybe we can put our heads together on something. I wanna know what didn't work.

Steve: They hate each other. It's it's oil and water. There's a you know, I hate Apple products. Right? I have an iPhone, peer pressure, all this other stuff.

Right? There is this, like, massive elitism from iPhone users to Android users. Right? Like, the the bubbles. Right.

Right? The green bubbles. So somehow that elitism exists on both sides of the industry. Right?

Benson: The

Steve: realtors look down on the wholesalers, and the wholesalers look down on the realtors. We all do the same exact thing. We just hit different audiences. But, like, we were saying much earlier. Right?

You were a killer, a realtor, right, back in the day. Mhmm. That's the same thing as a dispo rep. A realtor and a buyer's agent and dispo rep are the same exact guy. An acquisition manager and a listing agent is the same exact guy.

They both got t c's. Right?

Benson: Right.

Steve: It's the same thing, but they just stress a little differently. I guess the way I would look at it, probably because they're so similar, right, we focus on what we're different than what we're saying. Right? It might be, like, for example, in parts of Ireland. Right?

Protestants and Catholics. Can you and I tell the difference? No way. We can never tell the difference. They hate each other.

Right? There's parts of Europe where, like, that border, we don't you and I don't know where that border is, but they know.

Benson: Oh, yeah. They know.

Steve: Right? Physically, you can't tell the difference, but they know.

Benson: And I think it's a lot about education too, like, setting expectations. Yeah. Like, if they just would sit down and and just, like, figure out, like, where the line is from, like, how do you wanna work together? What's a winning scenario for you? What's a winning scenario for me?

Mhmm. Right? And so if an agent if a if a wholesaler knows, like, just don't waste this agent's time. Like, yes, we know no one's gonna make money until the deal is closed, but be respectful of someone's time and take on some of the onus. And this is, I think, where I think a lot of leveling of the playing field can happen with Privy is that it takes the the onus of a lot of the process that the real estate agent owned before now off their plate, and the wholesaler or the investor can get more involved in the process by comping their own properties out.

They know what a deal likes looks like. They can find their own deals. And so now it's not as so much on one party, which is where I think a lot of the tension came from. Mhmm. Now when they're they're they've leveled out, they're like, okay.

We need each other now.

Steve: Right. Especially now.

Benson: Right.

Steve: Yeah. So, again, I hope you figured this out. Claudio on YouTube. What are you seeing for KPIs, to a deal? 50 agents daily, five offers daily.

What are you seeing on the Privy back end, I guess, that what kind of activity or KPIs specifically lead to deals?

Benson: That's interesting. We actually don't have the ability to track those KPIs, and I personally don't do enough activity to give any sort of advice on what a working like, a good model would be. You know, we've got lots of users that I bet there's people in the chat right now that have a a good model, but I think I I wish I could give some advice on that. I just really don't know. And I've I've heard the spectrum.

I've heard 50 offers a day, you know, to get, you you know, a certain number of deals and then, you know, closing three or four deals a month. I I just don't know.

Steve: Yeah. An honest answer, though. I like it. So on YouTube, The Real JC, please focus on building better relationships between realtors and wholesalers slash investors. As someone who's licensed and familiar with both sides, that's a huge problem.

Both sides, act like they know it all. So I think that's a great great point there. So Mhmm. Going back to this, you know, you you solved a problem, right, with with Privy. When you and was it Scott?

Alright. How does it pivot me Mhmm. In 2010? Yep. Is Privy looking exactly like you you thought in 2010?

Benson: That's a really good question. I don't I think it is looking very similar to what we thought it would be. We've we used to have a lot more resources now to execute it, and it's it's much cleaner now. And we hear so much good positive feedback about the the user experience and the user interface just like it's just like it's so visual, and it when when people hear data, they think, oh my god. I'm gonna get a spreadsheet.

Is that

Steve: where my head went?

Benson: Or I'm gonna get, like, a line graph. Right? And then this is I have to somehow interpret that to get value out of it and then make a decision and then take action, which it that's you you can't. I mean, that's what, like, stock trading is. Right?

But with Privy, a lot of it is so visual where you can look at a map and you can see, like, these these heat these heat clusters, like, where activity is, and it's like, oh, I go look there. Mhmm. Right. I don't have to look at a big spreadsheet and a bunch of stuff going on. Or, you know, we talked about the before and after pictures.

Yeah. Like, you can understand what drives value in a neighborhood when you see this house where it's been trashed and there's hoarder situation going on, and you got this beautiful home on the right. And then right below that, it says, okay. I bought it. They bought it for this much.

They sold it for this much. They got it at 62% of the ARV, and here's the buyer. Like, we can just connect all the dots for you so gracefully

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: Where we take a lot of the guesswork out of it, and it's there's so there's so much fewer mistakes, I believe, if they leverage the way that we designed it to be used.

Steve: Yeah. Well, I love it. Right? Again, you're you're filling in that gap, that there was a hole that yeah. Just go get data.

Go get leads. Go take action. Right? Things that we we talk about on the show. Right?

There's nothing wrong with with that message. You're you're you're filling in a gap for, like, okay. Here's what you need to know in order to succeed Mhmm. After you've taken those steps.

Benson: Right.

Steve: Yeah. I like that a lot. What is your why?

Benson: Good question. I think my why is I've been I've been grinding so hard for so long. It's like I there's no way for me to turn back. Like like, I've burnt the ships at the beach. Yeah.

And, you know, I don't have my own family. I don't have, like, a wife and children, but I've got family. I got people I love and that I wanna take care of, that that work really hard. I just don't have the kind of ROI that I know I can get. Mhmm.

So I'm just I wanna build a legacy.

Steve: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, unfortunately, this past Sunday, right, you and I were were supposed to talk couple different times.

Benson: Mhmm. And I

Steve: had to blow you off because of my wife and kids. Feel bad about that. But at least I updated you.

Benson: But our whys align. Right? Like, our whys are similar. It sounds like it's it's family. It's it's taking care of the ones we love.

Yeah. Not how much money I got Right. Or or will it get or or anything like that.

Steve: You know, it's it's interesting you brought that. I have not heard one per one person say, like, my y is x dollar amount. What is your biggest struggle right now?

Benson: Oh, boy. It's I would say it's bandwidth. So our we're growing pretty well right now. And, so it's kinda keeping up with the growth Mhmm. And making sure we got the right butts in the seats so that we can manage the growth effectively and not grow too fast, but have kind of a a managed growth where we can make sure everybody's getting the attention they need, and we've got a good product that does what it's supposed to do, and making sure we have the the people that can help do that.

That's what that's what we're working on right now. And, you know, we've got several new developers on team. We got new customer serve service people. That's the the biggest challenge right now is is managing all that, and and I'm not even involved with that at a high level. Like, we've got my partner, Scott, that's doing that.

We just hired a new director of operations. And so people who have c level experience at, like, corporations Mhmm. Who who've done it, you know, at a high level, not from, you know, a kind of a startup environment where we I just hack every day, and I just, you know, grind. Right? And figure it out.

Steve: Who's helping you with all that?

Benson: We are. So we've we've hired some, like, recruiter type companies. Mhmm. We've got on our, our technical side, we've got a a fractional CTO. So we've we found, you know, fractional type people who can come in, who have high level experience and can do those hirings and make sure we got the right butts in the seats, and advisers.

We've been pretty fortunate with people who were, advisers who have come along and and love what we're doing. They love the product. They love us as people, and they wanna help.

Steve: Yeah. That's awesome. How do you stay motivated?

Benson: How do I stay motivated? It's probably I just I just don't wanna fail.

Steve: Is it a fear of failure? I don't like, failure is unacceptable. What what is this different parts of, like, I don't wanna fail?

Benson: There is. I don't know. I I think at this point now, we have enough people who are who who've kind of attached themselves to the product and and our success. Mhmm. And, and and some of it isn't, like, directly, but just when I think about the people who use our product every day, who who who pay us, they give us money to use this system.

Yeah. Like, it needs to do what it's supposed to do. Right? And me coming here and saying all these exciting things, like, it's gonna go and find deals. Like, if it doesn't do that, then I'm not doing my

Steve: job. Right.

Benson: Right? So what what I do and what our staff does and our developers, we just had an amazing team and it's growing. We just wanna make sure that it we can deliver on on what we say we could do, and that requires a lot of time and effort. And, I mean, there's there's effort and there's time, but there's also, like, investment. Like, I'm I'm emotionally in in soulfully invested in this project.

Yeah. Got it. It it like, it's gonna work. So I see a lot of passion. Chance it can fail.

Steve: So I see a lot of passion here. So is there anything behind this passion? Is there an instance where something didn't work and, like, you took it, like, really hard? Just

Benson: I mean, I I told you about cloud. Like, cloud didn't work.

Steve: Right.

Benson: Right? I put a lot of time and effort and money in that project, and it didn't work. And, you know, I most of us have failed business projects.

Steve: Oh, yeah. I've been more than handful.

Benson: Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. It's there definitely is is a very big passion to to not fail, but also succeed. And I I wanna get to a point where nothing any decision I make isn't based off of how much money I have in the bank.

Mhmm. Like, I just wanna do what I wanna do.

Steve: Right.

Benson: And I want, all the people around me to be able to do the same thing.

Steve: So, you know, we have a lot of listeners here that, you know, they might be facing adversity particularly right now. Right? And you've gone through it with clout. Or there's some lessons you learned there that someone listening now or actually, even even not just clout. Right?

But, like, I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here. I promise. Right? But 2007, 2010, right, like, you had to give a lot of those properties back. Oh, yeah.

Right? That's probably a really tough pill to swallow, especially after your partner stole all your money. Yep. Right? So you face a lot of adversity.

So for someone right now that's going through challenges, what message or what lessons could you share with them that they can take, take to heart today?

Benson: I think probably the most important thing is well, two things. It it's really get in tune with yourself, like, who you are and and who you are and what you tell your inner talking. Like, what what are you saying to yourself

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: Every day. Right? I was just talking with a friend of mine. He's named, Andrew Schlage. He's a guy in in the business, doing a lot of really cool things we were talking about.

He's creating this group around putting new people together who have similar interests, and they're all working toward a collective, you know, goal. And so being around other people that have the same struggles that you have Yeah. Is part of it. But, also, like, that inner game. The inner game of, like, knowing who you are and what you're what you can what you wanna accomplish and knowing your value and your worth and not being your sup not being yourself up over every little thing and knowing that there's a lesson to be learned in every mistake.

Like, those kinds of things, like, are the important thing. And now it's it's ever more common to talk about, like, mental health and just making sure you're taking care of yourself. Yeah. Those kinds of things.

Steve: Yeah. And I think that's one of the things that is always easy to overlook. I mean, I I definitely feel like, you know, now versus, like, a decade ago, it's taken a lot more seriously.

Benson: But Oh, yeah.

Steve: I still think probably could be taking a little bit more, seriously.

Benson: Mhmm.

Steve: How do you measure success?

Benson: That's something I'm not great at is setting, like, measurable goals. Mhmm. Right? It's something I'm working on. I don't know.

I think it's it's a mindset. I I think you can be successful and not be rich.

Steve: Right.

Benson: It's more about, like, you being comfortable with where you're at in your life and being content. So I think you can be successful with knowing that, like, you accomplished a certain number of things in your life and you overcame adversity. And, like, a lot of success too has to start with, like, where you started.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: Not just where you're at currently, but, like, if you grew up and you you're from a broken home and you were poor and you have, you know, ninety nine percent chance of failure and being in prison or whatever, but you end up being a productive part of society and, like, you know, like, having, like, a good job and a family and, you know, you're you know, you go to a new, you know, give back or you give to charity. Like, that's success.

Steve: It is. Absolutely. Right?

Benson: And it doesn't have to be like you started from the very bottom, but it it really is is, like, what makes you happy at the end of the day. Mhmm. If you are happy and you're content and you make people around you happy too, like, that's successful. Yeah. Respectful.

That's a lot easier if you have you know, if there's money involved.

Steve: Sure.

Benson: It solves a lot of problems. But not all of them. Not all of them.

Steve: Yeah. What is your superpower?

Benson: My superpower let me think here for a second. I think I'm I'm good at, like, building rapport with people, like like like, sitting down with somebody or just meeting somebody from the very first time and just, like, getting, like, a good connection, like, right away.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: Like, I it's just talking with somebody, figuring out where there's some common ground, and building rapport and building like, starting the path down that know, like, and trust. Mhmm. Quicker than the the average person. I think I'm good at that.

Steve: Yeah. And that makes total sense. I mean, going back earlier. Right? If you were a stellar buyer's agent, that is one of the requirements of being a great buyer's agent.

Benson: Right.

Steve: What was Scott's age superpower?

Benson: Wow. I think you would say it's my superpower, but also maybe the opposite. Like, what is who is Superman? What's the opposite of

Steve: the Kryptonite? Yeah. Weakness. Yeah. It's,

Benson: No. His, Bizarro

Steve: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Bizarro Superman. Yeah.

Benson: Like, so but, like, the Bizarro, like, is, like, I can I can do a bunch of things really good? Like, I I wear a lot of hats right now.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: But that turns in that's also a bad thing. Right? So, like, that's you're you're you're doing too many things, like, focus

Steve: Right.

Benson: Right, on one thing. And I'm like, well, I there's always other things that have to get done. Who's gonna do those? Right? So I think that he would be like, it's it's a it's a it's a it's a curse too.

Steve: Well, it's a yin and yang. Yeah. Yeah. Often, your your your weaknesses and and strengths are two same side or two sides of the same coin.

Benson: Yeah. It really is.

Steve: Because I have that same problem too. Right? I can do a lot of things really well. Problem is I don't do one thing.

Benson: Right.

Steve: Yeah. No. I totally get that one. How did you learn your greatest lesson?

Benson: Greatest lesson. Man. I don't know. I think that, it's just like things happen in your life. Like, obviously, it's negative things, right, that we identify.

You know, just making sure that you're spending time with people you care about. Mhmm. When my mom died. Yeah. Just those events just really just, you know, hit home.

So what

Steve: did you So

Benson: right now, like, with with my why, being my family, like, that lesson was really driven home by knowing my mom was gone. Yeah.

Steve: What did you what behaviors did you change, like, you know, after that?

Benson: It was being much more intentional about reaching out to people and connecting. Like, just knowing that because we always think, oh, well, I'll talk to them next time. You know, there's plenty of time. Mhmm. Right?

Right. There's always time we go we could figure it out, but there's not.

Steve: There's not.

Benson: And we and we don't know how long how much time we have or or how valuable that time is. Like like, you might have ten years of time with somebody, and maybe you only see them once a year Mhmm. For for an hour, like, at a dinner. Right? So you literally only have ten hours of time with somebody if you know that they're gonna be here for another ten years, and that's if you know that you're gonna be have them for ten years.

Yeah.

Steve: It's like

Benson: if you live away from your family and you go home and you visit like, right now, we're in the holidays. A lot of people are going to see their family, and they might spend a half a day with them. And it's like, oh, yeah. I got ten years with this person, but is it really ten years? Or is it five times 10?

You got you got that many hours of time with that person. Yeah. It's different.

Steve: It's very different.

Benson: I measure I measure it differently now.

Steve: Yeah. That's a powerful, powerful lesson. What book have you gifted more than any other?

Benson: I own gift books.

Steve: Yeah. Is there something that you is there a book is there a favorite book? Is there a resource you like directing people to? You know? I mean, obviously, it was Adriel's instructors podcast.

Sales.

Benson: Yeah. Exactly. I got my goodie bag.

Steve: Yeah.

Benson: We're getting ready to dig into that one. You know, I was I was for a long time, I was really into the Rich Dad Poor Dad stuff. I bought all of them. Right?

Steve: The books, the courses, the events.

Benson: The books. Okay. The books. And that's the one I probably told people to go read the most and then think through a rich.

Steve: Mhmm.

Benson: And that one, actually, I've given away, links. A friend of mine bought, like, a license to it or something, and I was able to kinda share that as well.

Steve: Oh, yeah. I've seen that. I think,

Benson: is it I

Steve: think Matt Andrews has that where, like, you can just give, like, his version Right.

Benson: If you

Steve: can grow rich. It's really interesting. Right?

Benson: Yeah.

Steve: It's a really brilliant move. So, I want you to think about the message you wanna leave the listeners with while I make a couple of quick announcements.

Benson: Mhmm.

Steve: Guys, if you got value today, please like, subscribe, share, comment. If you guys are interested in what Benson's talking about as far as, Privy, go to mlsdisruptors.com. And we do have ten days left in our holiday promotion for our, sales products. You wanna make 2023 even better, I highly recommend checking that out. And don't forget to join us tomorrow for Pardon the Disruption.

So what last thoughts would you like to leave everybody with?

Benson: Well, I would say that in the last downturn, I told you I was I was unprepared. And, I think I'm way better prepared this time. And there are some people that are in the business now that haven't been as long as I was. I I think I'm more prepared now because I had the time to do it. Mhmm.

And so I don't want anybody to take this time lightly. How much of an opportunity this is. Like, if you we already know how much little time we have to spend on our business during normal times. Right? Evenings, weekends, you know, hours per week.

And if we think that there's gonna always gonna be, oh, I can just go and I can I can write offers next week or I can call next week or whatever? We got a window here, a very and I don't know how big this window is gonna be, but if you don't start preparing yourself now and figuring out what your niche is, and if it's foreclosures, like, you go out and you learn every little thing there is to know about a foreclosure in your target county and just know it back to front, every little thing, and become an expert and then take action. Yeah. So recognizing that this is an unprecedented time, it hasn't happened for over a decade. And there are still a lot of people who are sitting on the sidelines or uncertain about what's gonna happen.

That's okay. That's an opportunity for people who are action takers. So if you can take action, you get comfortable, and you can use, you know, data, maybe it's like a system like Privy to get more confident in your numbers, really understand what a deal is in your target market, and then start taking action because this is we're we're gonna go down further. We haven't hit bottom yet. Right.

I don't know when that's gonna happen. But that could be too late to actually go and start because at that point, everybody jumps in.

Steve: Yeah. Don't wait for the right time.

Benson: Right. Then you're gonna have all that competition. So there's a really good opportunity here to just really take action, know what opportunity is there for you, and and start making some money. Like, this is now. Like, see, there's there's never been an easier time, a better time to do real estate with the democratization of data, automation, software, tools, the the prices.

Everyone's price competing, and so it's cheaper than it's ever been before. The opportunity with the downturn in the market Mhmm. And prices right now, it's insane.

Steve: Yep. Awesome. If someone wants to get a hold of you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Benson: They can email me. You can email us at success@teamPrivy.com. Also, they can call the office. It's (720) 815-0034. Or just, you know, connect with me on on Instagram or, TikTok.

Yeah. It's a Benson TikTok.

Steve: TikTok?

Benson: Yeah. Shocked.

Steve: Shocked over here.

Benson: Well well, how come?

Steve: Because you're, like, my age.

Benson: I'm not huge on there. This is one of my goals for 2023 is to do more social.

Steve: Yeah. No. I love it. I'm doing TikTok too. Right?

So, it's just always still shocking, right, to find other to other find other peers on TikTok.

Benson: So I'm still figuring it out, like, where my place is and that whole thing. Yeah. When it was just, like, dancing and all that sort of thing, and Gary Vee was like, everybody needs to get on TikTok. I was like, I'm not doing anything on there. Yeah.

But when I learned it's like a really good platform for distribution of education, that's when I I bought into it.

Steve: Yeah. I I got in the just a little bit later than I should. I was waiting. Right? Kinda tell my timing.

Right? I was waiting just a little bit longer. There was a window where, like, alright. This is transition from dancing to education. And I just wait a little bit longer so I don't have as much, reach on there as much as I would like.

So awesome. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you guys all for watching. See you guys all later.

Benson: Shout out to Steve train. Jump on the Steve train. We real estate disrupt us.