Jay Luebke is the marketing director at The ART of Real Estate and became a licensed real estate agent at the age of 18.
Jay Luebke
Brad Inman Hi, this is Brad Inman with Unlisted. I’m so excited to have with me today, believe it or not, a 21-year-old real estate agent from South Carolina, Jay Luebke. Welcome, Jay!
Jay Luebke: Thanks so much for having me, Brad.
Jay, by the way, your voice sounds like you’re a lot older, but you’re a young guy. You got into real estate at the age of, the ripe age of 18, when you got your license. And you started as an intern in North Carolina, worked for a big broker. Now you work for a smaller broker in South Carolina. Do I have the bio right?
Yes, that’s correct.
Tell me this, Jay. We want to really probe how young people think about real estate differently. One fact you told me when we talked in preparation for this call is that your mom, who’s a lawyer, and your dad, who’s a business consultant, used to watch HGTV and watched Million Dollar Listing, I guess? Do I have it right? And what about that inspired you to get into real estate?
That is correct. I think those TV shows are just, they’re so interesting and they’re captivating, in a sense. Everybody loves to see the big multimillion dollar properties, but they don’t really understand what it’s like to have the day-to-day operations in a real estate business, so that was one of the things that pulled me in and got me to where I am today.
Jay, I was also impressed that you’ve had mentors. Your first broker in North Carolina as an intern, your broker in South Carolina, a bigger and smaller broker. Tell us about how important it is for a young guy getting into real estate to have those mentors and that support.
I think mentorship is, 100 percent, one of the most important things that you can have as a young agent. Working at a big brokerage where you didn’t necessarily have the support that you needed, I found it very tough to get started. By finding a mentor, it’s really helped me to get to where I am now.
Mentorship is, 100 percent, one of the most important things that you can have as a young agent.
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It’s given me the opportunity to learn about the business from a seasoned professional and get to try out some of the different areas, from listing to marketing to sales. It’s really given me the freedom to be able to ask questions and to be able to learn from somebody who knows what they’re doing.
Jay, I was also impressed that you’re kind of working the whole dimension of a real estate office. You’ve been a listing agent, you’ve helped buyers, you’ve worked obviously as an intern, you’re now helping on digital marketing, you’ve been a transaction coordinator. What’s that all about? Do you see that as your education — to become what exactly? Do you want to become a broker? Do yo uwant to become a powerhouse million dollar lister? What’s your ambition to be so careful and thoughtful about your training to do it right?
I think the ambition is to one day become a top-producing agent. That’s kind of the goal, that’s what got me into real estate. And this is the way that I see my education, in a sense. Anybody can go through a course through their brokerage and get the basics down, but there’s something to be said for really getting down in the trenches and learning by experience.
Let me ask you this. I’ve interviewed Madison Hildebrand many times, and he’s one of the guys you used to see on TV. And Madison said how his parents freaked out when he was graduating from Pepperdine University and he wanted to become a Realtor. His parents were in the corporate world, or his father was, and was like, “Hey, that’s not the direction that I’d hoped you were headed.” I’m paraphrasing Madison.
But here you are, about to get ready to graduate in May — and by the way, congrats. You’re working part-time, you’re going to school full-time. I remember those days, I had to do that. And you’re going to be graduating in May, you’re going to have a degree. You’ve got a mom who’s a lawyer. What do your mom and dad think about you becoming a Realtor? Do they consider it a profession or do they think you should pursue something different?
Originally, I think they looked at it as an interest, a potential job through college, something to do. But here we are four years later and it’s stuck. And I think that now it’s the direction I’m heading and it’s the direction that I want to be in, and I think they realize that there’s more to it than just what you see on TV. There’s an actual career there, there’s such an entrepreneurial aspect that you can build your own business, and I think they really respect it.
Let me ask you this, Jay. Is it true now that your generation increasingly sees it as a profession because we’re seeing more and more college graduates enter the business. Do you think it has more respectability than maybe 40, 50 years ago?
I think it does, and I think that more and more young people are seeing it as an opportunity to create their own job and create what they want their working environment to be like, and that’s something that’s really drawing people in. I think the days of a big corporate company are becoming less and less appealing to a lot of my peers. They’re looking for more startups and more entrepreneurial outlets than they could typically have.
The days of a big corporate company are becoming less and less appealing.
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You know, that’s fantastic. I’ve always said that the everyday Realtor is much like the entrepreneur, waking up every day without a job, betting it all on the line, controlling your own destiny, creating something out of nothing, very similar DNA. And you keep calling this an entrepreneurial venture, and I think you really did nail it.
Now let me ask you this, Jay. What’s your advice — I just realized, you’re a third of my age, you sound very mature. What advice do you give to young people who enter the industry? You’re still a newbie by all of the mentions, you’re only 21 years old, but what recommendation would you give younger people to enter the business, what do they need to do to qualify themselves to be successful?
And then second part of the question is, what should the old farts like me do? Should we get out of the way and let you runt he show? And how do the different generations — and there’s probably three generations between you and I — but recommendations to young people getting into the business and recommendations to the old farts of the industry.
OK, we’ll take that one, one at a time. For new entrants who are younger, who are my generation, I would definitely say mentorship is one of the most important things that you could have. I would not be in the position that I’m at today had it not been for some incredible mentors.
Almost everyone here in my office is of the millennial generation or just outside of it. We’re a very young team. And I think that that has really shaped me as a player in the industry, in a sense. I also think that being on a team is a must. I’m a complete team supporter.
And you see the team as a way to partner up, collaborate, work together, solve problems together? Is that how you view a team?
Exactly. Collaborate, and it’s a way that I can learn. There are so many incredible people on my team right now that I can learn from each one of them and from their different experiences.
And how about the older people in the industry. What does that cohort of the industry — do they need to move out o fthe way, or adopt technology, or is there room for everybody?
I think there’s room for everybody. I also think that just as I needed a mentor, I think that it would be great to have a mentee in a sense, that you could have somebody from a younger generation, a younger demographic, who can help an older agent pull in some of these new technologies. Somebody who understands it directly and can teach a little bit as well.
Let me ask you this, Jay. If an older broker is recruiting a younger agent, what’s the one thing you should not say to someone your age if you’er recruiting them.
That’s a good question. Hm. I’m not really sure.
That’s all right, that’s a good answer. I like candor. You can mull that one. I kind of popped that one on you, Jay.
In your plan, you graduate and get your degree and then you’re going to be trying to become this top producer. What’s your goal? Do you think in terms of years? What do you hope to be at what point, and is it two to thre eyears? Is it by the time you’re 25? And do you set out those kind of goals, and is that important?
I think goals, yes, are important. I don’t have a direct plan for I want to be at X by this date, but I know that one main goal is to make the 30 Under 30 list, so I’ve got a 9-year goal to definitely hit. Before then, there’s still a lot of learning I can do, there’s a lot of hands-on experience I can gain on a team. And we’ll go from there.
Jay, let me ask you this. Being in the middle of all of these real estate deals and transactions and working with different people, what would you like to see changed in the real estate process so it’s easier and better for the consumer? What do we as the industry need to do to fix some stuff? what’s one thing you see that you thought, gosh, that’s horrible.
I think customer service is the no. 1 issue we see. There’s a lot of agents out there who don’t necessarily put customer service first, and one of the things that I’ve seen on our team is that that is really the direction that we need to push.
The better client experience that you can provide, the more business you’ll get
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It’s all about the client experience these days, and the better client experience that you can provide, the more business you’ll get, the more referrals you’ll get and the better you’ll do as an agent.
And let me ask you about young people. You must work with young buyers and sellers. How do they view the deal these days? Do they still want a Realtor, do they expect you to have great technology? Have you noticed any trends with young people who are buying or thinking of buying?
I think technology is playing more and more of an importance, but I think that there’s also the personal touch and the ability to have their questions answered that they can’t get if they try to do it themselves. I think that as buyers, they also realize that they don’t have to pay for a buyer’s agent and so they’re much more willing to work with an agent, work with somebody who knows what they’re doing and can answer their questions as opposed to trying to tackle it on their own.
Jay, you were at Real Estate connect in New York. Did you have a good experience there?
Absolutely incredible. It’s one of the best communities that I’ve seen in a long time.
We’ve really skewed younger. It’s gotten bigger, but younger. More and more young peopel like youreself participate in Connect. Why do yo uthink that is? Why do they travel from all over, like South Carolina, to New York City to a real estate conference? What is it about it that you think has created that younger community at Inman?
I think it’s an incredible networking and learning community, from sitting down at round tables on the last day to meeting some of the brokers at drinks at Connect afterwards. I think there’s so much knowledge that you can learn from other markets, and what may work for them may also work for us.
I think that’s one of the big things that drew me, to meet some of these other incredible agents from around the country, hear some of these fantastic speakers and gather in as much knowledge as I possibly could to bring back here to Columbia and implement in our business.
Great. Jay, listen, I think I invited you, I think your qualification is you’re only 21, but that’s a good enough qualification to put you on stage in San Francisco this summer if you can come out. But there’s clearly a second qualification and that is that you’re very mature for your age, you really love real estate, and I think your passion and interest in the profession would be something we’d want to share from the stage in San Francisco. Thank you for doing this show, we wish you luck. Are you all set to graduate? No Fs or D-s in there? Is everything coming together so you get the diploma? Because I know mom and dad will be worried.
Yep, everything is good to go. Ready to graduate here in May.
OK, man. Don’t forget to do your homework, and we wish you a lot of luck. And thanks for coming to New York, it was great meeting you, a lot of people commented what great energy the young people bring, and particularly someone as young as yourself. And by the way, you were a licensed real estate agent before you could legally drink, right?
Yep, that is correct.
Wow, that’s fantastic. Hey, great to have you Jay, and stay in touch, OK?
Thanks so much, Brad, I appreciate it.
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