RE: Real Estate Podcast

Ben Harang (00:00)
He's my podcast partner, but in the field, he's one of my toughest competitors. Today, the mic is turned on Clint Galliano. We're going behind the scenes of his independent business to talk about the non-negotiables that had built his reputation, his wildest client stories, and his unfiltered take on where our local market is actually headed. You don't want to miss this.

Hello everybody. I'm Ben Horang and welcome to another episode of the RE Real Estate Podcast. With me today is my co-host Clint Galliano. Good afternoon Clint. How you doing today?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (00:49)
I'm doing wonderful Ben. How you doing?

Ben Harang (00:52)
I'm doing terrific on this sunny February afternoon with moderate temperatures. Life is good. So we have a little different twist on today's episode. Y'all have been listening to Clint and I for 70 episodes. This is our 71st episode, I think, and have gotten to know us a little bit. But we're going to dig down kind of behind the scenes, and I'm going to interview Clint in...

see kind of where he is in his business and life and just some things that we don't normally get to talk about. So here we go. All right Clint, since we both run our own independent businesses, what made us decide that collaborating on a podcast was just better than competing on the streets?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (01:42)
Well, as you alluded to on the last episode, you reached out because you had the idea of starting a podcast as part of rebranding yourself. And unbeknownst to you, I've been thinking about wanting to do a podcast, but I wasn't quite sure on what the topic or how to handle it.

And it was kind of just something in the back of my mind. And so when you asked me that, I said, you know what? I think I'm going to take this on and see where we can go with it. And so we both have, like you said before on the other episode,

both are of a similar generation, even though I'm a little bit younger than you. We kind of have similar insights into things, but they never seem to be exactly the same, which I always thought was interesting. And so...

I said, what the heck? And we put together a plan on how we should approach it, from a, I guess, a practical understanding that I have of recording and technology and everything. And kind of just, I guess, a business plan, if you will, of how we should approach it. And here we are.

Ben Harang (03:17)
A year and some change later is remarkable. It's been a fun ride. All right, here's one for you. How's our podcast friendship actually changed as we handle our individual clients and deal?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (03:35)
So, I...

I have my way of doing things, but I'm gonna lie if I said that I came up with all of that on my own. My very first transaction was with you on the other side, and I learned some stuff. And I'm actually, learned a lot more just you and I telling stories and talking about various topics that...

I recognize as would be very helpful in my business. when I'm doing a buyer presentation, refer to you and basically of R &D, your statement of it's you and me against the world and I attribute it to you, to my clients because that's how it is when I'm representing a client. It's me and them against the world.

Ben Harang (04:26)
Absolutely,

What happens if we both show up at the same listing appointment tomorrow?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (04:32)
Well, I'm going to go, ⁓ crap. And then I'm going to give my presentation, talk to the clients, find out their needs. And ultimately, it's going to be may the best man win.

That's kind of my approach. I had that happen with another agent this past year. And it was weird a little bit because they were outside measuring while I was meeting with the client. But we got through everything.

Ben Harang (04:56)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, it's still business. And you can be friendly competitors. I don't bash anybody. So it's easy. I take the high road, always. But they pick who they pick, and if they pick me, great. If they pick Clint, great. I just move on to the next one.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (05:06)
Exactly.

Exactly.

Ben Harang (05:27)
You're a visionary. When you're driving around town, what's the one up and coming pocket that you think everybody is currently sleeping on?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (05:36)
I think that, in general, and not necessarily everybody is sleeping on it, but I think that the new construction neighborhoods are something that a whole lot of people are just missing the boat on. And I don't get anything extra from the companies that build these neighborhoods or anything.

but I just feel that they're the best deals going from an initial cost to an ongoing cost basis just because the new construction homes are gonna wind up being cheaper and easier to get into than an existing home or as they're designated a resale home.

It's, I think that there's, they're ultimately the best deal. know, it's like, if somebody's got a small budget, there's neighborhoods that match that. If somebody's got a grand vision for what they want, there's neighborhoods that match that. You know, then there's some, what some may consider minor inconveniences of HOAs.

but that's a protection for them, whether they understand it or not. It's a cheap protection to make sure that their house retains its value. The other thing is, I look at, drive, like, so I live in Bayou Blue, and I drive down Bayou Blue Road, and I look at empty parcels of property, and think about how it would make a nice neighborhood. And if I had...

better backing, or any backing I should say, and a better vision that would make a wonderful neighborhood.

because Bayou Blue needs more people.

Ben Harang (07:16)
Okay.

There you go. There you go. Are you on the Lafourche or Terrebonne side?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (07:21)
Lafourche side

Ben Harang (07:23)
Of course. All right, here's a BS meter. What's one piece of real estate wisdom you see people posting on social media right now that you think is actually terrible advice for a specific market?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (07:38)
This is a tough choice. I see all kind of BS quote unquote real estate wisdom on social media. From the investment side, it's if you want to get started in investing in real estate, go be a wholesaler. That's easier said than done and a lot of the people that jump into it to do it

Ben Harang (07:39)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (08:00)
are not doing it properly and what they're ultimately doing is a disservice to themselves and the people that are trying to sell their property. From a consumer point of view, marry the house and date the rate, I don't think that's a good one either. It's not nearly as prevalent as it was a couple of years ago, but the people that

followed that advice are still sitting with more or less the same note that they have, the same mortgage that they have, and they haven't, yeah, they're still dating that rate. They can't get out of that abusive relationship. That's probably the biggest thing, the two biggest things that are on my pet peeve list for real estate wisdom that you see on social media.

Ben Harang (08:29)
that is still dating the rate.

Okay. All right. From a portfolio standpoint, besides your primary residence, what does investing in real estate look like for you personally?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (08:56)
I initially started out with helping my wife to rent out her family home that she grew up in. I came up with the idea back when I was working in oil and gas that investing in real estate was something that I understood and was equipped to do.

And I thought it would be a good help because working in oil and gas, you're one layoff away from being unemployed. And it's kind of, I guess, these days they call it side hustles, but it's kind of the mindset of you always should have a side hustle going on. So real estate became that.

managed that then we picked up another rental in 2017 and 2018 we picked up a third rental which we just recently sold last week just to harvest the equity and we also picked up another property away from here so the properties that we had were all local within 30 minutes of home.

and we picked up a townhouse in Natchitoches because my daughter is going to school in Natchitoches and didn't want to stay on campus anymore. And I just felt it was stupid for her to pay rent to somebody. And so we bought a townhouse and rented out to her and her friends by the room. And then that's going to give us in addition to its

paying for itself. It's also going to give us a place to evacuate to if we need to. And it's something that my younger daughter, who is also at school at the same school, is going to have a place that she can move into when she's finished her first year on campus.

Ben Harang (10:52)
Okay, that's cool. All right, we have what we refer to as a grind in this business, and I guess it's in everything. What does your hour one look like, and how do you set the tone for your day before the phones start ringing?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (11:06)
So this is actually a habit that I can't get away from. Back when I was working in oil and gas, I was either working in downtown New Orleans or Lafayette or Houston. And I did that for a number of years. So I never really worked locally. And I would get up early in the morning, I tend to wake up a little later than you. get up about five in the morning and

tackle the major things I need to handle during the day at that time. Back when I was still a corporate employee, I would handle my rental stuff. I would handle door company business when that was active. That's a whole other discussion. It might even be a whole podcast episode in and of itself. And then anything

special projects I was working on, I do my work early in the morning. Because what I figured out is that once it turned eight o'clock, then the phone calls started, people sticking their head in, asking questions. And ultimately, it's like you were saying last episode, it's my alone time to be productive.

And it allows me to knock out all the things that I need to knock out for the day that don't involve a trip somewhere and plan the rest of it. every plan is a great plan until you get hit in the mouth. So it's like once it gets past eight o'clock, that's when the punches start. And I deal with it. And I typically can't accomplish a whole lot during the rest of the day.

Ben Harang (12:37)
huh.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (12:44)
And so that's why I take that morning just to knock out the must do's before I even leave the house. And then it makes it a lot easier for the rest of the day to get through the rest of the day.

Ben Harang (12:57)
Okay, the no moment. Tell a story about a time you actually walked away from a client or listing because it wasn't a good fit. And why is that important for an independent agent?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (13:08)
I've walked away from a couple of clients and they more or less involved just not wanting to deal with them anymore. One of them I told a story of there was title issues and there was the seller had no cash to rectify anything and I just walked away and they've reached out a few times.

and I'll do ministerial acts, but I'm not gonna represent them as a client anymore. I also had another one where I helped them find a house they rented for years and was at a point where they wanted to go and buy a house and have a place to live for the client and their family.

and we got her into contract and then the daughter was looking at the closing estimate from the lender and said well you're going to pay $400,000 for this house. It was a $125,000 listing. Says you're going to wind up paying $400,000 for this house and she says nope I'm not spending that much money and canceled the contract.

Luckily, we were still in the investigation, know, inspection due diligence and inspection period, but it and it didn't matter that.

I showed her that if you buy the house, then some of this is going to equity. Whereas if you keep renting Your money is going nowhere, or it's not benefiting you.

Ben Harang (14:47)
Look at the rent you pay over 30 years. And none of it goes to equity.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (14:49)
Exactly.

Exactly. And so she decided she was done and she's come back to me as a referred lead at least twice. And I've just let it go.

Ben Harang (15:02)
huh.

so they haven't done anything yet.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (15:08)
at least not as of three months ago.

Ben Harang (15:11)
Clint, what's the one tool or app in your business that you pay 10 times the price for because it saves you that much time?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (15:21)
I'd say it's the automation tools. Anything that could be done without my having to touch it that helps my business, it makes it easy. So I use a product called Zapier and it allows you to connect various accounts and tools to basically make things happen in the background. So I get referral leads.

through email. And when they come in, the way I was having to do it was to go and copy the details out of the email, create a contact, and get it into my CRM, and then create the same contact in my contacts in my phone. And so with just one, and they call each instance of automation a zap. With one zap,

I was able to automatically create that contact information with all the details from the email in my CRM. So I don't have to worry about going and creating them in the CRM. Then I've got another one that is a contact sync. And so it synchronizes the list of contacts between the CRM and my Google Contacts.

And so that way, if client calls me, their phone number and their name is gonna show up and I'm gonna know who it is when they're calling me. And so if I need to call them, I've got them in there. And it goes both ways, whether I create the contact in my Google Contacts first, or whether I create it in the CRM first, it syncs back to the other one. So that's pretty cool. That saves me.

Ben Harang (17:00)
Yeah, that is.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (17:02)
That probably saves me 10 minutes per lead, which doesn't sound like a whole lot, but over time it adds up to a lot more free time. And then the, let's see, what was the, the other one is basically nurturing automation in the CRM. And so that contact comes in, I go in and tag them as a buyer, if they're a buyer.

Ben Harang (17:08)
Right, absolutely, absolutely. All right.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (17:26)
and it automatically starts a chain of communication with them, sending them emails, adding them to monthly neighborhood nurture, which gives them a market snapshot for the neighborhood that they're in, either every month or every 14 days, and various other things. But all that stuff happens in the background without me having to remember to do that for each and every client.

Ben Harang (17:54)
Cool, cool. All right, last part of getting into Clint. We're gonna go into our rapid fire, this or that. I'm gonna give some options and Clint's just gonna pick one of them. So here we go Clint, you ready?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (18:08)
I'm ready.

Ben Harang (18:09)
Alright, old world charm or modern minimalist?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (18:15)
So I really like old world charm, but the financial practicality of me definitely leans towards the modern minimalist

Ben Harang (18:24)
Alright, Pocket Listings are the MLS for everyone.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (18:29)
I'm gonna have to agree with you and I say MLS for everyone because I think pocket listings do a disservice to the client unless they don't want most people to know that their property is on the market.

Ben Harang (18:43)
Negotiation style, the hammer or the diplomat?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (18:49)
I kind of flip-flop between these. With my clients, I'm the diplomat, but anybody I'm negotiating against, on behalf of my clients, I feel like I'm the hammer.

Ben Harang (19:02)
Closing gift, top shelf liquor or functional home tech?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:07)
Probably lean towards liquor.

Ben Harang (19:10)
Alright, open houses. We could have an episode on just this. A gold mine or a waste of a Sunday?

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (19:18)
I'd say it's a gold mine, but it's like any other lead generation tactic. And this is sort of echoing what you said on the last episode, is that an open house is a lead generation tactic. So I think it's a gold mine, but it's the law of lead generation averages. You know, got to do a whole bunch of them. You got to do them right. You got to make them an event. You got to do marketing around it.

and you'll generate some interest and get some leads from it.

Ben Harang (19:52)
Alright, so I think that wraps it up for today. Don't forget to subscribe, like, share, share it with your mom and them. You can go to rerealestatepodcast.com and listen to the audio podcast, watch the YouTube podcast if you want to see two guys with a face for radio on video. It's up to you. So if you have any comments or...

Suggestions for future episodes you'd like to see, can contact us through the rerealestatepodcast.com website.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (20:20)
Would

that be rerealestatepodcast.com?

Ben Harang (20:25)
I think it is. I think it is. That's the third time. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. RERealEstatePodcast.com. All right, Clint. I think that's it. Everybody have a great day. The other one's in the can.

Clint C. Galliano, REALTOR® (20:36)
Yes indeed. See you Ben