Sandy Clayton - Elevate: A Podcast For Driven Real Estate Agents - Episode 11
Watch the Episode Here:
This week's episode features Sandy Clayton from the Clayton Group of KW. Sandy is a dynamic professional with a wealth of expertise in both real estate and business. With a BA from Clemson and a Masters in Tax Accounting from USC, Sandy brings a unique blend of skills to the table. After working as a financial analyst and accountant, she discovered her passion for real estate and began her career in 2006. Her background in accounting gives her a keen eye for detail and a love for numbers, but it's her desire for meaningful interactions with others that truly drives her. Sandy is able to offer her clients invaluable guidance on their biggest investment decisions, all while enjoying the flexibility of her career.
In This Episode We Cover:
How it can be possible to get started in real estate doing the unpopular jobs.
How important it is to find that perfect work'-life balance.
Some tips for agents just starting out.
Listen Along!
Read the Episode Here!
Sandy Clayton:
You have to have your little nest egg so you feel comfortable. But once you get a good nest egg, just you can start investing and it just compounds upon itself. I like to buy land, raw land and sell that. I've done well with that.
Nathan Whitworth:
How long do you typically hold it for before you try to sell it?
Sandy Clayton:
Well, definitely a year.
Nathan Whitworth:
Okay. Well, you have to, right? Yeah.
Sandy Clayton:
I mean, I've sold stuff before a year. The one I flipped, I did, but I tried to do a year. But land, I think it's just you've got to be a study the market. Yeah. No. You know, can't pay top, top, top, top, top. Yeah. But I mean, just searching for deals.
Nathan Whitworth:
Hey guys, welcome back to the episode of Elevates. I am excited that you're here because I'm excited to share with you our conversation with Sandy Clayton from the Clayton Group at KW Upstate. Sandy, how you doing? Good,
Sandy Clayton:
How are
Nathan Whitworth:
You? Good. So it was really cool talking to you when you came in are a team lead in the KW office, and you're currently actively searching for a new member for your team right now, which we'll get to in just a little bit. Yes. But you've been an agent for 17 years.
Sandy Clayton:
17 years in August.
Nathan Whitworth:
17 years in August. Yes. Such a long time.
Sandy Clayton:
Yeah.
Nathan Whitworth:
Okay. So I've got to know, because I meet so few agents in realtors, I mean, who have been in it for quite that long. Yes. I've got to know. What's the secret to making it past your first five years? Right. Do you remember back to your first five years?
Sandy Clayton:
I do.
Nathan Whitworth:
What was it like
Sandy Clayton:
Getting into It was awkward. Yeah. Honestly I had more of a career in accounting and I was to myself at a computer so this allowed me the outlet that I wanted. Honestly, I was sick of sitting in a computer <laugh> to talk with people and interact with people, but also have that quiet computer time. But I think the secret to it all is just staying on your lead generation. I mean, everybody's going to say that, but it's really so true. And just treating people the way you want to be treated showing 'em that you're going to work hard for and just treating 'em like family.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's very cool. Yes. I think it's really interesting because a lot of agents get into it, and I've heard this phrase a lot, that it's a relationship business. Yes. Does that feel right to you to st that kind
Sandy Clayton:
Of a thousand percent? Yeah. Some of my clients are literally my family. I have a client recently who had a major medical issue, no, out of the blue, and I found out about it, and I was so distraught I don't know if you can see this, but I basically cut my hand open with a knife when I was making dinner. Something I would never normal. I'm not accident prone, I'm not. Right. I was just so distraught over it because these people literally become your family, and he was in a situation and it just broke my heart. So you do become very close and it is a very relationship oriented business, and you want those repeat clients over and over and over again, and they're family members and their friends and very
Nathan Whitworth:
Cool. So yes, that makes total sense. You've been with KW now for you, I think you said all 17 years, right? Yes. You've been with KW for all 17 years.
Sandy Clayton:
Greenville Upstate. Yes.
Nathan Whitworth:
Greenville upstate. Yeah. Yes. So I'm just curious why, first off, how did you go about choosing a brokerage? And maybe it's different today, what the advice you would give for somebody who's just starting out. Yes. How do you help new agents who's like, I don't know where to hang my license. I'm trying to figure out where to go. That's probably one of the biggest things. And honestly, there's also a lot of agents that are moving brokerages. It seems like every other person that I talk to is going somewhere new. So what advice would you give for people who's trying to figure out, I need to find my place, I need to find the place that I can plant my seeds and I can grow?
Sandy Clayton:
I wouldn't say that I'm one of those people who are like, yeah, I researched 10 brokerages and interview. I didn't do that at all. Right. I just kind of fell into Keller Williams. Just so happens it was a great fit for me. I started out my sister was a Keller Williams agent when I started. She had a team, and so organically I just joined her team. That's cool. It's not like I searched any other outfits, but for me it's been a great fit. That's cool. I think the training has been the biggest thing. There's a lot of other perks but long story short for me, the training the environment in the office very just family oriented. I'm not in the upstate office too much these days cause I have my own free standing office, but when I'm there, it's just honestly, family. Everybody treats you great and are just so helpful and kind. I think that's one of the biggest reasons. And two, I've had my broker license since 2010, so people are, especially when you're in a small town like me a lot of people are like, oh, why don't you just start your own brokerage? And I'm just like, I have no desire. Desire
Nathan Whitworth:
<laugh>
Sandy Clayton:
Right. To do that. Not that I feel like I could be a broker in charge, that wouldn't be a problem. But it's just, I think, honestly, I'm a rare bird. I'm with a bigger brokerage in a small town when everybody else is with their own smaller boutique brokerages, and here I am with a bigger company. So I think that differentiate me. And then also I get a ton of referrals through the this is talking probably over people's heads who don't know about Keller Williams, but we have a whole command system and people send me referrals through that system that basically pay for my cap. So why would I go anywhere? Oh,
Nathan Whitworth:
Wow. And has that been consistent? Because I think that that's an interesting tidbit that a lot of people probably don't know. Right? I mean, because a lot of people are looking at what you're paying to be a part of the brokerage, and they're sitting there thinking to themselves, number one, I might not even sell enough or help people buy enough to be even cover the cover expense of being here at this brokerage. So that's the first kind of concern. So you're saying that you're just being a part of the system, receiving enough leads to be able to cover, generally speaking,
Sandy Clayton:
Definitely. Cool. At this point, yeah. I wouldn't say it was like that year one through five or one through seven. I wouldn't expect that anybody to walk in and just automatically start boom, getting, I don't want to misconstrue. I would say it really more happened after year seven is when that, and especially when Killer Williams formulated this whole command section, our referral section through command is when you can tap in, I can go in there anywhere that they operate, I can go in and see, okay, these are the agents that are doing the business. These are, they're buyer led closings, they're seller led closings. And I can go in there and see and just read bios on and see who I want to send my referrals to. So it's also a good asset in that respect. But obviously the more sales you have people, you get more recognition in that respect and more referrals.
Nathan Whitworth:
A hundred percent. And I think it's good for people to know upfront going into it, Hey, you can get it there, but it's going to take that five to seven years of building, not only just building your own business, but also building a reputation in the system among the other agents. Yes. Yeah, that makes total sense. Yes. Yeah. I'm curious, when you first started, what was the primary market that you were going after? Was it, I mean, were you first time home buyer in the beginning? Were you doing a lot of expired listings? What was the things that you were going after and that you were spending your time on?
Sandy Clayton:
So my first seven years were, it was all buyer led. Gotcha. I didn't do any listings until year seven. Gotcha. So I've focused on, honestly, probably a lot of the market that most agents didn't want. I, I've done a lot of land over the years.
Nathan Whitworth:
Interesting.
Sandy Clayton:
Lots small, lots land,
Nathan Whitworth:
Which makes sense being out where you are. Right? Yes. And so a lot rural area. Yeah. So you're servicing, but like you said earlier, you're kind of the team that's out in a more rural area. Yes. Right. Yes. And so that would make total sense for, for the place that you live and the place that you enjoy spending your time. Yeah.
Sandy Clayton:
I've always done land a lot of manufactured homes. A lot of agents don't want to do manufactured homes, so I've always embraced them because they're more complex deals to do the financing, the whole foundation underneath. It's just a whole separate thing. A lot of those words are probably striking fear in Yeah. Yeah. More seasoned agents. But yeah, I've always done weird stuff. I mean, honestly, I do commercial.
Nathan Whitworth:
Oh wow. Stuff.
Sandy Clayton:
Yeah. I've sold funeral homes.
Nathan Whitworth:
Oh, wow.
Sandy Clayton:
Yeah. Just anything you need.
Nathan Whitworth:
I've got to ask you actually, this about selling a funeral <laugh>, right? Because I got got lots of questions. Oh yeah.
Sandy Clayton:
Oh yeah. I've got answers. But just I think anything weird and unique honestly, that nobody else wanted to touch. I fully embraced it and I think that helped too.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. And I think what's interesting about that, just from a 30,000 foot level, is that every time you are approached with a new type of sale Yes. You're having, there's another learning curve you're going through. Oh yeah. Right. Oh yeah. You were throwing out a lot. Did you work with a lot of investors on the mobile home front?
Sandy Clayton:
Not
Nathan Whitworth:
A whole lot. Okay. Yeah, it was just curious. But it's interesting how, for the most part, when you are moving into another type of home sale or dealing with commercial versus dealing with REI or dealing with a mobile home versus dealing with land, they all kind of have their own learning curves. So over the 17 years, I can't imagine how many times, and I guess it was just after the first five or seven, but I can't imagine how many times you were going into a new thing going, okay, well let me, how does this work? And that's not easy for most people. Most people want to find their lane and stay comfortable and then just try to dial in on that one
Sandy Clayton:
Thing. Yes. And two, their small little geographic area, A lot of people don't want to work multiple counties. And I've always done that as well,
Nathan Whitworth:
Because you're licensed in North Carolina as well,
Sandy Clayton:
Licensed in North Carolina as well. But yeah, I've always worked Spartanburg County, Greenville County, Pickens County some Northern Anderson and Northern Lawrence counties. I really haven't done much in Cherokee, but going across the border Polk County and Rutherford County.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah, that makes sense. And again, what I think what's so cool about that is especially being a team leader, you have a breadth of knowledge about a lot of different type of real estate.
Sandy Clayton:
I mean, we used to det title mobile homes for our clients. I mean, that's typically something attorneys do. But when we got super, super busy, we had to kind of scale that back. But when things were slower, I mean, we would retitle for them.
Nathan Whitworth:
You were handling a lot of the process. Yes. Yourself. Wow. Yes. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. That's cool. So talk to me, cause I know this right now, you're looking for a person to come on your team. Yes. Talk to me for a second. Let's assume that a person chooses to hang their license at a broker that has teams, and it kind of has that structure. How do you find the right team? Okay. You've made the decision to be at the brokerage. Cool. So now you want to find that person, or you want to find that team that you can, again, I'm sure learn from and find a place where you can excel. What advice would you have? A person who's looking for the right team and the right team leader to walk side by side with?
Sandy Clayton:
I think you need to just obviously interview with people, but find somebody who can cast a vision that mirrors what you want your life to look like.
Nathan Whitworth:
Well, that's good.
Sandy Clayton:
I want my people to have a life outside of real estate. A lot of people are like, oh, I'm up at 10 o'clock at night doing this and that and the other. And that's a time and place for that. If you're negotiating a contract, but just you can't be on 24 hours a day. And just finding somebody, if that's important to you as having that work-life balance, finding a brokerage or a team lead that also shares that same
Nathan Whitworth:
Mindset philosophy. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So now I'm sure some ears are perked up because they're thinking to themselves, wait a minute, I haven't heard anybody else, I haven't heard a single agent talk about live life work balance. Right. Why not? So I think they're sitting thinking that's
Sandy Clayton:
Not why we're all working. Right,
Nathan Whitworth:
Right. To is to live a fulfilling life. Yes. So I think we didn't plan on talking about this, but I'm curious, what does that look like for you? Again, I asked you earlier how you've been in it for 17 years and what the secret was. And I would suspect that you've probably been able to strike a pretty healthy balance that's allowed you to again, focus on living a fulfilling life and have some time to focus on your family As a mom. I can't imagine, I'm always so in awe of agents who are moms and doing this line of work just because everything,
Sandy Clayton:
This is my number one priority as being a mom. And there wasn't anything ever that was going to take me away from being the best I could be at that job. So
Nathan Whitworth:
How'd you put boundaries around it then?
Sandy Clayton:
Honestly,
Nathan Whitworth:
Because so much of it, the client can gain control, right? Yes. You can. The person that you're trying to serve or the people or the family or whatever that you're trying to serve, it can get out of hand. And I think that's probably if you let it Yes. If you let it. Yes. And I think that's one of the things that a lot of new agents struggle with for sure. And that's really what leads to a lot of burnout early on.
Sandy Clayton:
Definitely. I mean, you have to set your hours that you are available for them, and then hours with your family, emergencies do pop up. Sure. But yeah, we, and two, we try to fight fires before they even turn into, we're always looking for what could possibly go wrong. I love that. Can we there's something going on in a transaction, how can we squash that during business hours? So we're not having a panic attack at 9:00 PM We're not fighting a fire. We don't like that. We want things to go as smooth as possible, not only for us, but for them. We want our clients to have the smoothest, seamless experience as possible. So if there's something we see, maybe a title issue that we uncover while we're getting the listing prepared, we're going to try to figure that out before we even come to market because we don't want to have problems. What was your question?
Nathan Whitworth:
No, that's, no, that's great. You're talking about putting up guardrails. Yes. But I think you, you're a hundred percent right. Yes. Swimming upstream of the problems. So once you experience something, looking at it and going, okay, so how can I prevent this from taking time away from my family again in the future?
Sandy Clayton:
And I think too, for me, and this is not new agents, I don't feel like they should feel like they've got to work 24 7. And I'm not advocating for that. But I think too, it comes with time in the business. For me when I became a single mom I had a one-year-old and I had a three-year-old, and I had only done by her side of the business. Well, by her side, side of the business is a lot of times after five,
Nathan Whitworth:
A hundred percent.
Sandy Clayton:
So
Nathan Whitworth:
I'm the one and weekends.
Sandy Clayton:
Yes. Yeah. Yes. Well, at that time he was the one getting the listings. So I had the buyers. So we separated. Got it. And I became a single mom. And so then my train of thought was, how am I going to do this? I've got to be home for my babies at the time that they need me. And so that's when I decided I've got to do listings. I've got to have that as my primary focus so I can control my time. And so then from there, the team built, I hired a buyer's agent that had more flexibility in the evenings than I did. That was their availability and just assistance to help both of us.
Nathan Whitworth:
That makes, so how did you make the transition? It was difficult to move from a buyer's agent to a listing agent. It
Sandy Clayton:
Was so intimidating and scary because that's all I had known. And it's a completely different set of skills.
Nathan Whitworth:
I mean, it, I've always thought to myself, and again, I've never talked about it to anybody about this, but I've always thought to myself, most agents when they come in typically are buyer's agents. Right? Yeah. That's very typical that that's generally what happens. But most people always have in the back of their head, well, most people have kind of a long range plan. They're always kind of thinking themselves. Eventually I want to move over to a listing agent because of the advantages that comes along with it. Right? Sure. But I've always thought it's would be tough, I think, to spend, in your case, five, seven years, building up the systems, the processes, the lead generation for being a great buyer's agent, and to having a constant stream of business coming your way, and then to having to essentially stop all that, which I know you, I didn't fully stop and go cold Turkey, but
Sandy Clayton:
The leads, the new leads did stop.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. Okay. Gotcha. So yeah, that transition, I'm sure was scary. I mean, it was basically starting over in your business from the beginning. Yes. What is that? Is that accurate? Yes.
Sandy Clayton:
Wow. It was terrifying. Wow. And so I was like, okay, I've gotten to make this work. I was at a really low time in life. Just everything that
Nathan Whitworth:
Was going on, everything was coming at the same time.
Sandy Clayton:
Yes. Like a situation that I never thought I would be in. And so there was a class that I signed up for, you may or may not have heard of this before, but it's called Bold. It's offered through Keller Williams. Oh, cool. And it's like a eight week intensive class. You meet one day a week all day for eight weeks. And through that class I just think I was very receptive to the message at that time in my life more than any other time, because I just was searching for something. I was search not for a quick fix. I knew there was no such thing, but there's
Nathan Whitworth:
No easy button.
Sandy Clayton:
No, there was no easy button. But I was searching for something at that point in my life. And then I took that class and it just resonated with me because I think it's more focusing on why are you doing this? What is your true purpose, your setting goals, huge goals. Goals so big that you're just like, you look at it, you write it down on the paper, and you're like, really?
Nathan Whitworth:
Not me.
Sandy Clayton:
No, I
Nathan Whitworth:
Can't do do that. No, I can never get there.
Sandy Clayton:
So I mean, there's so many things I could talk about through this class, but I know we're not going to get into all that. But just one of the things was writing down goals for the next year, and then they take that away from you, and then a year later they mail it to you.
Nathan Whitworth:
Wow. So this might be too much candidness and too much, honestly, at the end of the year. Or do you remember that first year? Did you find yourself at least on track to hit the goals?
Sandy Clayton:
I hit everything.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yes. Nicely done.
Sandy Clayton:
And I'm going to tell you, I never in a million years thought I would. And I cried when that letter showed up, and I read that letter, I bald my eyes out.
Nathan Whitworth:
Why?
Sandy Clayton:
Because it was so profound. And it wasn't even stuff about, it wasn't even all about the business. It was personal, very personal goals as well that had nothing to do with real estate. And I read all of it and everything happened and I was like, oh my gosh, I can really do this. Mm-hmm. Like if I set my to it. And that's what I love about real estate is there's no ceiling. You can do as little as you want, or you can do as much as you want. And there's no one there to tell you that you've got to stay at this level.
Nathan Whitworth:
So I love that. Well said. Yeah. I've always, one of the amazing things about owning a business, and this is a business of any kind, whether you're in a real estate or not, the business exists to basically serve the goals and the interests of the business owner. You can make it what you want. Exactly. And you can design it around what kind of lifestyle you want to have. Right. It's so interesting to, so many times I'll talk to newer agents, and one of the first conversations I'll have with 'em, typically it's around the, so what's your goals? Why are you in real estate? Most of the time there's not a whole lot there. They're not really clearly defined. They're like, well, and at the end of the day, they don't say it. But at the end of the day, well, I just want to make money.
They think that it's an easy way or easier way, or at least it's a pathway maybe if it's not the easiest thing ever. It's a pathway to be able to make as much money as you want. That's what attracts everybody to the business. And then the flexibility, everybody thinks that there's a lot of flexibility in the early days and that kind of stuff too. But it's funny that you said the message for me hit at the right time. It did. Because it's really funny that the more people I come across, the more people I talk to, the more that I realize, honestly, they're just not ready to hear the message at where they are in their life right now. No, they're just not ready. They don't have the experiences that's lined up for them in a way that's made them think about the right questions to ask themselves in order to then fully receive really what the truth is. Right. And to be able to set those goals and think about what's the life that I really want for myself? What
Sandy Clayton:
Are the activities that I'm going to have to do on a daily basis that are going to make these results happen? And I think that that class set up a whole system that I was searching for.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's very cool.
Sandy Clayton:
Do
Nathan Whitworth:
You find yourself still referring back to it?
Sandy Clayton:
Definitely. Yeah. I mean, there's little state. I mean, just, there's little statements you learn in the class. No pressure, no diamonds. I, there's so many I could say I love that. That always come back to me at any given situations that happened. Beth Beth Torrance, she was my teacher. I'll never forget her for the first. I've taken the class three times, but the first time was definitely the most profound for me. But she was an excellent teacher. She was who God appointed for Sandy Clayton to show up to teach this class. Perfect. She just was so good. I don't think she's on the road teaching it anymore, but if anybody has a chance to take something from her, I would highly recommend it. Oh, that's cool. But yeah, I think that was the turning point for me from being just mediocre mediocre mindset to, wow, this is really so much bigger than me, and let's just go for it. Let's just, who cares? This is one life you have to live. You might as well just push and do the best you can do well. So instead of just living average,
Nathan Whitworth:
Well said. That's awesome. Yeah. And we could talk about that all day. We could talk about goals and goal setting and the importance of it all day long. Cause I firmly believe that's a lot of the books that I read, it kind of revolves around how to do those things. I want to talk about the person who's looking for the right team. Again, really quick. Oh yeah. Cause I remember,
Sandy Clayton:
I've off that.
Nathan Whitworth:
Sorry about that. Yeah, it's okay. No, it's okay. So we talked about how to find the right team. I'm curious from your perspective, yes. From a team lead perspective, what are the characters and qualities that you're looking for in the person? And again, that's going to be a little different for everybody. It's going to be a little different for every team lead, but Sure. Just as a use case. Well,
Sandy Clayton:
I think somebody who just has a no fail mindset they're going to show up and do the activities. And I think that's hard to interview for people say a lot of things.
Nathan Whitworth:
Right.
Sandy Clayton:
And they don't always
Nathan Whitworth:
Deliver the first day's a lot different than the 10th. Yes.
Sandy Clayton:
But just somebody who's willing to put in the time someone who really wants to see people succeed, like success through others, open to learning. Not just, okay, I know how to do this. I don't need you. I don't know the best mean, this job is forever changing. I'm not saying my methods are always the best. If there's something I can learn from someone else, just having the open mind to do that and not be closed off to it. Be willing to do scripts, practice a lot of this. Talking on the phone to people in the conversations we have as realtors, they don't come naturally. So someone who's open to learning, being, learning based willing to show up for classes at the office to learn more. I mean, I'm still trying to take all the classes I can, and I've been, you know, just never stop.
I think if you want to be successful, because this industry is always changing everything about, it's changing the loans, the people, the laws. You've really got to stay fresh with all of that and just work hard and treat people the way you want to be treated. I don't think I can express that any more than anything. The business will come if you truly care about people and you are doing everything in your power to make sure the transaction goes well for them, they are going to refer you to their friends. I mean, it's just a given.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's the perfect segue, I think, for the last portion of this conversation. Okay. Which is, you mentioned earlier that most of your business, you dug into the numbers and you realized that last year, really all of your business or most of your business was referral based, right? Yes. Which I think is heaven on earth for any agent and every, that's what everybody's trying to generate. It was
Sandy Clayton:
A huge shift for
Nathan Whitworth:
Us. Interesting.
Sandy Clayton:
Because 20, I'd say 20 14, 20 15 through mid 2021, I was just focused on prospecting. Not that we didn't have past clients come back to us. I mean, we did, but it just wasn't the number that it's been the past year and a half. And to me, that's just a testament to our process and just how we're taking care of people. But I was strictly focused on prospecting to just random people 2014 through mid 2021.
Nathan Whitworth:
What was it like that most of your year was spent with people that you've already served?
Sandy Clayton:
I think it was just more relaxing.
Nathan Whitworth:
Was it really? Yeah.
Sandy Clayton:
Yeah. Because you kind of know the temperament of the personalities you're, you're working with, and it was easier, you knew it was more consistent. It felt more consistent.
Nathan Whitworth:
It's really interesting because is, and this is a principle of all businesses, most of the time. The issue with a lot of lead generation is when it really takes over your entire revenue strategy. So all you a business typically is always looking for the next client. The business is always looking for the next person. They're always looking for the next sale. Right? And they're always looking for that new person instead of cultivating the people that they've already served. Right? Yes. What is the lifetime value of the person that you bring into your business? And if you start thinking about it that way, and you say to yourself, yeah, sure, this person's budget is 500 K, well, the first time, but what about the second time? What about the third time? Right? You've already worked so hard, and this is the thing I've never understood about a lot of agents and their business strategies. You've worked so hard to bring in that lead, and you've worked so hard to cultivate them into a client, and you've worked so hard to build a great experience for that person. There's not a whole lot left that you have to do in order to keep in contact with that person and to have them become a repeat client and to offer referrals too. But to just be repeat client. A lot of agents, it always seems to me they're serve one person onto the next, and instead of really spending time cultivating their current client base, do you find that as well?
Sandy Clayton:
I do. And I think I've been guilty of it too. I mean, you just get so involved in the day-to-day. Yeah. Sometimes it just, it's not always what you should be calling your past clients. And sometimes it's just, I think they say 11% of agents keep in touch the way they should.
Nathan Whitworth:
It it's, yeah, it's
Sandy Clayton:
Low. It's really
Nathan Whitworth:
Low. Yeah, it's really low. It's
Sandy Clayton:
Impressively
Nathan Whitworth:
Low. Yeah. Yeah. It's really low. Yeah. And I've seen that in my own experience, and I get it, and I understand the pressure that everybody feels because you made that sell. That's great. Now I got to go get the, I understand the pressure. Yes, I get it. But I think that there's a huge opportunity that I don't see a whole lot of agents focusing on,
Sandy Clayton:
And that's something that we are actively trying to figure out. We're trying to tap into it more too. I have two full-time admin and they're pretty much involved with their activities. So we are trying to make time to plan more client events, plan more activities for 'em, giveaways, we want to get there and do more because we see the value in it a hundred percent based off the ones we've done in 2022. Huge return on investment. So that's huge.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's awesome. Yes. Yeah. Yes. And again, like you said, I think that's the upside that nobody thinks about is it's just fun. It's more like, it is fun when you get to have those people that you've worked with before come back and you're like, Hey, you've got a baby. Oh my gosh. And you get to it. It's very cool to see the growth. To me, I was a teacher and I taught for 10 years, and one of the coolest things about being a teacher was getting to see someone come in the sixth grade and staying with 'em all the way through the 12th grade and seeing how they grow, seeing how things change. Yep. That relationship business that you talked about earlier, the same thing. It's the same thing to stay in touch to see the family's evolution or to see the person's evolution, right? Yes. And
Sandy Clayton:
You're helping them build wealth like awful while,
Nathan Whitworth:
Which it's a whole separate topic. Yeah. Yeah. That's a whole separate topics. Whole. That's a whole different thing. It's a big topic, but it's a big deal though. Yes. It's a big deal. I mean, I tell people all the time that my wife and I, our first home purchase was the launching point. That was the thing that we were able to take the equity that we had built into the next thing, and then we were able to pull equity and take that into an investment. Like, oh yeah. Those are all things that is a massive deal that most people don't consider, because again, we're not looking for enough to the future. I've
Sandy Clayton:
Never lost money on real estate investment. I know I'm probably one of those rare people. That's true. But I never
Nathan Whitworth:
Have. What do you invest in?
Sandy Clayton:
I mean, I've flipped a house in 2020 myself. Oh,
Nathan Whitworth:
Did you really? Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever, was that your first one? Yes. Have you <laugh>? This is and weird man. We're about to go off the rails. I have you. That's the other thing that's always confused me. And I'm curious to see what you think. Why don't more agents invest themselves?
Sandy Clayton:
Well, I think it's one of those, you get, it's that scarcity mindset too, I think too. You just feel like, what if, if the market turn,
Nathan Whitworth:
Sure
Sandy Clayton:
You have to have your little nest egg so you feel comfortable. But once you get a good nest egg, you can start investing and it just compounds upon itself. I like to buy land, raw land and sell that. I've done well with that.
Nathan Whitworth:
How long do you typically hold it for before you try to sell it?
Sandy Clayton:
Well, definitely a year.
Nathan Whitworth:
Okay. Well you got right? Yeah.
Sandy Clayton:
I mean, I've sold stuff before a year. The one I flipped, I did, but I tried to do a year, but land.
Nathan Whitworth:
So can I ask you about that? Sure. Yeah. Cause I'm curious because I, we've never done that before. My wife and I, we had just seen a piece of land. They had purchased the land, they had flipped it. They had zoned it to commercial, which I think was probably a really good idea. And now they're selling it for twice the price they bought it for. And we were like, that's interesting. So talk to me a little bit about that. What's the philosophy here about purchasing land? Well,
Sandy Clayton:
I mean, have you ever seen land really go down in value?
Nathan Whitworth:
No. Never <laugh>? No. <laugh> never.
Sandy Clayton:
I mean, enough said. I think it's just you've got to be a study the market. Yeah. No. You know, can't pay top, top, top, top, top. Yeah. But I mean, just searching for deals,
Nathan Whitworth:
Are you usually looking for info lots, spaces and neighborhoods that hasn't been built on yet? Or are you looking for wide acreage? What's
Sandy Clayton:
Me? More acreage.
Nathan Whitworth:
Okay, gotcha.
Sandy Clayton:
I'd rather find an acreage piece that I could maybe split up, if that's a possibility. Gotcha. So I actually fell into one that was already had lots, not completely subdivided, but had four to five lots already. So, well, I fell into it. Cool. I don't know how I fell into it, but I did. So that was really cool and beneficial.
Nathan Whitworth:
Yeah. So is that simply because you can buy a large acreage and then once you split it up, you're able to make a profit just because you're able to split it up into the smaller segments and sell it off that way? That makes
Sandy Clayton:
Sense. Sell for a higher price when it's smaller than,
Nathan Whitworth:
What about utilities? Do you try to make sure the utilities already in place on that piece of land or no. Or can it be totally raw and you'll just sell it raw and then leave it to the builder?
Sandy Clayton:
One time I had to grant easement across my property to get power to the lots that I'd sold because they got it, which was fine. Of course, I'm going to grant the people the power. They sure. They're building houses and they need it, but not always fair. I wouldn't recommend that to anybody else,
Nathan Whitworth:
But
Sandy Clayton:
It was what I did. I got a good deal, so I jumped on it. Yeah, don't really verify too much, honestly.
Nathan Whitworth:
Gotcha. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, I mean, it's met several investors who do nothing but foot land. That's really all they do. And I think it's very cool. I just don't know a whole lot about it.
Sandy Clayton:
I think the deals just land and houses, just everything are kind of few and far between right now. Sure. So I think that's caused probably me and a lot of others to just kind of pull back and just kind of save money, be cautious, and watch for the right thing to pop up. Yeah. That's what I try to do.
Nathan Whitworth:
That's awesome. That's very cool. Yeah. Well, and I'm sure if anybody has a question about <laugh> happy to help about investing in land, you'd be happy to help. Happy to help. Sandy, this has been awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for sharing and just being open and being honest and sharing about your journey and where you've been. If anybody has any questions or something that they would like to reach out to you about, where can they find out more information about you or reach out to you directly?
Sandy Clayton:
You can call me (864) 205-6744. Cool. Can email me sandy dot clayton kw.com. Awesome. Probably the two best
Nathan Whitworth:
Ways. That's perfect. Well, thank you, Sandy. I really appreciate it. Thank you
Sandy Clayton:
For having
Nathan Whitworth:
Me. You're welcome guys. Hopefully you're able to pull a few nuggets out of this. There's nothing I enjoy more than sitting across the table from agents and realtors. You guys are my people. It's so cool that you guys do the same type of stuff that we do here. And again, I can't tell you how much I appreciate, you know, being here and sharing your can talk all day. I know. We really good. Just a few more cups of coffee and grab lunch. Yeah. <laugh>, guys hopefully you took something from this of value to you. Thank you so much for your time and attention. It means the world to me. Have an incredible day. Go out there and crush it and I'll see you next time. Hey everyone, thanks for listening. Hopefully this was really helpful to you in your journey of building a business. If you like what you heard, please click subscribe and go to iTunes and give us a rating that helps us out tremendously when we're producing hopefully content of huge value to you. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it, and I hope that you have an amazing week. Go out there and crush it. I'll see you soon.
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