Anthony Castellano – Marketing Your Resume

[00:00:22] Lindsay Favazza: Welcome back to the agents who crush it in real estate podcast. I’m your host, Lindsay Favazza, and today sitting in front of me on the screen at least is Mr. Anthony. Castellano Anthony. Welcome to the podcast today. 

[00:00:35] Anthony Castellano: Thank you, Lindsay.

[00:00:37] Lindsay Favazza: So as you guys probably know Anthony was on stage with us back in February for our crush, it real estate event. So he is no stranger to the crush it and real estate world and spotlight. So you crushed it back then, Anthony, and I’m sure you’re going to do that today. So we’re excited to have you on.

[00:00:53] Anthony Castellano: Thank you. It was an an honor and a privilege to be up there with some other great agents. It was a good time, a little bit easier than I thought it was going to be, but I’m excited to be back with you.

[00:01:02] Lindsay Favazza: Well, you earned that spot because there’s a lot of people that watch what you do and they want to hear, and they want to know, you know, how you’ve done it in such a short amount of time. I mean, I try not to bring age into the mix, but you are younger for a real estate agent. Yeah. You know, it’s a, it’s a huge accomplishment to have gotten to where you are, so you should be proud of it. And there’s a reason that people invite you to be on stage and invite you to be on podcasts. So you’re doing a great job.

[00:01:27] Anthony Castellano: I appreciate that.

[00:01:28] Lindsay Favazza: No one that can listen to this can see, but he’s turning red and that’s his modesty at play here. So. All right. So Anthony, why don’t you take us back? You, like I said, your younger. As far as your age go, but like you said before, you’ve been very experienced in the business. Now you’ve been at this for how many years? What year did you

[00:01:48] Anthony Castellano: get licensed? This is your five. I got my license, the summer of 2018 and started mid-fall kind of dragged my feet a bit, but started mid-fall and was often running.

[00:02:01] Lindsay Favazza: Perfect. So first year, give us the lowdown first year through five years, what has your, you know, your sales been and how have you grown your business over? First year was actually great comparative to, I think your average agent, I did pretty well ended with 14 closings. I was getting some solid lead sources from my brokerage, which made it a lot easier, starting out between the training and, and leads that were coming in.

[00:02:29] Anthony Castellano: I was just really able to kickstart the business. Gave me a bit more of a leg to stand on with my sphere. And after a year to. Another year with mostly leads from my brokerage. I was able to kind of make that shift and I remember starting out, it was company leads, agent leads and year two got closer. And then year three, four, it’s just been making that nice swing and

[00:02:56] Lindsay Favazza: yeah, you need that kind of. Like pull with your sphere because they don’t believe that you really know what you’re doing, and it’s almost harder to convert them before they see that you actually know what you’re doing. So having those back bats as we like to call them as super simple, I agree,

[00:03:13] Anthony Castellano: my broken. I might not like me saying it, but when I talked to the newer agents, I tell them that it’s almost like practice that’s they, these people, they don’t know you, they know you as an agent, you can kind of fake it till you make it at that point. And as long as you’re confident, know what you’re doing it’s really, like you said, at bats, it’s almost like building a resume for your sphere. They see that you sell on a certain time. They maybe didn’t know. And it, and it’s just that much more to stand on a leg to stand on.

[00:03:42] Lindsay Favazza: So you also though have spent a lot of time educating your sphere so that you could get to that point where they did trust you. So what were some of the things that you did in the early stages, and maybe you still continue to do now to kind of get the word out that you were starting to see success and what were some of the marketing tactics [00:04:00] that you use to get that word?

[00:04:01] Anthony Castellano: Well, that’s easier. I mean, the basic ones that every agent does, you have your email lists, you have your mailers. But nowadays there’s no secret that social media is really the biggest. At least in my opinion, and maybe for my age group, but even, even for older agents, it’s, it’s Facebook and Instagram, it’s free, which is the best part. And it’s like I said, it’s a resume almost. You just, you put it out there. What you’ve sold, where you’ve sold. And like you said, Lindsey, the educating part is really, what’s gonna, it’s kind of the final key to pulling people in people that, you know, in and people that they know they’re going to share your info with other people. It’s, it’s just a web that you put up.

[00:04:41] Lindsay Favazza: Yep. Absolutely. And you have to keep telling people. So I know, like I said, in the beginning, you are very modest and humble, so it’s, I’m sure for a lot of agents, it’s hard for them to say, well, I mean, I closed the deal, but like, I don’t want to be braggy about it. So what do you have to say about that? As far as, you know, getting people past that kind of blockage.

[00:05:02] Anthony Castellano: I think it’s a fine line to dance on, of bragging and showing off, but I forget who I heard say it, but it was on another podcast actually. And he said, if you’re not going to propel, you promote your business, who is so that that’s really what it is. I mean, It’s not about saying how much you sold or the numbers that you did, but you have to put out there what your production numbers are. It’s it’s again, it’s a resume people. See it. And that’s their first introduction to you or maybe your second, but that’s where they see you. I think we talked about it before, before we went on stage, actually. It’s the best way to be in front of people without being in there. They’re just scrolling and they see your information. You’re not saying, Hey, I sold this or I sell this. It’s just there and they come across it.

[00:05:47] Lindsay Favazza: So when you have a sold client, what do you do? Take me through the steps of like how you do kind of spread the word. You do, postcards, you do some kind of social media post. And what does that social media posts look like or say.

[00:05:58] Anthony Castellano: Well, it’s always thanking the client because it’s, that’s a fact we wouldn’t be there without that. That’s the main goal. I want to make sure that if it’s a buyer, we get them the right house at a great price, which in this market is getting a little tougher, but we’re still able to. So it’s, it’s thanking them and making sure that they’re comfortable and congratulating them on such a huge step and again, a huge feat in this market. And then same thing with the seller. The opportunity to work with a seller is more rare in this market and always like to thank them and make sure we’re doing a good job for them. But posting that out there, sharing that. I mentioned the towns, not everyone knows that an agent can sell in Wilmington. In Medford, mass in Charlestown and in different neighborhoods of Boston, they think sometimes it’s in one specific area, but I mean, you’ve seen it. I almost took this call from my car where we’re all over the place. So putting that out there. It just helps  spread the word there. 

[00:07:01] Lindsay Favazza: absolutely. And if you’re not within the Massachusetts market, you know, Wilmington to Charlestown is a very good distance. So we definitely, as agents, you guys cover so such a huge area and sometimes you don’t, which is okay, but you can get referral money from it too. So, and then there’s. You know, referral, you know, money for, you know, any company, regardless. We all also use, you know, the leadingRE connections, but like I said, any, any brokerage has their referral partners, so that’s always helpful as well. 

[00:07:36] Anthony Castellano:  Just yesterday I got my license in Florida, so anyone looking down there I’ll be down there. Also licensed in New Hampshire. 

[00:07:48] Lindsay Favazza: So what’s your plan, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Florida. What’s your plan now that you have that, what is your, you know, what do you got your eyes set on? 

[00:07:56] Anthony Castellano: I’m not too sure, but I know I  wanted the license, whether it’s just to send some more referrals down there or maybe be a snowball. But we’ll see, we’ll see kind of how it shakes

[00:08:09] Lindsay Favazza: out. I love that you’re prepping to be a snowbird already. 

[00:08:17] Host: a quick break to hear from Greg Janian  a prominent real estate lawyer who represents buyers, sellers in lens. As he shares his latest tip.

[00:08:24] Greg Janian:  I’m going to talk about today’s confidence. You know, confidence starts with education. You, all of you have the opportunity to train and learn and, and understand the business more. And, you know, in the key that all that education and training brings us. If you project confidence, people will believe what you have to say and they’ll believe that you’re going to be able to do a good job for them. You always see the term we’re practicing law. We’re always practicing, cause it’s always changing and we’re always having to stay up to date and learn. It’s the same thing with real estate and realtors and brokers, you know, you’re  always practicing and learning and training for the next. No, what you don’t know? I always say that to my, to the realtors I work with. You know, it’s easier for them to pick up a phone and call us and ask you a question before they go and make an offer and mess it up before we even get a chance to work on it. So, no, we don’t know. And don’t be afraid to tell a client, wow, I’ve been doing this five years. I’ve never run into that. Let me reach out to one of my experts that I work with regularly and ask them what they think of it. You know, they will appreciate that as opposed to you giving them Sabbat advice that needs to be worked on and cleaned up later on and use all those resources you have use your brokers, use your attorneys. Use your friends in the business. We’re all around all the time. And 95% chance. We’ve all been through it. We’ve seen that happen before. So, you know, don’t be afraid to make the call before you make the offer.

[00:09:52] Host: Thanks, Greg. Now let’s get back to the podcast.

[00:09:56] Lindsay Favazza: Exactly. I know. So, I mean, if you can do it, you want to do it early. So I think that that’s a great idea and you’re right. There’s such a huge connection to mass and New Hampshire down to Florida. So it’s just, it, it makes sense that that would be the next thing. So congratulations on that.

[00:10:13] Lindsay Favazza: So as far as your social media game, let’s get into that a little bit more. Cause I do think that that’s something that you’re always talking about and that you put a lot of time and effort into. So explain how much time and effort and how you kind of come up with different ideas for your posts. I know that every time I grabbed my phone, I see you in those stories. So talk about stories versus posts. Like give me some of that strategy that you use to build your social media.

[00:10:37] Anthony Castellano: I guess base strategy with a story is I like to at least have one. I don’t ever want to look at it and see like the plus sign next to my name. I don’t want to have to add one if there’s nothing there, because then you’re just not keeping at least relatively consistent views. I mean, I am not as numbers driven as some people where I don’t always pay attention to, I need X amount of views or X amount of impressions on something. It’s just kind of a, about being out there and. I think it’s more natural that way. If I’m at an inspection, which I was at earlier, I’m going to say that amount of an inspection. If I’m at a showing and the house looks great, I’m going to get probably more shots than just the exterior that I’ll post that just about every showing. And, and that goes back to the, the resume of kind of where you sell geotag it, that I’m in this area or I’m in New Hampshire for this, for this day. It’s it’s huge. It’s gotten me referrals to go over the border and, and shop some of those border towns in New Hampshire with buyers that have agents that aren’t licensed up there. But back to the stories, that’s really, if I can do a healthy mix of. Me. I like to golf. I was at the Sox game last night. I’ll post some of that stuff. So it looked like more of a normal person. Like think I am do that though. A lot of educational stuff. I just got my email with last week’s[00:12:00] market stats. So tomorrow, yeah, Thursday morning I’ll be posting that. I try to be really consistent with that stuff, just so that it’s always the same timeline and the same numbers. And then really just some buyer tips and stuff like that. Or seller tips. Whether it comes up in a conversation with a client, if I think, oh, you know what? Someone else has asked this question, I’ll put it out there. I’ll do that. So it’s kind of a healthy balance and trying not to be too, I don’t want to say annoying, but too annoying on that. It’s again, it’s a fine line of how much you can do and then how much stuff not everyone needs to see. 

[00:12:35] Lindsay Favazza: Yep for sure. And you do do, like you said, a little bit of that personal, I, you know, we know that you like to golf. We know that you’re a big sports fan. We know that you and your girlfriend liked to go out for nice dinners.  I always see you guys posting about that kind of stuff. That’s super important to show the personal side too, because at the end of the day, they want to work with someone that they like, that they know like and trust. And you’re just building that up. So something else that you did  mention, but I know that you’ve been doing too is some agent guided tours and some property type, like more foolish to videos. So when do you think it’s important to kind of get away from just the quick stuff on your phone? Okay. Like start to put a little bit of strategy into having something a little bit more polished as well. Like, do you have a strategy there or is it just whenever you have a listing or what’s your thought?

[00:13:23] Anthony Castellano:  Definitely whenever I have a listing, I it’s, I like to do it as a I kind of just went through this with Melissa, my assistant yesterday. I like to do the agent guided tour and ma it has to look pretty because it’s going to be a real. If it’s a story, I don’t care. It’s going to be on my phone. It’s easy, but if it’s a post of video or real it, I think it has to look like a better production. People see that that’s, they see that and, and that’s back to the resume. That’s what people are looking at. And it, it makes a difference whether it’s gonna, that one video with a certain view is going to [00:14:00] sell the house, or it’s really just kind of put the word out there that. That I have this and other agents are going to bring buyers to it.

[00:14:06] It’s I think it’s huge. The agent guided tours, a great and. I mean, my brokerage makes it easy on me.

[00:14:14] Lindsay Favazza: We try, we try to give you all the tools that we can. So the other thing is too, as far as these videos and stuff go, how do you, you know, how does your sellers feel about them? Like, I’m sure that it’s a value add to them as well. So what kind of feedback have you gotten from sellers on these types of. It’s almost always been good. They like it. They, it shows that it’s the extra, it’s just more than your average agent is doing. I mentioned I like him as coming soon. So it, they liked the idea that we’re getting out there, kind of testing the market, putting the word out and, and really just pushing.

[00:14:52] Anthony Castellano: Yeah, property more than just throwing it on MLS and getting it on Zillow and getting it online. So it’s, it’s just that extra step with,I don’t want to call it minimal effort, but it’s, it’s not that hard to do. We get out there and we shoot for 30 minutes and hopefully no longer than that, I don’t think Brandon would like me if it takes much longer than that.

[00:15:12] Lindsay Favazza: I know clients that you’ve worked with in the past have been new construction. And I know that you, you know, gravitate and have a lot of clients like that in your portfolio. So explain to someone who is interested in getting more of that business, how they can get that kind of business and what kind of tips and strategies you have for working with those types of things.

[00:15:31] Anthony Castellano: Well, I was lucky in a sense where I grew up with, with family being in construction family being developers, I kind of learned how to deal with other developer clients by, by seeing how other agents would interact with them when I was younger. And then now how I interact with them. I, I think the best thing to do is really you have to provide value. Some people think that as agents, all we do is open a door and let them in. Sometimes it might be the case with a regular property, but with the developer, obviously they know what they’re looking for, but sometimes we can, we can bring that much more value by finding. The right house or a house that maybe works in a different way. I believe on stage, I talked about condo conversions. It’s nothing new to anyone, but finding those and where you can add, add some space in the attic, add some space in the basement. If you, as the agent can point that out and bring that to a developer or some. Flipper or anyone that wants to take on a project just by having that much more knowledge towards the eye, towards the project. They’re going to take you a lot more seriously. And as long as you’re not bringing them just every single listing. These guys get bored. We talk about a disc personality. I can, every developer’s going to be a D personality. They they’re quick. They want to see what’s going on. They, they know what they’re looking for. And we just have to work with that. Another one, you’d see how I’m dressed. My second meeting with probably my biggest developer client. I showed up in a suit. He mocked me for it. I’m cool with that. I wear my dress nice when I have to, but I, I think dressing the part is huge. Again, Anthony might not like me saying that, but when I show up on a job site, I’m not wearing a suit. I know these guys and I want to work kind of with them not coming in as the . That’s what I was looking for. You got to know the audience show up. There are times when I’m in there kind of helping out. Again, just to be there and show them that I’m working for them, but a pack to tips and stuff for maybe our newer agent trying to step into it, have a general idea of what setbacks are, of what the requirements are, what you can do, what you can’t do by, right. Just general stuff like that. Design tips, what people are looking for that’s minus. But knowing, knowing what town do you want to work in knowing what towns they want to work, as far

[00:18:08] Lindsay Favazza: as getting the knowledge that you explained, if someone wants to work with these types of clients, what kind of resources would you say? Like maybe they kind of partner up with some kind of builders and get some advice from them or like a home inspector or like what would be some resources of educating themselves on that kind of stuff?

[00:18:27] Anthony Castellano: You know, that’s a good question. I guess I kind of have been around it. So a lot of this stuff has come maybe more, second nature. And I would hate to say, ask a builder because that deep personality, they aren’t always willing to take their time and explain some stuff. I would say, listen to podcasts, maybe not this one for building advice, but I’m find ones that talk about building talk about real estate development. And you’re going to learn a ton. That’s what I started doing probably back in 2019. And I think again, I mentioned it on stage. I, I heard a lot about condo conversions in and around the city of Boston and I decided that’s something that I wanted to get involved in as an agent. It’s great. Acquire one property. And when it’s done, you sell two properties. So from an agent perspective, it’s kind of a dream seller buyer and seller client. So getting to, getting to work and finding that, and then making calls stop. I mean, there’s no shame in stopping by a job site and actually. Job site, as long as it’s safe and trying to meet the builder and introduce yourself, see if they have bandwidth for new projects and then hit the road and try to find some other projects, whether they’re on market.

[00:19:46] Off-market by door, door-knocking calling I’ve sent letters. Really just putting the word out that. That’s what I’m looking for. And after you’ve gotten a few other agents [00:20:00] they reach out with, with projects like that saying, Hey, I have. This place coming on, it’s a contractor special. It, it’s not going to qualify for conventional financing. We’re going to need someone that can come in, buy a cash and go to work. And just again, by putting that out there, that that’s what I look for. And that’s what I have clients that are ready and willing and able to buy more opportunities have come my way.

[00:20:24] Lindsay Favazza: You’ve niched a little bit. Not, not in a way that you’re too niched, but in a way that you, you have this niche that you can support and work with. And then I’m sure you’re building up this database of clients too. So when these other opportunities open up, like it just, it helps you overall. So that’s great. So what advice would you give to someone? Outside of just new construction and all of that, but just in general, someone who is young and hungry in this business, what would be your biggest piece of advice to them? As far as getting started and getting their sales off the ground?

[00:20:57] Anthony Castellano: In general, find a great broker that trains you on what to do and not just how to get up and make phone calls and provide you with a solid lead source. That is the best way to do it. It’s tough to rely on or expect your sphere to, or to go to you when you have. Had any experience back to using the company, leads is practice. You gotta practice, right? You gotta do the right job, but as you get through a few of those, you just going to be more comfortable moving forward and getting getting into these situations with people that you’re closer with. You don’t want to, you don’t want it to be a first time.

[00:21:36] Lindsay Favazza: You would rather that be with a stranger. I mean, it sounds funny, but it’s

[00:21:39] Anthony Castellano: like, you don’t want it. You don’t want,

[00:21:42] Lindsay Favazza: you don’t want your first client experience to be with your best friend who, if something goes awry or if you’re trying to figure it out that you can’t really fake it at that point, if you have someone that’s,

[00:21:53] Anthony Castellano: that makes a lot more sense.

[00:21:55] Right. Yeah. You have friends or family. You’re going to kind of know if you’re bullshitting a little bit. You [00:22:00] could probably do a better job of that with with a client that doesn’t know it’s your first sale or your second sale or your third sale. And as long as you kind of, as long as you do your homework and know absolutely everything on the listing sheet and know what school district you’re in, just know basically everything you need to, and all it does is takes a little bit of studying and figuring. Lindsey actually, I’m on my phone now, but I’m using my laptop as a, as a stand it’s kind of funny. I have back to the, the contractor stuff. I found something in a city that I’m not too familiar with and I actually have the table of dimensional requirements and density regulations. Back to doing your homework and just knowing what you’re looking for. It’s right here. It’s it’s constantly learning and constantly in your

[00:22:49] Lindsay Favazza: shoes. Yeah. Putting your shoes, putting yourself in that person’s shoes and what are they going to need to know to make it a smooth transition for them or sale for them. And you [00:23:00] know, you fake it till you make it and you get on there and you look for the information that you can find to help them out.

[00:23:06] That’s awesome. So, well, good luck with that deal for sure. I’m sure they’ll, they’ll be lucky to have you, and thank you so much for doing this with me today. I really appreciate you sharing all your knowledge. What we’re going to do is in the show notes too, we will also link to all of your social media pages so that these people can all follow you so that they can get some tips and ideas from some of the things that you talked about today.

[00:23:27] So again, thank you so much, Anthony, for always being willing to share and definitely. Follow Anthony on social. He is a wealth of knowledge and just all the best in all the years to come. I’m sure we’ll talk a million more times between now and then.

[00:23:43] Anthony Castellano: And I’m glad we made it through the technical difficulties.

[00:23:46] Thank you

[00:23:46] Lindsay Favazza: exactly. Thanks so much for listening guys. We’ll see you on the next episode of the agents who crush it in real estate.