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Anthony Lamacchia – June 25th, 2018
[00:00:02] Interviewer: Hey, everybody. I’m here with Mrs. Waltham, I mean, Jill Hogan. One of our top realtors in the company. We’re going to talk about your business.
[00:00:10] Jill: Great.
[00:00:10] Interviewer: You’ve been with us two years?
[00:00:12] Jill: Yes.
[00:00:13] Interviewer: Almost two years or more? I can’t remember.
[00:00:14] Jill: More than two years. A little more. It was Christmas time.
[00:00:17] Interviewer: Nice of me to not remember the exact date, huh?
[00:00:19] Jill: It’s okay.
[00:00:19] Interviewer: It should be marked at my calendar.
[00:00:20] Jill: It should be a holiday, yes.
[00:00:22] Interviewer: Well, we’re obviously thrilled and I’m thrilled to be working with you for the last few years, and you’ve been an awesome part of the company and you’re doing a ton of business in Waltham. I know that you won’t say this, so I have to. This is the best year, best start you’ve ever had.
[00:00:36] Jill: This is the best year I’ve ever had, yes.
[00:00:39] Interviewer: Okay. Can you speak up just to make sure the camera can hear you?
[00:00:40] Jill: Yes. Best year I’ve ever had.
[00:00:41] Interviewer: Okay. She doesn’t like talking about that, but it’s true.
[00:00:44] Jill: I try to stay humble. Never too busy.
[00:00:47] Interviewer: Doing good. Well, I agree with that. Talk to me about business. Right now we were talking on the way in here. You’ve got four, I don’t know if they’re brand new or newer listing in Waltham.
[00:00:57] Jill: Well, we have one that just went under agreement the first weekend, so that was on Columbus Ave, it was a condo, so that’s gone, sorry. We currently have Bruce Road on in Warrendale. It’s colonial four bedroom. We just had the open houses. Then this week, we have two capes coming on in off Linden Street Leonard Park Drive and on Ravenswood Road, so anyone’s that’s looking under 600,000, move-in ready.
[00:01:22] Interviewer: Nice. They sound good. I have a question. Did you say two capes?
[00:01:25] Jill: Two cape style houses, yes.
[00:01:27] Interviewer: On the same street?
[00:01:27] Jill: No. One’s on Ravenswood Road in Waltham and the other one’s on Lincoln Park.
[00:01:31] Interviewer: On Lincoln Park? Okay. Because at first I was–
[00:01:33] Jill: Linden Park.
[00:01:34] Interviewer: Linden Park. I was like two, two houses on the same street, same style. I thought that was kind of funny.
[00:01:38] Jill: No. Two completely different houses, different locations.
[00:01:42] Interviewer: So most of these are either, let’s see what type of houses, first-time buyer type houses or maybe a move-up buyer?
[00:01:49] Jill: I would say for Waltham, we’re probably expecting more first-time homebuyers. They are move-in ready. They could make their own finish, but you could definitely move in and you can move in with the family, too. The rooms are there, the space is there. You get that neighborhood feel on both locations. Three locations, Warrendale, also. If someone’s looking in Waltham, we have three.
[00:02:11] Interviewer: Well, I’m glad to hear that. Now, I know you do a lot of listings and you and your mom do an awesome job. We got to talk about mom, too.
[00:02:18] Jill: Mom is super, yes. [chuckles]
[00:02:19] Interviewer: You guys do an awesome job at your listings, but you also work with buyers.
[00:02:22] Jill: Love buyers.
[00:02:23] Interviewer: Do you want shed some light on that? Because you and I, just before the camera turned on, were just talking about how it’s finally a lot easier for buyers. Can you elaborate on that?
[00:02:31] Jill: I feel that with our buyers, now they have more time to breathe a little bit with the inventory that’s increased over the past couple of weeks. Things are taking a little longer to go under agreement, which gives them a little more time to think.
[00:02:47] Interviewer: Like three days instead of one day?
[00:02:48] Jill: Yes. Like three or four days-
[00:02:49] Interviewer: We need to consider two days.
[00:02:50] Jill: -maybe you’re going to have two sleeps instead of one to think about it. That’s what we’re seeing, but the demand is still there, so we’re still educating that you need to be ready. You got to be ready to put your strong and best offer in because there’s a million people just like you still looking for homes.
[00:03:05] Interviewer: I know. Well, I think it’s a good think. I just did a video this morning talking about that, and it obviously is great to give buyers a little bit more breathing room to be able to find something. One of the things that I mentioned is being careful, a buyer being careful not to say, “Well, what’s wrong with the house?” Because buyers all winter and spring were used to things selling within 24 hours, so now that they’re taking three, four days, they think there’s something wrong and there’s not.
[00:03:30] Jill: Right. No, there’s nothing wrong. There’s just more to pick from, and that’s great for both sides.
[00:03:37] Interviewer: Well, we always talk about buyers want selection.
[00:03:40] Jill: Buyers want selection. They don’t want to feel like they have to make a decision quick and/or settle for something, so it’s kind of the perfect storm now with the way things are going, we feel. We’re excited for the rest of the summer. It’s seems that the good weather has brought people out to buy houses and sell houses they want if they want to make moves.
[00:04:00] Interviewer: Now, talk to me about you and your mom. You guys have been working together for really since before you came here.
[00:04:06] Jill: Yes. We’ve been together. I’ve been doing this six years. She’s been doing this well over 20 years before we came here. I cannot do any of this without my mom.
[00:04:13] Interviewer: Yes. She’s awesome.
[00:04:14] Jill: I always say to people, she was doing this before. It was a little easier with all the tech savvy stuff that there is. She used to pile us in the car and three deep going on showings with the pager and an atlas when things weren’t so on your phone. It’s been a family thing for a long time, and now with my daughter, I feel like you just juggle both. Without her, it’s totally not doable. [chuckles]
[00:04:37] Interviewer: I can always tell her experience and trainings because I’ll be talking and I’ll start to explain, “Well, when the market used to be like this or used to be like this.” She sits there and she’s like, “Yes, no.” She knows because she lived it.
[00:04:48] Jill: Yes. Well, she’s been saying that more lately with more inventory with more houses. There is more selection so we’re noticing that some homes aren’t as jam-packed on that one of an open house. She’s like, “Well, this is the way it used to be when there was more selection. Don’t worry. This is the healthy way the market goes.” [chuckles] It’s that tiny area.
[00:05:09] Interviewer: It is. Now, I know I called you Ms. Waltham, rightfully so, because you’ve been consistently in the top five realtors in Waltham for over a year, my friend. I know you don’t talk about that anyway.
[00:05:19] Jill: I don’t talk about it, no.
[00:05:21] Interviewer: I’m very happy to see that.
[00:05:22] Jill: I’m happy too.
[00:05:23] Interviewer: Certainly proud of you and your mom, but I want to make sure we mentioned, you guys sell in more places than just Waltham. Why don’t we spend the last 20 seconds on that?
[00:05:30] Jill: Absolutely. We sell anywhere in Massachusetts that we want to buy. We are pretty much 98% referral based, so we know most of the people were referred to by other people we know, so if they’re serious about buying somewhere, we’re happy to travel there.
[00:05:48] Interviewer: Tell me some other times that you’ve sold people homes. I know you had one at Natick.
[00:05:53] Jill: Framingham. We sell on Framingham. It’s my other favorite ham, I always say. Framingham is a great, great town, now city. We feel like it’s another smaller version of Waltham where I start a little lower, but you can still move in and it’s not too crazy. Maynard’s another town that we’re a big fan of.
[00:06:12] Interviewer: You also just had a sale on Woburn with Eileen.
[00:06:14] Jill: Yes, with Eileen, going nice and smooth.
[00:06:17] Interviewer: She told me. I saw her Friday. Good.
[00:06:19] Jill: Yes. Happy she’s going to make some big houses over there, so that’s good. Anywhere people want to live. We just have a under agreement in Billerica. Where else? We’ve sold in Burlington. Anywhere. I just sold a house down cape.
[00:06:33] Interviewer: So wherever your clients are, you’re going.
[00:06:34] Jill: Wherever our clients want to go, if they’re serious about buying a home, we’re happy to travel there.
[00:06:38] Interviewer: Well, good, and I’ll say, as a broker with almost 130 agents in the company, I wholeheartedly and strongly recommend Jill. She does a phenomenal job, her and her mom. Love having you here, my friend.
[00:06:49] Jill: Thanks. Love being here.
[00:06:51] Interviewer: Thank you.
[00:06:51] Jill: Thank you.
[00:06:53] [END OF AUDIO]