That Real Estate Tech Guy

This week on That Real Estate Tech Guy, host Jordan Samuel Fleming talks with real estate investor Brandin Pettersen, owner of RealOvative Realty. An added bonus? His perspective is technologically informed, as he’s the co-founder of REI Op-Center, a database tool for REI organization. 

Brandin’s journey to a tech-based REI business started the old-fashioned way with cell phones and Excel files, but he’s now much more comfortable with a customized CRM – InvestorFuse IF3 and smrtPhone. 

“I see a lot of guys still using their personal cell phones for business and I don't understand it.” 

Any real estate investor knows that no matter how seamless your processes are, or how organized you become, deals aren’t closing without solid leads. So as the conversation pivots towards the importance of clean data, Brandin shares his exciting new database tool, REI Op-Center. Users submit raw data and pinpoint where the most leads,deals and contracts are coming from. Brandin emphasizes the importance of simply understanding your data. 

“Whether you have a big platform like REI Op-Center, or you're just in Excel, it is important that you have somebody on your team who’s able to figure out what deals you got, where they came from, what list source they came from, what skip source you use, what month you pulled it and how many times you've pulled it to know where you should be putting more of your money.” 

Brandin sings the praises of having a dedicated data analyst on his team, as well as points out when it’s best for entrepreneurs - or solopreneuers – to recognize when to put the Superman cape down and stop trying to do everything yourself. He emphases that “if you don't have a system to find a person, find a who to help you with the how. Who not how.” 

Jordan rounds out the episode with the Fast Five to give you quick tips on how to grow your real estate business and learn what’s most important to Brandin’s tech stack!


About Brandin
Brandin Pettersen has been in the real estate business for over 12 years, is the owner of RealOvative Realty and co-founder of REI Op-Center. He started off as a deal analyzer, then real estate agent, then wholesaler and flipper. He's done it all, ridden several economic cycles, and now focuses on building an incredible remote team of rockstars.

Find Brendin on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrrealovative/

Find Brendin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mr.realovative

Let's Talk Real Estate and Stuff Website: https://letstalkrealestate.tv/

 
About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast
That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next big trends, and always walk away with actionable ideas to build faster, better, and more profitably.

Welcome to the latest installment of That Real Estate Tech Guy! We’re talking with Paul Wakim, a tech entrepreneur that started a dispositions platform for real estate investors to sell properties to buyers, and connect with other top investors across the country. Jordan and Paul discuss the importance of a powerful network, as well as leveraging the power of your buyers list while also keeping it secure.  

From the onset, Paul set out to make a professional real estate investors dispo platform, one that provides investors with complete control over the investment process. 

“We’re trying to push our customer, and the real estate investor community, to realize that if you have a deal, and it’s a good deal, sure somebody is going to buy it. But if you’re not the top authority in your market, you probably don’t have as good a relationship with the top buyers in your market. We’ve created a way for you connect and work with somebody like that on Twnsqr.” 

Paul goes on to explain the three ways you can use the platform: you can send deals to buyers, send your deals to a closed, exclusive marketplace, or you can send your deals to other users on the platform to see if they have the right buyer. It’s always been important to the founder that users of TwnSqr maintain complete control over their buyers list the entire time. 

“You have complete control. There are some competitors in our space that have a model where you upload your buyers list, and everybody else on the platform automatically has access to all of those buyers that you upload. And we're sometimes mistaken to have the same exact business model. TwnSqr offers the ability to control your deal and  the ability to control your buyers list.” 

Tune into the episode to hear more about why TwnSqr is a perfect platform for new investors that want to leverage the credibility of their peers to make more money, as well as what technology products Paul considers must-haves. Hint: it’s not just smrtPhone ;)

About Paul Wakim & TwnSqr
Paul Wakim got started in the real estate industry in 2016 right out of college: he and his girlfriend Shannon (now wife) started a real estate photography business with a single drone that gave Paul as a graduation gift. Paul absorbed tons of knowledge about real estate investing from podcasts, agents, and the investors he met via their business, so a year later he decided to get his real estate license. Through being an agent, it dawned on him – there is no real estate without a seller, and all the sellers he met were selling their homes for the same 5 or 6 reasons.

In 2018, Paul taught himself how to code in Python to create an algorithm to predict who was going to sell their home by identifying people who showed signs of those 5 or 6 common selling traits. He met his friend and co-founder Mitch Tracy while rock climbing, and by mid-2019 Mitch had quit his job to join TwnSqr full-time to refine and drastically improve the algorithm.

Through trial and error, Paul and Mitch ended up with the version of TwnSqr that we have today – the premiere off-market property dispositions tool that connects real estate investors with one another and, eventually, the largest institutional buyers in the world. The ultimate goal is to support sellers, investors and buyers of all sizes through world class technology!

About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast 
That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next

Host Jordan Samuel Fleming talks with Larry Goins, real estate investor, CEO of The Goins Group, and founder of the Neighborhood Group, a multi-regional real estate investment firm.

Jordan and Larry talk about the importance of number tracking, lead follow-up and knowing your technology limits in order to trust a system rather than trying to do everything yourself.

“We buy all of our properties over the phone. I know my limits: we use technology, but I don't create it. I don't claim to know how it works. I just know it works. And that's all I need to know.” - Larry Goins

Larry gushes about the power of automation when your CRM and phone system are deeply integrated, detailing an automated follow-up sequence that helped revive an old lead and close a deal. The importance of follow-up – whether manual or automated – can never be overlooked!

“The fortune is in the follow up, right? The fortune is in the follow up, that's where probably 40 to 45, maybe sometimes 50% of our closings each month, are from old leads”

As the conversation shifts towards KPIs, the two discuss how invaluable good data is to a company. Whether it’s in marketing, finance or operations, having trackable KPIs helps keep everyone accountable – even the CEO!  Instead of relying on someone’s personal account of what happened, your technology should paint the most accurate picture of what actions occurred. Analyzing data leads to action, which leads to growth and revenue.

Tune into the episode to hear more about how keeping it simple at the start allowed Larry to really grow his business, as well as the one thing Larry wishes he had known when he started in real estate 35 years ago. (Here’s a hint: think bigger!)

About Larry Goins
Larry has been investing in real estate for over 35 years. Currently, he serves on the Leadership Team for and has previously been president of the Metrolina Real Estate Investors Association in Charlotte NC, an organization that has over 350 members and is the local chapter of the National Real Estate Investors Association.

Larry is an active real estate investor and has traveled throughout the United States speaking and training audiences at conventions, expos, and Real Estate Investment Associations on his strategies for buying and selling houses. Larry has also written several books on real estate investing that are available wherever books are sold.

Between speaking engagements and mentoring other investors, Larry oversees the daily operations of his investing business. He’s bought close to 1000 properties in 12 different states, and currently buys 7-12 properties a month from his offices in Lake Wylie, SC with his team.

Visit Larry's website

About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast
That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next big trends, and always walk away with actionable ideas to build faster, better, and more profitably.

Interested in being a guest? Head to thatrealestatetechguy.com and let us know!

For more information about smrtPhone, the only all-in-one CRM phone system check out https://www.smrtphone.io/

In the fourth installment of That Real Estate Tech Guy host Jordan Samuel Fleming talks with John Whitfield, CEO of InvestorFuse. John tells us the story of his beginnings with Podio, and his reasons for building his own CRM software. He also describes why real estate investors need a CRM, the concept of “no lead left behind”, and how to use the action based system of InvestorFuse to infinitely scale your real estate investor business. 

“Get a business phone. Do not let anybody that works for you call from their personal cell phone. Ever. It's most important that you control that communication method.” - John Whitfield

John stresses the importance of separating business from personal with your team. Getting business emails and phone numbers are key in setting up your real estate investing business for success. Divide your leads into groups, assign roles to users, set viewing permissions all at the click of a button. John has designed InvestorFuse to combine multiple actions into one situation. Usability is the foundation of the action based system and allows for users to improve efficiency through simplicity.

In the episode you’ll learn why every successful real estate investment business reaches a point where scaling is the only logical next step. From the beginning, John created InvestorFuse with a vision for infinite scalability capabilities: if your business increases in volume, performance remains unhindered. Furthermore, One of the most important aspects of a CRM for real estate investors is that your team finds the system easy to use. John describes why InvestorFuse prioritized streamlined functionality and usability when building their CRM for real estate investors.  

About John Whitfield

John Whitfield has a background in business consulting services starting at Apple back in 2011 doing full IT consulting. Fast forward almost ten years later, and John has made a name for himself in the CRM software industry as the CEO and co-founder of InvestorFuse. Founded in 2015 InvestorFuse is a CRM, built off of the cloud database tool Podio. It is designed to help real estate investors manage their leads, manage their team, and close deals with simplicity. 

Find John on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/johndwhitfield/

Find InvestorFuse on their: 

• Website 
• Facebook
• Instagram

About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast

That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next big trends, and always walk away with actionable ideas to build faster, better, and more profitably.

Interested in being a guest? Head to thatrealestatetechguy.com and let us know!

For more information about smrtPhone, the only all-in-one CRM phone system check out https://www.smrtphone.io/ 

Host Jordan Samuel Fleming talks with real estate investor and coach Tiffany High, co-founder of Results Driven REI. Tiffany shares her journey from hand dialing to using a phone system to 10x her deals, leading to the creation of multiple companies and consistent 7 figure revenues over the years. That same phone system also improved culture, which is the cornerstone of any profitable business. 

“I have eight salespeople doing 4x the revenue that I had with 12 salespeople back in the day, simply because of their ability to be more productive.” - Tiffany High 

New entrepreneurs often think that just buying a certain technology is the most important step to leveling up their business, but Tiffany stresses the significance of a thoughtful set-up: make sure you understand the technology you’re using, or hire the right people to understand and implement it for you. Sometimes that means spending a little more at the beginning, only to yield 20X what you might have earned, had you gone with the cheaper option from the onset. 

In the episode you’ll also hear a discussion on the impact of technology on culture. Tiffany emphasizes that the “features of your phone system … can make or break and impact your culture. Culture is the number one thing that any business owner should be focused on in general.” Tune in to hear more about how a good phone system helped Tiffany turn the culture around at her company, and hear Jordan’s Fast Five questions that provide quick tips and insight from a true REI Expert. 

About Tiffany High 

Tiffany, along with her husband Josh, has been in the real estate investing industry since 2015. The journey began with buying rentals and flipping houses. Their first year in real estate they flipped around 40 houses, but after losing $106k on a flip in their first year, they decided to pivot away from flipping and towards wholesaling. Their 2nd year in business they wholesaled 165 houses, and in their 3rd year they did over 300 flips/wholesales, keeping up that momentum year after year. 

Collectively, Tiffany and Josh used their corporate training backgrounds to implement strong systems, recruiting, onboarding, training and leadership into building a well-oiled phone sales floor. This year they will do over $4 million in revenue, with over 50% net margins. They have built Results Driven REI where their team teaches other experienced and novice real estate investors how to build, stabilize then scale teams the right way. 

Check out Tiffany and Josh’s website.

Find Tiffany on Instagram.

View Results Driven REI’s Instagram.

About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast 

That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next big trends, and always walk away with actionable ideas to build faster, better, and more profitably.

Interested in being a guest? Head to thatrealestatetechguy.com and let us know!

For more information about smrtPhone, the only all-in-one CRM phone system. check out

In this episode, host Jordan Samuel Fleming talks with Stephanie Betters, CEO of Left Main REI. Stephanie brings an interesting perspective as both a technology leader and a successful investor herself. In fact, the vision and design for her Left Main CRM product comes from trying to solve needs she had her investing business, Better Path Homes, for better data management and forecasting.

"I don't think that you need to swallow the whole apple in one bite. You just need to take one little step towards organization at a time." - Stephanie Betters

A lot of people use the term "CRM" but Jordan has a suspicion that a lot of real estate investors don't know exactly what it is, how it works, or what it can do for your business.  Stephanie helps break it down, including sharing when is the right time for a real estate professional to invest in higher powered tech tools.  The right CRM isn't just about data management, it's bringing together the people and the processes around the data to ensure you are in full control of your business where it matters most.

Stephanie discusses her own journey from manual processes to automation and the insights about her business it revealed (including the number of touches it actually takes to reach a contact. Any guesses? Listen to find out if you're right!)  Plus, Jordan takes Stephanie through the  "Fast Five" questions to give you the quick tips and advice you need to grow your real estate investing business.

Stephanie and Jordan will be meeting up at TAB Retreat  Sept 24-Oct 1, 2022. Join them! Use code SMRTPHONE for $500 off.  https://products.tabtribe.com/tab-retreat

About Stephanie Betters
Stephanie Betters is the co-founder of Better Path Homes, a single-family residential wholesaling and new build company in Charlotte, NC. She is also the founder of Left Main REI, a CRM for Real Estate Investors via a partnership with Salesforce. She is a recently retired Cardiothoracic Surgery Nurse Practitioner. She believes that her background in Medicine has been the key to her success in the business arena. Everything boils down to taking care of people and helping to solve their problems, and this is Stephanie’s favorite thing to do. She is a proud wife to Zachary Betters who is also a co-founder of Better Path Homes, and an even prouder mother to their three beautiful children. The Betters family enjoys being outside together, traveling, reading, running, and the company of close family & friends.

Check out Left Main REI at https://leftmainrei.co/

You can find Stephanie on Instagram @stephbetters

About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast
That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next big trends, and always walk away with actionable ideas to build faster, better, and more profitably.

Interested in being a guest? Head to thatrealestatetechguy.com and let us know!

For more information about smrtPhone, the only all-in-one CRM phone system. check out https://www.smrtphone.io

Welcome to Episode 1 with real estate investor, business coach, and e-commerce automation expert Terry Thayer.

In the podcast's inaugural episode, Terry and Jordan discuss the main purpose of technology in a real estate business: data. Not just how you collect it, but how you use it to better understand your business and accelerate growth.

"There's so much data you can collect by using the right technology. And that's how you truly grow a business - through data, KPIs, knowing what works, and what doesn't." - Terry Thayer

Skip tracing data to find the right contact. Comp tools to help you shape your deals. Team performance data to train individuals to improve. CRM systems to bring it all the data together and provide a collaboration space so everyone is working from the same data... they cover it all! 

Plus, Jordan and Terry talk about Terry's journey from manual systems to automation, the importance of following up (and how the right technology can support it), and how to manage a virtual team to make better human connections. Plus, Jordan grills Terry on the "Fast Five" questions to give you the quick tips and advice you need to grow your real estate investing business.

To meet Jordan and Terry in person, sign up for TAB Retreat - Sept 24-Oct 1, 2022. Use code SMRTPHONE for $500 off.  https://products.tabtribe.com/tab-retreat


About Terry Thayer
Terry has had an entrepreneurial spirit since he was in elementary school, selling anything he could. He started his career as a Carpenter and then in 1997, he opened his first business as a contractor. In 2002, he became a real estate investor and has been in love with the industry ever since. Up until 2012, Terry always did things "the hard way"; that's when he discovered the power of mentorship and financial education. Terry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on coaches who taught him the importance of delegation and systems. To this day, he continues to invest sizable amounts of his own money on personal development for his family, his team and himself. Of the five 7 & 8 figure businesses he owns, he works less than 5 hours a week total in the businesses. Not because he's "lazy", but because he is so efficient that any more time spent in the office would be wasteful. Most of his time is spent coaching his team to be better, coaching other entrepreneurs how to avoid the mistakes he's made over the years, strategizing and looking for his next big opportunity. Terry specializes in earning more money in less time, and he's ready to share his secrets with the world.

Find out more at terrythayerii.com or follow him on Instagram at @terrythayerii

About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast
That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next big trends, and always walk away with actionable ideas to build faster, better, and more profitably.

Interested in being a guest? Head to thatrealestatetechguy.com and let us know!

Welcome to That Real Estate Tech Guy with host Jordan Samuel Fleming.

"I can tell you one thing: technology is the single most important aspect of every business that has successfully scaled." - JSF

Real Estate Technology is Jordan’s passion, and it’s his belief that it’s simply not explored as deeply as it should be by the majority of REI professionals. After building technology in the real estate sector for over a decade, he felt it was time to share what he’s learned and create discussion around REI technology.

The guests will range from real estate entrepreneurs, REI experts, Business Coaches, CRM Owners, Start-up Founders and more. Jordan’s many years in the business makes for a deep network and an REI Star-studded lineup! Whether you’re looking to start a business, dip your toes into REI for the first time, or scale an already-succeeding venture – this podcast is for you.

In this 5 minute intro, learn about the podcast - why Jordan decided to launch it, what his goal is for listeners, and who he looks for when booking guests.

About That Real Estate Tech Guy Podcast
That Real Estate Tech Guy is the only podcast focused on helping Real Estate Investors make better technology decisions to close more deals and make more money. It is your weekly chance to explore how technology can help your real estate business explode. Informed by decades of REI and technology experience, Jordan gets into the details with seasoned tech and real estate industry leaders to bring you the lessons you need to get ahead. Learn from guest successes and failures, get the inside scoop on the next big trends, and always walk away with actionable ideas to build faster, better, and more profitably.

Interested in being a guest? Head to http://thatrealestatetechguy.com/ and let us know!

About Jordan Samuel Fleming
Jordan started out life as a degenerate musician and, for his sins, ended up as a respectable businessman. He’s still slightly confused but a far happier man. Jordan has a strong creative flair and an uncanny ability to spot new opportunities - which makes him a good candidate to invite out for lunch. It’s also what has fueled his success as an entrepreneur.

Jordan has founded and led several successful companies focused on improving processes and profitability for real estate investors. He currently serves as co-Founder and CEO of smrtPhone, the smartest cloud phone system and power dialer on the market, used daily by thousands of Real Estate and Sales professionals.

Jordan is the host of two technology podcasts: “Supercharged! with Jordan Samuel Fleming” focused on Citrix Podio, and “That Real Estate Tech Guy” aimed at helping real estate investors scale by optimizing their tech stack.