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Mastering the Market: Stephanie Peck's Strategic Path

• Courtney Twiss • Episode 39

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Unlock the secrets of achieving success in the real estate world with our guest, Stephanie Peck, a remarkable real estate professional and co-creator of the Think Bigger Real Estate Group. Discover how Stephanie transformed her career from government work to becoming a real estate powerhouse, all while balancing her work and family life. With 17 years of industry experience, Stephanie shares the invaluable role that intentional relationships have played in her journey. She reveals her strategies for leveraging social media and community groups to build a thriving business, emphasizing the importance of aligning with community values to stand out in a competitive market.

In this episode, Stephanie also provides a deep dive into the growth and dynamics of her local real estate team in Oregon City. She discusses the benefits of working hyper-locally and the importance of presenting oneself as a professional in every interaction. Learn about her innovative marketing strategies, including the use of Canva templates, and how these techniques have enhanced her role as an educator in the real estate industry. Stephanie and her husband’s strategic investment journey, with properties in multiple states, is a testament to the financial freedom that real estate can offer. Tune in to gain insights on building a successful real estate business and becoming a trusted resource in your community.

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Instagram: @stephaniepeck_realestate
                    @stephaniepeck_pexrealtygroup

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Speaker 1:

Oh, I missed that. I saw you're getting your photos. I was laughing in your photos when you had your socks. This is in your socks.

Speaker 2:

I know.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it was a true behind the scenes. Yeah, I want to be on. I'm not going to wear those heels unless I had to.

Speaker 1:

Then I'll blame you.

Speaker 2:

All right. Well, let's get rolling. Welcome to the Now Podcast Making Moves in Real Estate. This is episode number 39.

Speaker 2:

Good job, I only got it because you had to remind me. Yesterday I said 36 to somebody and she said we have had 38 episodes. She got it. I put her on 40. Yeah, not missed a week. So, anyways, I was writing this introduction and it's like today we have a special guest and it's like all of our guests are special. So I'm going to have to like rewrite that, but you're extra special, extra special. Have to like rewrite that, but you're extra special.

Speaker 2:

Stephanie Peck, who's your trusted real estate advisor. Owner of Peck's Real Estate Group and co-creator of the Think Bigger Real Estate Group. A lifelong member of the Portland Metro community, stephanie brings an unmatched passion for real estate community and service excellence with a very much so relationship-based approach, which we're going to dive into. That she's guided her team to a remarkable success, specifically selling 93 homes in 2022 and a mere 87 in 2024. I don't know about you, but nobody can do that. Stephanie can do it. She's dedicated to building trust, delivering results and being a lifelong resource for her clients. Let's dive in and think bigger with Stephanie Peck. Welcome, stephanie, thanks.

Speaker 1:

Carol Wow, thanks for that introduction.

Speaker 2:

You need like a little bell ring her in. There's a little plastic thing where you go like the little crown.

Speaker 1:

I'm getting those? No way, don't even think about it.

Speaker 2:

How's it going, Stephanie?

Speaker 3:

Fantastic, I'm so excited to be here with you, ladies.

Speaker 1:

We have been looking forward to this, because I know there's going to be all sorts of little gold nuggets.

Speaker 2:

Our phone's been ringing all morning. Oh my gosh, that's a good thing.

Speaker 1:

That is a good thing. Yeah, we have some nice little small priced land and everybody wants land. Everyone's coming out of the woodworks. Everybody wants land. Everyone's coming out of the woodworks.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so let's get to business. We've got a lot of real estate agents and entrepreneurs that listen in to our show.

Speaker 3:

And so give them a little bit of backstory on who Stephanie is. Yeah, well, so I am 17 years in the real estate business now and you know I got started in this business because I was newly married. I wanted to start a family. I was working for the government at the time and I thought slow and steady wins the race, like you know. You get yourself a good government job, you get that consistent paycheck, you're employed forever, and I thought that was the way to be.

Speaker 3:

And then I also realized I do not like punching the clock, I don't like doing the same thing every day, and I knew that I didn't want to drop those babies off at daycare for 10 hours a day while I went and worked for someone else or were for the government. So real estate always had an interest in us. My husband has construction background, his dad was in real estate and we were starting to get into real estate investing and through that process I actually fell in love with the real estate sales process and thought, you know, this would be something that would be fun to do and it would give me an opportunity to have a career while I'm starting a family and I could balance both easily without dropping those kids off at daycare for 10 hours a day.

Speaker 2:

For sure, yeah, and you like went into it. For sure, yeah, and you like went into it.

Speaker 3:

And I feel like one of the remarkable things that you've done is built such a successful business around relationships, which sounds like, okay, we all do that, we build relationships but clearly you've done it in a way that is remarkable, like what's? What's the secret? Well, it's about being intentional with your relationships, and I mean that's how I built the business in the beginning, when it was just some friends from church and people that I met at mom's groups, and that's how I started building my business. I also use Facebook a lot, I use community groups and I still do so. 15 years probably of doing that. That's still a great way to get in relationship with people.

Speaker 3:

But when I say intentional relationships, it's about going into relationships genuinely, of course, but also having a business component to that, and there can be both, and you have to be intentional about it. There's time when you're with your girlfriends and you're getting cocktails or you're having a good time or your kids are playing together, but then there's a time to talk about business and just show up like a business owner, show up like a real estate agent in those relationships so that they think of you that way. And that shifted for me when I had a friend that listed with someone else and I noticed some things that were incredibly inaccurate in her listing. And so I was like, hey, I just wanted you to know. I noticed this. It's going to be a detriment to your sale. And and, by the way, I was just curious, how did I not earn your business? And she said to me I totally forgot your real estate agent. I thought you were just a stay at home mom.

Speaker 3:

And when that happened I was like, well, I never want someone else to think that or say that. So I have to show up as a real estate agent in all of my relationships. And when I'm dropping the kids off at school, there is no messy bun, I'm not in my robe, I look like I'm going to work. And when I'm getting coffee and the kid at the coffee stand is like, hey, what are you up to today, instead of just saying, well, you know, whatever I'm saying, I'm a real estate agent and I'm on my way to meet a client or show a home, or you know, I'm texting a client right now or something. Even if I'm not, I just make sure that people always know what I do and why I do it and who I serve.

Speaker 1:

What would you say what percentage of your business is in the town where you live, or very?

Speaker 3:

close by. Yeah, so we do work very hyper local. About 50% of our business is in Oregon City specifically, and that's where I live and the majority of our team members live, and then within Oregon. So let's say, a 30-minute drive of where we live and where our office is is about 90% of our business, okay.

Speaker 1:

I want to dive into that a little bit Hyper-local. We've talked about it. Some of my agents have brought it up. What does that translate to? What do you actually do? Give us a little bit of a strategy behind that, of what has worked for you, if you don't mind sharing your secret. Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah Well, and I'll give you the backstory of why I decided to really hone in on that, and it always goes back to you know, I'm a mom and I'm serving clients and I'm serving my family. And when I moved from one town to the other and not far away but maybe a 30, 40 minute drive and I had young kids at home and it only took a few times of driving 40 minutes to where I went to high school and where most of my community was to get up to a home at six o'clock at night. I've missed dinner, I've missed bedtime, I miss tucking those kids in, just to have the buyer say I don't like the driveway and we turn right back around. So a few times of that, and I said you know, I want to work close to home because I can serve a lot more people at a much higher quality of service when I really am embedded in the community. So that's why I started doing that.

Speaker 3:

And so what does that look like For me? It looks like being a community member, being an advocate for the community, being involved in everything to do with Oregon City that is in alignment with our values, and being known for that, because if you're talking to everyone, you're actually talking to no one. So I'm not going to get every piece of business, but when it's in my niche in Oregon City for the type of people that are in alignment with our values, you're always going to think of me. So when lenders or other referral partners have an opportunity, they're going to say you know what? I know? I know 50 other real estate agents, but this client is in Oregon City. They're going through this life change. You were the first person that I thought of.

Speaker 1:

So I like one thing that I like that what you said about that align with your values, because there might be agents out there that go. Well, there's already one or two agents in my area that like dominate the market. I'm newer, so I don't know if I can do that. Well, you can right, I mean, because it doesn't mean that everyone's going to align with the values of each of those agents. What do you recommend to someone if they want to steal some market share?

Speaker 3:

Well, yeah, we're not for everyone. We were talking about that. I've had a team of all women until just recently, brought on my first male team member, which is great that we have a little bit of a different dynamic, and that hasn't been our platform. We're not running around saying we're women power, all women team, but that's just who we tended to attract. So there are definitely people. Let's say, you want to steal some market share in Oregon City. There are people that would rather work with someone with a different background or a different technique or a different style than what we have. We don't even have 50% market share in Oregon City, and so there are a lot of homes being sold in our town and we're not working on them, so they're obviously choosing someone else.

Speaker 2:

Right, so you have. Well, since we met you, which we met you, gosh, it's been about a year. We can chat more about that in a minute. But you have one buyer's agent, one somebody that helps you on the listing side, and then two other agents that you just brought on, so a total of four.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so the structure has changed actually dramatically in the last 45 days. Really, I started building the team because I needed leverage, and so I wasn't building the team because I wanted to be a leader. I wasn't building a team because I wanted to have a mega team. It was. I wanted my time back.

Speaker 3:

So I brought on an agent to help with showings and then she quickly escalated to being the buyer's agent, and then I brought on another agent and then there was enough business for the three of us and then we started splitting. One person was more specializing in listings and one person was more specializing in listings and one person more specializing in buyers. And that still is the cadence when random leads come in. I know who's best fit for them, but all agents are working all business that they have the ability to go after now. So it had been the three of us for a few years and then recently I've actually brought on three additional agents, because I'm finding agents are coming to me and they're saying we want something more out of this business.

Speaker 3:

You know we're a solo agent. Either got beat up during the COVID years just by running ragged and this wasn't working, or now we don't have the business that we used to have and they're just looking for some camaraderie. They're looking for a better way to do business. So now I've got six agents plus me no that, including me. So six agents including me, and everyone's doing their specialty. So I have every agent now honing in on their niche and asking them who do you love to serve? Because, just like I mentioned when I want a referral partner to think of me for my specialty, I'm going to do the same in the team. If it's a senior that's moving into assisted living, I know who is best fit for that person. If it's a first-time homebuyer they're young, they just got married I know who's the best fit for that person.

Speaker 2:

That makes sense. Well, you've always had like such a small structure to your business that's yielded significant results, which we've always been a little I don't want to say envious, but like wow, really admire, admire that. So now you're growing. Are you going to stay at the six sides or are you building a teamerage? Yeah, I'm like, what are you doing?

Speaker 3:

Well, it's just the same way that we attract clients is if there's an agent that has a need and we have the ability to fill that need for them and they're in alignment with our goals and our values, then there's a place for them on the team. And it's about me, as the leader, setting really clear expectations for them. This is what you can expect out of me, this is what I expect out of you, and as long as we're in alignment with that, then we can be a good fit. But I'm not looking to bring on a bunch of agents just because they're licensed and they're breathing. They have to be in alignment with the way we do business.

Speaker 2:

So those agents are all on your production team, right? So it's not like okay, okay. So what if I'm like a high producing agent and I want to just join the Pax Realty group, but not on your production team? Are you getting those phone calls? I feel like you might be. If not now, sometime soon.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I do get producing agents that are reaching out and they're just saying how can I run a business like yours, how can I be a part of your world without necessarily joining your team and sharing clients? Bring them into our EXP organization and into the Think Bigger real estate group and still show them how we do business, be in relationship with them. They can get that camaraderie that we have without necessarily worrying about sharing clients or splitting commissions. They can still run their own production with some of my leadership and mentorship and relationships with them, gotcha.

Speaker 2:

So you just touched on the Think Bigger Real Estate Group, which is awesome. We're very savvy with what that is, but for those of our listeners that aren't so sophisticated on the Think Bigger Real Estate Podcast and the group as a whole, tell everybody about that organization.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the Think Bigger Real Estate platform was actually started by Justin Stoddard, who is my business partner, and he has had a long running coaching program and podcast. So I recently joined him as a way to breathe a production life into that organization. You know agents want to hear from other agents that are boots on the ground, that are talking with clients, that are sitting at the kitchen table having those appointments. So it was an opportunity to bring a different perspective to what Justin has already built. And then, in addition to that, part of our offering is to join us at the EXP organization, the Think Bigger Real Estate organization, on the EXP platform. That allows agents to get all the benefits of an international company like EXP and then also the more boutique experience that they get from like if you were to join a smaller brokerage and you want to be a part of a small group of people and be in close relationship with them. That's what they get with the think bigger real estate group which let's.

Speaker 2:

I mean we met you a year ago, so we have a connection. Stephanie's actually Courtney's sponsor, so our organization, now Nation, has access to your organization, which is the Think Bigger platform, which is just, it's like mind-blowing what we can offer our agents locally and nationally. It's pretty remarkable.

Speaker 3:

Well, it's a problem. Yeah, I love the layers of what we have at eXp. I look at it like when I was at other brokerages. I felt like I was always trying to choose one or the other. Did I want that close knit, family boutique experience, or did I want the international platform with all of the technology and the resources and the training? And now I'm able to combine that and layer that with other people's experiences. I don't have to choose the brokerage in Oregon City when there's also the brokerage in the neighboring town that they have a lot to offer too. I can layer my experiences.

Speaker 2:

It's been so great. How's the past year been for you since you made the move?

Speaker 3:

Pretty amazing actually, and I will say that most recently with the NAR settlement and the changes to buyer representation, that is where I felt like eXp really had an opportunity to shine, and absolutely did. I'm still very connected with a lot of other brokerages and a lot of other teams and how other places are doing it, and I have felt incredibly educated and supported through the transition in the industry because of everything that eXp has to offer. And I'm not just saying that because I'm there, because I went to other brokerages' webinars, I watched all their stuff on YouTube.

Speaker 1:

I mean I dove deep into all the changes to the industry because I wanted to fully understand it from every perspective and, at the end of the day, everything that I got from eXp solved every problem that I had and answered every question that I had well and they keep updating, like I just saw, a new buyer toolkit came out a couple days ago which I've shared with agents of different brokerages because it's anybody can use it and we're we're willing to share it and it's really cool and it's super simple and it's a canva template that you can just plug and play with your own info. It's really cool and it's super simple and it's a Canva template that you can just plug and play with your own info.

Speaker 1:

It's kind of brilliant yeah.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it makes it very easy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, have you utilized? So with this change obviously comes opportunity right. Have you leveraged anything from a marketing perspective that has been working for you since we've had the changes, the changes with NAR?

Speaker 3:

Yes and no, I would say more indirectly, I have not necessarily marketed. You know this is to the masses, right? I haven't marketed to the masses specifically with the changes, but using marketing to always be an educator and an influencer in the industry and in my area has continued to bring rewards, no matter what the changes and what the pivot is. This was just another opportunity to continue to show up as a leader and as an educator to my community and give them information that they're not getting from someone else or they're getting misinformation. You know and I've got people that are reaching out consistently and saying you're the one that I would trust to give valuable information. So, whether they're working with me or not, they still see me as a leader in the industry in their community.

Speaker 1:

We have some great videos on Instagram that we've seen and watched, so we've witnessed it.

Speaker 2:

I wanted to just touch on one other area of your expertise, because you mentioned, you and your husband diving into investments. So I know that you not only have dived into investments, but you guys have, like, really become successful with your real estate investments, so much so that your husband officially retired from his former career, correct?

Speaker 3:

Correct. Yeah, I mean he also had that steady government job and that I mean that was the foundation that allowed me to soar, you know, knowing that we had a consistent paycheck, bills were always paid, health insurance was great. Having that need met did allow me to pursue bigger opportunities. And then, as I continued to do that, we were able to build our rental portfolio to a place that actually was exceeding his income, including the benefits, the retirement and everything. And it had become, I guess I could say, a burden on me. It had just become another job for me managing the properties, finding them, keeping up with lease agreements, tenants moving in and out and I was like this is actually taken away from my real estate business. So let's just have you do this full time.

Speaker 3:

And he had been waiting for the right opportunity to do that and we had been praying for that door to open and we actually said, okay, the next great property that comes along as a flip property, we'll take that as a sign that it's time to make that leap. And so the property came along and he had great success with that property. And then it just continued and you know what you put out there it does expand, it does come back to you, because once we started looking for opportunities and we had our eyes open for it, then more opportunities kept coming our way and we just finished a project. He's finishing it this week. It's actually being photographed right now to hit the rental market, and perfect timing. We got into contract yesterday on another investment opportunity, so it is like we can keep that flowing, finish one and go right into the next, I saw you cleaning the windows, getting ready for those photos.

Speaker 3:

Well, yeah, and you notice I said most of the work on these properties are outside of my pay grade, but cleaning windows is something that I am capable of doing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's good. So how many doors do you guys have, and are they mostly local, out of state, combination of both?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we have eight doors right now and they are in Oregon, idaho and Texas.

Speaker 2:

We share the love for Texas yeah we do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm going to lose all my friends to Texas.

Speaker 3:

What the heck? Well, I guess that's the beauty of an international company that is all under one umbrella is that we can work anywhere.

Speaker 1:

True, very true. Well, stephanie, thank you so much for joining us today. Just as we thought, lots of gold nuggets for our listeners. Where would you suggest that people find you if they wanted to reach out?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, find me on Instagram, stephan. Stephanie Peck underscore real estate. That's my my generic page for connecting with real estate agents and connecting with people in the industry. And then Stephanie Peck underscore Peck's Realty Group would be my sales side. So if you're interested in things specific to the Oregon City and Portland metro Market, that's where you can find that information.

Speaker 2:

Great, there you have it, stephanie Peck. We are just so blessed to have you in our organization and can't wait to see you again. And anybody wants an introduction to Stephanie? Let us know, courtney, and I'll make it happen.

Speaker 1:

We do it all the time. Yeah, thank you. Thanks, steph.