Episode 55 - How Phil Greely Built a Real Estate Career After the 2008 Crash
What if the secret to growing in real estate isn’t just transactions, but how you show up, create content, and build balance in life? In this episode, Stephen sits down with Seattle-based real estate agent and investor Phil Greely to talk about his journey from teaching aspirations to building a career in real estate. Phil opens up about finding his voice in content creation, surviving the 2008 crash, and learning how to balance being both an agent and an investor.
Stephen and Phil talked about:
00:00 Introduction and Initial Banter
00:37 The Journey into Content Creation
01:58 Early Experiences with Video Content
03:40 Challenges and Realizations in Content Creation
04:40 Authenticity in Content and Personal Branding
12:47 Transitioning Careers: From Teaching to Real Estate
21:41 Navigating the Challenges of Short Sales
22:46 Balancing Act: Agent vs. Investor
23:26 Building a Real Estate Portfolio
24:56 Striking a Balance Between Retail and Investment
33:50 The Importance of Team and Systems
36:16 The Quest for Time Freedom
41:22 Weathering the Seattle Market
42:42 Connecting and Growing in Real Estate
TRANSCRIPT
∎ Teaser / Highlighted Clip
[Stephen Husted] (0:00 - 0:15)
That's the same thing with real estate, being an agent or investing. That's what's really cool about our profession is it's always different. If it was ever a straight arrow on what we're doing, I would be out of this career in a heartbeat.
There'd be no way I'd last.
[PHIL GREELY] (0:15 - 0:24)
And every market brings different strategies that are needed, right? And different expectations in the same way that every season of life, like your business can look different and ebb and flow and so can your marketing.
∎ Podcast Intro:
[Stephen Husted] (0:25 - 2:24)
Brace yourself for a wild ride into the unexpected. This ain't your typical success show. I'm here talking to real folks who've been through it all, skipping the fancy business talk for authentic stories.
We're diving into childhood dreams, teenage escapades and everything in between. No scripts, just the stories that truly mold success. Each episode takes you on a journey through those breakthrough moments that paved their way.
No fluff, just genuine stories. So whether you're chasing dreams or just love a good story, buckle up for wisdom, laughs and the unexpected. This is The Breakthrough Podcast, where success is a journey, not just some fancy destination.
Don't miss out. Hit the subscribe button now and join our breakthrough crew. I got some incredible stories to share and you won't want to miss a single one.
∎ Guest Introduction:
Today's guest is Phil Greeley, a real estate agent and entrepreneur out of Seattle. I've been following his content for a while now, and he always stands out. There are so many people putting out real estate content, but only a few are really consistent and actually producing at a high level.
Phil's been doing it since 2015, back when hardly any agents were even trying. He even brought on a college kid just to help him crank out 20 videos. But what I love about Phil is his origin story.
He's been an agent since 2008, a market where if you survived, you're a whole other level of professional. He's still grinding, but now his focus is shifting. We're talking about an agent who is always trying to balance being a top producer with being an investor.
He's at a stage where he's accumulating a portfolio to get out of the rat race. He's all about doing more lucrative deals and finding more time freedom, which is something I think we all want. He's got that whole picture, and it's something I think is a must for any real estate professional today.
Let's get into it.
∎ Podcast Proper:
All right, buddy. I got you on
Good to be here. You knew it was coming, right? That's right.
[PHIL GREELY] (2:25 - 2:27)
I've been watching. I've been watching you.
[Stephen Husted] (2:29 - 2:31)
Gosh, I feel like the Seattle Stalker.
[PHIL GREELY] (2:32 - 2:50)
You know, content is one of those things where we're inundated by it, but when it comes to business owners and entrepreneurs, especially in the real estate field, it doesn't really feel like there's... It feels like there's a lot of people doing it, but I think in actuality of people that actually produce and do a lot, there's only a few. You certainly stood out.
[Stephen Husted] (2:50 - 3:36)
Appreciate that. I appreciate that, man. I don't know.
It's one of those... Funny that you even bring that up. Right before jumping on here, I had a meeting with my team of editors, and one of them I haven't even spoke to in probably a year and a half.
Finally, I got them all on the call, and I was trying to tell them where we are, where we're going, have we grown? Because I think when you're in the thick of your business, sometimes you miss the growth. You always feel like you're behind the eight ball, and I get a million editors, and I'm sure you do too, in DMs on Instagram, like, hey, your content sucks.
Let me help you make it better.
[PHIL GREELY] (3:37 - 3:39)
Right. Let me grow your YouTube channel.
[Stephen Husted] (3:40 - 4:12)
Yes, let me grow your... Yeah, let me add your fake bots, and everything's going to be great in your life. So I was telling them, look, I want to grow.
I want to be creative on that process too, and I want to give you guys freedom to do that. Don't sit that you have to trend jack everything that's out there, because I think that's useless. But let's try to find our own trend.
Let's create our own trend. Right. And that takes time to do that kind of stuff.
I'm sure you know. Right. You've been shooting content for a while, right?
[PHIL GREELY] (4:13 - 5:52)
So, yeah, my content journey. Actually, when I first thought video was something I needed to be a part of was 2015. So I've been a real estate agent since 2008, and doing the traditional things, mailing people, email lists, open houses, buying ads here and there for listings.
But when I, in 2014-15, I started getting involved with Inman News. Their conference was kind of like the leader in class at that time, and then their tribe sort of seemed kind of cutting edge. And so I got into that, and video is a big topic there.
And again, not a lot of agents were doing it. And so I hired a community college kid out of the video program at, I forget which college, around here. And I paid him for, I think, 20 videos.
There's some package that he put together. He'd never had a client before. And he borrowed the school gear and came down to my office, and we shot.
I came up with my list of things I was going to talk about, and basically they're questions, right? That I thought could be evergreen content on YouTube, things I get asked a lot. And it took forever.
Like all day long, we shot and made these 20 videos, and I posted them all at the same time. And this is in 2015. But then I had my video content sort of library started.
And again, I was like the only person in my office, or the office group even, of five offices that was doing stuff like that. So it started to stand out. And then 2017, I had moved companies, and I hired a full-time videographer.
And we did that for two years until COVID took him to Costa Rica. So I've been trying different things at different points, and I have a different iteration now. But the goal is always just to be consistent with it.
[Stephen Husted] (5:53 - 6:04)
Yeah, that's a huge part of it. Even when you feel like you're being inconsistent, like you see what's going on around you, and you're like, God, am I really... Is this it?
[PHIL GREELY] (6:05 - 6:55)
It's hard to be inspired all the time. And it's hard for me to come at it with energy and excitement. And so there's always a point.
And it always feels like a little bit of a grind. Like, okay, it's shooting day. Like, crap, I have to shave or whatever, and get my mind right.
And it's funny. I don't know what you think, or what you experienced. But it seems like some of those videos where you're like, I might have brought the energy, but this topic sucks, or this one's not going to be good.
Those actually are the ones that sometimes get mentioned the most. I don't know why. So it's like, that would have been something I could have easily said, well, let's skip that one.
Or let's not shoot, right? But when you lean into it and you do it, it does over time kind of... It works.
And it doesn't always work. It almost never works in the way you think that it should or will, which is kind of interesting.
[Stephen Husted] (6:55 - 7:18)
Can I ask you a question about like, do you feel like you are in a box when it comes to shooting content? Like, do you feel like internally... Because I had this conversation with my editors literally an hour ago.
I don't always want to show up like happy-go-lucky, which I don't think I do. I'm pretty straight to the point. But you know, there's times when I just want to talk shit.
[PHIL GREELY] (7:19 - 7:19)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (7:19 - 7:36)
Because we talk shit. We go through a lot of shit. And it's almost like I want to put it...
I feel like putting that out there, whether it ruffles people's feathers or it's uncomfortable, I think you should have it a whole picture. Do you feel like you hold back on what you post or what you want to put out? Do you feel like you play it safe?
[PHIL GREELY] (7:37 - 9:00)
Well, my version of playing safe would be sort of giving people what I think they want, which means that I'm giving people what I see other content creators do. I'm part of Thatch Wynn's mentorship group, and he's a big social media guy. And the way he presents online is actually pretty authentic in that he's over the top and funny or boisterous.
Well, he's like that in real life too at times, right? So that's not... He has to turn that on, but it's not really an act.
He has that in him when you're engaging with him in real life. So sometimes when I was shooting a year or two ago, I felt like, okay, that's what works for him. That's what gets him a lot of followers.
Let me kind of be the... All right, guys. But that's not really me, right?
I'm like super mellow, chill, introverted. And so my kind of current iteration is trying to figure out like, how can I present if you and me are having beers at a pub and you're asking me a question about what you should do with your house? How do I come across like that online?
So yes, at times I feel like I'm in a box in that I try to give what I think the algorithm is going to like or what's going to work and get views, but might not be authentic to me. And I'm in that moment of trying to figure out maybe what you are with your conversation today of like, how do I get out of that? And how do I just be...
Yeah, like normal, right? And still have engagement.
[Stephen Husted] (9:01 - 10:52)
Right, just having different buckets. So I'm going to share this guy with you on Instagram. And he came across on Instagram.
And the first thing I noticed was the way that the video was edited. You could tell he had like a photography background or videography background, right? And the way this transitions were going, he went from, it looked like it was a talking head video, and then it went to a black screen.
Then the text popped up, but the text was in two different sizes. And then it went to a B-roll with him and his Audi, but it was shot from the back. It was very artistic.
And of course, it grabbed my attention. He's got tattoos. He's an endurance athlete.
And his messaging, he knows his avatar. And the one thing that I really resonates from what he puts out for me is he goes back to his origin story a lot and goes, I wish I would have known this, you know, eight years ago. And hey, you don't have to always go viral.
You don't have to do this. And you can have a thousand followers and that's perfectly okay. And like get better at just like really getting internal and working on that origin story.
And it was crazy because, and he's given out so much value. I mean, that guy's just put me on a whole other like mindset right now on things. But it's true because he's the first guy that I would go and spend money to buy a course just to be in his inner circle.
Whether that one meeting a month with him, that's what I want. Because it's like he's the first one instead of like people I see online that's like, you need to do this. You got to do that.
You got to have a hook. You got to do this. You got to trend Jack like that.
You got to have to trend like, no, no, no, no, no.
[PHIL GREELY] (10:53 - 10:59)
Yeah, 100%. And I'd be curious to know what he, how long has he been creating content? Because it seems like when I...
[Stephen Husted] (10:59 - 10:59)
Eight years.
[PHIL GREELY] (11:00 - 11:31)
Yeah, there you go. That same, what you just described and how it's resonating with you, he might not have resonated with you in year one or two because he hadn't settled into who he was, right? True.
And I think that's a lot of the creators that I watch that also talk about content creation It's like a multi-year process to get to the place where you're finally the fully realized version and they're probably not fully realized yet Right, but like yeah that you experienced it took them five to eight years to get to and so I have to remember that too And I think that's the process that we're in a moment.
[Stephen Husted] (11:31 - 12:51)
Yeah. Well, there's a lot of barriers to you know, open up And you get to the core of things it takes time because like to your point some of the videos that I would put out that I remember in this probably about a year ago that maybe we're on the side of inspirational, but they were more like Just back stories of me, right, you know, and then it would hit like on an inspirational note That made me uncomfortable once I got feedback. I was like, oh, wait a minute.
I'm not trying to be an inspirational person I'm just telling part of my story, but it resonated that way as someone I like it So then we do just confuse me, you know, but that is kind of like what you should do next Okay, where am I going direction-wise you could be a real estate investor you can be an agent, right? But if you got like multi layers, you got a really deep origin story You know a lot more to talk about than just how to buy your first house or how to buy your first investment property Right, like we do that's the icing on the cake We have Phil because if you and I had your videographer was on your side I had mine and we just recorded us in our cars you at your daughter's Is it your daughter that plays soccer my two sons your two sons, but yeah If you record doing all sorts of things, yeah, if we recorded all that, you know, I mean no much interesting content We had in that Because we also talked a lot more than just about a deal right, right, you know, I mean
[PHIL GREELY] (12:51 - 14:15)
You know, there's a Gary V Strategy or thesis which is like when you create content So I've even this is verbatim basically from his mouth about a real estate agent so if you're gonna do a market update video and You live in Spokane Washington and you're into wine put a local wine on the table drink it while you're doing your boring update and You do that enough times Someone is gonna see that that resonates and likes the same, you know Cabernet that you're drinking and it's like oh I resonate with that person in the same way that I think right before we recorded the Contract you're talking about told a personal story and it resonated with someone that wanted to work with your contractor, right? and For us, I'm that's something that I that's my next level is to figure out. Okay, how do I as a private person?
Reveal more about myself to so that in a way that I'm comfortable with So that people that resonate with that portion of my life might also be interested in the business portion Because the whole point of me doing this social media stuff is for business development yeah, and I do think that there's a limitation to that development or the interest level if we're only talking about deals and real Estate and interest rates and things like that. So yes, how can I?
incorporate that I'm a sports dad into My content but not have to like put my kids on full blast.
[Stephen Husted] (14:15 - 14:35)
All right 100% you have to always evolve really have to think through things when it comes to that, which is cool I'm so glad that's the same thing with Real estate being an agent or investing. That's what's really cool about our profession is it's always different There's always if it was ever straight arrow on what we're doing.
[PHIL GREELY] (14:35 - 14:53)
I would be out of this career in a heartbeat There'd be no way it lasts Like I have to feel like I'm always behind the eight ball And every market brings different strategies that are needed right and different expectations in the same way that Every season of life like your business can look different and ebb and flow and so can your marketing?
[Stephen Husted] (14:53 - 15:06)
Yeah, absolutely What were your first careers? Job, no. No, let's back that up.
What were your first jobs? And then did you have careers after let's call your first jobs and then how did you pivot into real estate?
[PHIL GREELY] (15:06 - 17:31)
yeah, well, I'll skip my teenage jobs, but So I went to school I went to college with the intention of being a high school English teacher I went to University of Washington and at that school. They didn't have an undergrad program for education So you major in a teachable subject? So for me that was English and Then the path forward to get certified as a teacher was you went into a master's program where you got your master's degree and a teaching Certificate so that was my pathway and work some you know It's a barista at Starbucks kind of through the later part of college Which is connected to how I launched into real estate a bit but when I was going through my master's program and I did my student teaching I Kind of subconsciously was like I'm not cut out for this life Like this is not what I want to sign up to do for the next 30 years And I realized I was good. I was a good student when it came to English reading and writing But I wasn't passionate about it and to activate and motivate 15 year olds about All quiet on the Western Front
You have to be passionate about your subject, right? And so I Didn't get hired for the next cycle of like the next school year that I could have been a teacher a first-year teacher I didn't get a position So I was still a barista and my manager helped me slide down to a role at the corporate office in Seattle Which was really terrible but paid not a lot, but it was a job I was getting married and needed a job. And so I worked at a call center for employees of Starbucks and My role there was I'd sit at the desk and wait for employees to call me and We'd help them with problems So on payroll, they usually had to do with their checks or a manager processing the store payroll And then on off non payroll days it was could be anything right like I'm having a challenge with my manager or Help me set up my retirement account so I can make deposits, you know out of my paycheck It was really boring But the beauty was when I wasn't the rule at the call center was if you weren't on a phone call You could do whatever you wanted at your desk So some people played video games Some people read a book and I ended up studying for my real estate exam and got all my clock hours in during that time so that honestly was my only like real job before jumping into real estate and that was 2000 I was at Starbucks for 05 to 07 but at the headquarters for a year and a half or so and it also gave you a little bit of
[Stephen Husted] (17:31 - 17:36)
Like a quick little skill set of getting into real estate as well Dealing with people on their problems.
[PHIL GREELY] (17:37 - 18:22)
Oh 100% real estate is people management customer service. Yeah hundred percent So when I was is that same era of being at the call center my wife and I were getting married and we realized that Quickly that we were looking for our first apartment and we wanted to be in one of the cool neighborhoods of Seattle But we couldn't afford it and I made $16 an hour of a call center. So we were trying to figure out how can we live in a great neighborhood of Seattle without spending too much and Just one of the benefits of being at the call center was you got to do what you wanted, you know Like I said part of that time I would search for apartments and on Craigslist I found a resident manager position in Wallingford or you're familiar with Wallingford the neighborhood.
[Stephen Husted] (18:23 - 18:24)
No, no
[PHIL GREELY] (18:24 - 20:56)
It's in between Fremont and I five basically it's right on the north end of Lake Union so very fun very expensive a great neighborhood and The position was managing 40 units and in return you got half off of your rent so the rent was $1,000 and so we paid 500 and we ended up getting the job and So our role there was collecting rent and depositing the rent checks Physical checks at that time cleaning the hallways keeping those clean Helping with turnovers tenants were supposed to clean their unit But if they didn't we'd do all this Bruce up and then being the on-site first line of defense, you know for tenant issues and Then again the expectation when we got hired on they had a hole in the ground next door the owners did and they're building another 40 Units and so they said when we finish this you'll take that over and get free rent So that that came to us so we had that job sort of simultaneously as I was at Starbucks and then launching into real estate and Actually, that was the motivation really to be honest of getting into real estate So like I said, I was gonna be a teacher With my master's and the jobs I was applying for at best you'd make forty forty five thousand dollars a year as a starting teacher with your master's and Every month I'd deposit sixty sixty five thousand dollars of rent checks in for this one building that we started And I was like how the heck do you do this because this does not equate right? And I didn't realize at the time they have got a mortgage and expenses and they're not cashing in on 165,000 a year or a month it impressed me enough to say Okay, how do I do this right and I took the owner out for a meeting and he basically said hey How can I own something like this in the future and he kind of calmly explained like well You got to start from the beginning, you know You can look for duplexes you can look for single-family houses that you can build out a basement Just kind of what our strategy is at the moment, too You got to find a niche that works for you know it really well and one way you can do that is get your real estate license and become an agent and then you'll be on the front line of Opportunities, you'll know the market and when it's time to buy something you'll be positioned and so that conversation along with a really good friend in the town that I grew up in being an agent and pushing me to think about it I Started my clock hours at Starbucks and then launched in spring of 2008 About for our market that was about six months before the economy totally just hit the tubes.
[Stephen Husted] (20:57 - 21:04)
Oh, yeah 2008 yeah. Yeah. What was your biggest learning lessons right in the beginning?
Like what were you really surprised about that?
[PHIL GREELY] (21:04 - 21:14)
You're like, oh, I didn't think I was gonna have to do this It took me six months to close my first transaction. Yeah, and I thought that would come a lot sooner How much was it?
[Stephen Husted] (21:14 - 21:14)
Do you remember?
[PHIL GREELY] (21:15 - 21:23)
Oh, I want to say is either 450 or 550. I think it was like 450 You mean the purchase the purchase price?
[Stephen Husted] (21:23 - 21:23)
Yeah.
[PHIL GREELY] (21:23 - 21:31)
Yeah, and the gross commission check was, you know 13, but after all my expenses You know, I basically, you know made a couple thousand bucks or whatever.
[Stephen Husted] (21:32 - 21:34)
Yeah, mine was 3,000. I thought I was rich
[PHIL GREELY] (21:34 - 22:24)
Yeah exactly It took a lot longer to get up and running than I thought it would I started young when I was 24 I wasn't making a lot of money prior I wasn't expecting to make a lot of money as a teacher and so make not making a lot of money as a new real estate agent It just of course it was a struggle and a stress But it wasn't like I was going from a $200,000 job into a new career as a salesperson but it just took a lot longer than I thought and Part of that might have been the economy and part of that might have been my activities The lesson was like in the same way. We were talking about content It takes time to hone your craft and I probably wasn't good You know at the beginning and people didn't trust me But the more transactions you do over time it compounds and you do get good So it's definitely a career.
[Stephen Husted] (22:24 - 23:10)
You can't fake it till you make it I mean you some things you can to a degree if you can build trust Whether you you have the skills to like negotiate or do something if you're really good at just doing that research or getting help You know, but you have you know good intentions across the board You can kind of move it through but you definitely learn over time that you're like, wow I didn't really know that much in the very beginning.
But then again you got in it in 2008, right? Okay, so weren't you doing short sales and foreclosures? Okay so So we're in the same market that was the hardest market to be in period if you could get your license and actually Become an agent and stay an agent through 2008 until now.
Oh, yeah, because that was a whole different ballgame Right.
[PHIL GREELY] (23:10 - 24:09)
Yeah So the best buyer during that era was sort of like a first-time homebuyer or of course anyone with money and a job But if you had stable income and you had a little bit of a down payment You could find deals I remember showing the same house to a couple like seven times and they'd sleep on it Three weeks and the price would come down twice during that time and then they make an offer and they get it right and So and if it wasn't that one, they would have found something else. They like bread There were many opportunities for buyers that were capable and then yeah every seller meeting It was at worst is a short sale Right, and then at best it was like they're not making as much money as they had in their head that they were going to Right, so the sale the listings were always a struggle yeah, and then even if in buyers wanted to buy short sales and you're waiting on those for months and months and At the end of the day the deal didn't come together and you're back to square one That was crazy.
[Stephen Husted] (24:09 - 24:31)
That was crazy back then. I know Do you remember doing the short sales and you've like kept the deal together? You've kept the buyer and seller engaged right and then all of a sudden at the very end the bank goes Yeah, we're gonna approve it but the Commission's 2% split it between you and the buyer agent you're like what Right, you had no choice zero.
[PHIL GREELY] (24:31 - 24:32)
Yeah, no choice.
[Stephen Husted] (24:32 - 24:36)
Yeah, that was the worst scenario back the
[PHIL GREELY] (24:37 - 24:59)
Right and a lot of this our last two years in our the market hasn't been great the last two years it's certainly been a mixed bag and You know a lot of agents are Complaining about it, but I kind of look at it like it's not the market I would drop there's a picture-perfect market for me to operate in but it's certainly not as bad as it was in 8-9-10 with what you just described.
[Stephen Husted] (24:59 - 25:41)
Yeah, I agree. I agree What's your thoughts now because you're you're kind of starting to something that we did talk about that we have talked about is trying to have a balance between Being an agent that's representing buyers and sellers and then Being the investor friendly agent, I think that's the struggle that I Go through you go through I think Ian does I'm sure more people are go through that same thing Did you feel like that part of it in the business kind of came organically because you started investing?
so you understood enough that you could obviously help investors and Move that and like what's your thoughts on this? Like do you feel like you can get a good balance out of it?
[PHIL GREELY] (25:42 - 28:20)
Seeing those rent checks come in. I was like, I want to own real estate, right? And so based on some recommendations from the apartment owner and my friend, it's like, okay I'm going to become a real estate agent in order to make more income so I can buy real estate So I really only wanted to build a portfolio But in the early days of my real estate career again, because it was a struggle in that market to just get transactions closed and make money I Really focused on becoming more of like that going down the track and becoming a top producer in the as a real estate agent Which is different than becoming a real estate investor and so we're right So I was way out of balance and trying to become a top producer. I almost I basically forgot about For the most part building a portfolio and so getting back to that those roots. I shifted for myself mentally of like, okay everything I'm doing as a real estate agent is with the intention of Building out my portfolio, right?
So I'm gonna work with this buyer to help them I'm gonna earn an income and then save some of that to start Chipping away at building my portfolio. I probably skewed too heavy in like 2021 22 towards finding off-market deals analyzing investment opportunities focusing on that just mentally and My retail business kind of took a backseat and therefore sort of again got out of balance It's a real difficult thing for me to always, you know have both of them well balanced I agree with you What I'm learning though now is like that era of 21 22 where I was more focused on Investing and less on retail business helped me build the skill set to where I can now quickly. I Can more easily find off-market opportunities and I can more quickly analyze them So it's not as much of a effort and I'm networked better with people like yourself Who if I can't buy it you might want to buy it or you might know someone who's gonna buy it So it's not as much of an effort in time suck away from my retail business.
So I feel like I've kind of Balanced those things out. Well, and this helped me in this time more like compared to like 2017 to 2021 where my retail business was just like crushing it With high interest rates and just uncertainty in the market my retail business is not as booming as that but working with investors has Helped balance that out and supplement it in a way that I'm super grateful for So it's always just a balancing act of like, okay. I need where's the opportunity?
What's in front of me? Who can I connect with that and knowing that like I still gotta put focus both spots But I'm always analyzing and trying to figure out the best mixture of that.
[Stephen Husted] (28:20 - 30:10)
It's definitely a balancing act You know, I've noticed it too and but it's funny because things kind of fall in my plate like I closed two wholesale deals For oh, I think it was the lady I told you about that inherited that house and became a business partner and flip her own childhood home right and we literally closed on that one and She wanted to buy some investment properties. And so we went to the Midwest and I connected her to a wholesaler So I got a wholesale, you know assignment out of that one and then Few weeks ago same scenario. He came to me first like hey, I don't know Can you underwrite this one look at it signed it over to her made a quick, you know, what I would say that was an $800,000 purchase price if I had to equate it to a buyer here or a seller here and That happened in you know a two-week span and it's just funny because it's these little things that are tied to Being a an investor that pulls income from different locations to which is yes money because it's like I didn't Like pursue it.
It's just kind of these little skills start to kind of fall into play It's almost the same as you can be putting out content as an agent in Seattle but quickly shift a few videos of you and I talking about our transaction and Then all of a sudden you got either a new investor in your pipeline Or maybe you have a friend or someone from school That wants to learn from you or they want to partner with you or they want, you know, six months of your time And now you're making there's all these little things that pop up. That's is pretty interesting But then it all comes back to can I tie it all together and make sure that I'm not dropping the ball anywhere, right?
[PHIL GREELY] (30:10 - 31:59)
That's the biggest part of it I Would say another component which I have worked through is the ego We all have an ego right and we all have this identity of like what are we and how do others perceive us? And I think for sure in the retail real estate kind of top producer world of real estate agents How many transactions you do in your sales volume? becomes your identity sort of You know, are you good are you not good, you know, are you a top producer tail transactions that are done through the MLS helping buyers and sellers Those are you can find though you can find those statistics for agents, right?
And so people kind of compare and look and see where they stack up and if you're doing more wholesale deals that aren't recorded They're not there. No, nobody's not there or You do a flip and maybe you're not the listing agent. You have someone else do it for you or whatever, right?
That's not gonna be in your agent stats true And so as you focus on that your stats go down which can be a real buzzkill if that's matters to you Right, and so but what you just said is like you just did and some of those things you just talked about That's probably three or four transactions working with the buyer or seller Doing a flip and a wholesale deal or whatever, right? But that's not gonna show up in the public eye and so getting over that knowing that like income is income you're probably leveraging your time way better and you can Still be a top producer, but it's just not gonna show and Over here on this one stat area that you're looking at So that's getting over that concept of like you all of a sudden become like a really Successful top producer that people don't view you the same way But if you can make more money and have more time freedom, that's like what I'm all about right there
[Stephen Husted] (31:59 - 33:39)
And I think to have more than a skill set the you're a top producer Yeah is much more valuable. Honestly, this is interesting like stat I would say the my highest gross year after all said and done of paying taxes Because I didn't have investment properties at that point.
I think one of my least Grossed year I made more money. Why is that? Well, because now I've learned that I'm a real estate professional.
I got all the tax advantages. I make more but I have more tricks up my sleeve and I also have more skills that I can Because I you know, there's one thing about real estate that I don't like especially with them on buyer the buyer and seller transactions I feel like it's very in it's a very it's like a bad breakup You get him in a cunt you get him in a property you spend time within 60 days 90 days You develop, you know, some of them with a friendship, you know But it's like you close on the deal and it's like what are you doing some random marketing to them here and there?
Some you maybe go out when you're kind of had other skill sets You're kind of like my past clients. We talk some of them my partners now that part is cool And once again, it comes right back to the same scenario. That was very organic, too It kind of fell on my lap that way Like design that so yeah, it's interesting But I think at the end of the day if you're happy with the direction you're going and you're actually spending time on doing things It's really sometimes, you know, you can get stuck in the grind of things and what's going on and noise around there But then the day really have to just be able to wake up on a Monday and just be excited for the week I don't percent I mean, you know
[PHIL GREELY] (33:39 - 34:30)
Everything can get to this state where you're bored with it, right if you repeat it over and over But on the real estate train on the buyer-seller side at the end of the day their details are different But closing a buyer transaction closing a seller transaction.
It's all kind of the same repeatable process And so it's easy for agents especially to get if they're really good at it They're doing it a lot every year and they get kind of Bored and feel like it's mundane and lose interest in it, even though it's extremely productive for them And I just love how like real estate is so dynamic There's so many different things you can do within real estate that I don't even do like commercial or self storage or land development I haven't even scratched the surface really but adding in some of these components of flipping and investing for myself Wholesaling connecting with investors it adds variety. It keeps me excited Yeah, I'm able to it's like a bigger bigger lever to work with.
[Stephen Husted] (34:31 - 34:42)
I definitely I agree Where do you see yourself as far as an investor down the road here? Like what are you really intrigued about? What do you see kind of or do you look, you know further down the horizon?
[PHIL GREELY] (34:42 - 34:46)
Are you asking in terms of like what I'm looking to do myself or yeah, what are you thinking?
[Stephen Husted] (34:46 - 34:47)
You want to do?
[PHIL GREELY] (34:48 - 38:08)
so I'm at the stage of Accumulation and so in the process of building out the portfolio one of the things that you know, my mentor thatch teaches is accumulate the amount of doors you need to provide a certain amount of income and ideally that amount is covers your expenses right and maybe more and Then get that paid down and at that point you're out of the rat race, right? You have your expenses covered by rental income and You could in theory choose to work or not work and then at that point you can always do more You can buy more you can invest more you can 1031 and go bigger So I'm at that place where I'm trying to accumulate. I feel like I'm you know, one to two more daddy projects away from that and Then I'll enter some form of a pay down stage whether I sell one and use that to chunk down or just get that income Flowing and pay down.
So that's kind of where I'm at is I'm just I'm on the hunt for Specific projects within the city of Seattle. I'm open to other opportunities I'm looking always for backyards and corners and alleys and single-family homes But if the right opportunity for multifamily comes up, I'm open to that too. So yeah, this one kind of that's what I'm working on Now is rounding out the portfolio and then entering that stage of where I can start paying off Do you have a transaction corner you get people on your team and we're like, what is your team consist of that is something?
That's always evolved as well. Currently. I have a transaction coordinator and she's by the file She's remote and she you know works profile per transaction She's not on staff and then I have an assistant who lives out of state She's in Denver and she basically is an executive assistant that handles pretty much anything I throw at her She's part-time at the moment.
So those are kind of my two key team members. But other than that in terms of Agents or Marketing people everything else is contracted out So I work with a videographer and social media team and that's just by the contract Do you think you're gonna hire more people you think you're gonna get a VA we were talking about that I think a week ago or so. I think what I'm open to is if if needed I mean, there are probably things I could outsource to a VA for sure.
I love keeping things simple so as streamlined as I can be that's how I like to do it and My day consists of this might sound terrible to you, but I am really trying to wrap up my day around four o'clock So I can be available to take kids to sports Be home during the school year be home when they're home from school and connect with them that way and then realistically I'm probably not starting my day till 9 somewhere between 9 and 10 that's a really short window in the day to get stuff done and I probably could leverage other people to help get more done during that time But I just try to remain as streamlined as possible and right now that my assistant is new So we have a kind of a good mix going on at the moment I don't want to hire an agent to do transactions Like I don't want to hire more people to do more transactions because that was more on your plate and essentially exactly.
Yeah I'd rather do more lucrative transactions like a wholesale for 50,000 and two or three extra deals for 50,000 I'm always in pursuit of more time that I can spend for myself and with my family Yeah, and I don't think that's wrong at all.
[Stephen Husted] (38:08 - 39:22)
Honestly, Phil I mean, I feel like I'm on that quest to to get to that point. I'm not there like last night I was here sitting in this meeting room at 7 o'clock at night Did a bunch of different things throughout the day but still had to wrap up some things Got home and I had told my wife last two weeks ago that I wanted to come home earlier She's like got home late. I'm like, I know I broke that promise.
She's like it's gonna happen. Sometimes I want to get to that point, too My biggest thing is I want a sprinter van and I just want to at a moment notice Just get off the grid whether it's going to Big Sur Sanborn driving up to Seattle going to Vancouver I don't care where but I just want to be able to have that time whenever I want that time I want to be very thoughtful in the things that I do on a daily basis that have impact and get out of the hustle and bustle of like the business part because it's Sometimes it's like why am I so tweaked out on this? You know this one thing like this is nothing Why am I what I gotta go through this life doesn't have to be in, you know, everything needs to be an urgency Right, you know, but it's part of my personality. I don't always try to work on it, but I commend you for that Nine to four.
It's awesome.
[PHIL GREELY] (39:23 - 40:21)
Take it Well to your point about hiring other people Yesterday Sunday night to Monday evening. I was off grid I knew it wasn't sudden for me, but I didn't really tell anybody that it was happening and I came back to 25 text messages about various different things and people saying who where are you? Why don't you answer my phone call?
and Actually, one of the people I was with was also a real estate agent who does a lot more business than I do and he had 120 emails He thought his assistant was gonna be monitoring his inbox and he had 120 emails to sift through and we got back to the parking lot, so in both cases for different reasons, we were talking about okay for this 24 hours for Different aspects. We were the single point of failure in our business So I think your life that you want the van life And what I want in terms of just being able to have time freedom and being able to spend time with my family without picking up my phone That can be done with systems and help from people so yeah
[Stephen Husted] (40:22 - 41:17)
systems and one thing I've learned even having systems and having Assistants the big problems are always gonna come to you I've just learned this, you know Like this last weekend I wanted to get off the grid and I don't know if you saw My stories with the water at the cabin like we're having crazy issues with the well We got people guests staying in these cabins and they got no water and then the water gets turned back on it's coming out It looks like it's black. I saw a whole weekend The whole weekend is in two because they're in the it's in the tent. It's in Tennessee We got that time difference So if you got somebody that wants it's gonna do something at 7 8 in the morning You're up at 5 Going on things.
I'm going. Oh my god. I don't want to do this.
I don't want it this anymore. I'm tired stop Yeah, give me my van sorry, right but you can't
[PHIL GREELY] (41:18 - 41:35)
Either always be things that come up right that you have to involve yourself with so that's not the I don't think that's the dream Is that you're well, maybe at some point but yeah You're always involved and there's always the big issues that you're the key player for But the grind every day or the hustle every day that can be optimized to not be true true.
[Stephen Husted] (41:36 - 41:54)
Yeah taking little steps well, I Appreciate jumping on, you know, it's gonna come I'm gonna get you I Got them all I got another few lists But I feel like I'm like like interviewing everybody through Seattle at this point and I don't have that yet, but um, he'll come Yeah, I'm gonna talk to him.
[PHIL GREELY] (41:54 - 41:56)
You haven't talked to him.
[Stephen Husted] (41:56 - 42:51)
No, I haven't No, he's me and him have talked through like DMS like voice DMS before Cuz he knows I'm in California and he'll like text me go You got laws passed you can do this and I'm like, yeah, that's it's different here, buddy Why do you think I'm in your market? he probably sees you taking every deal that you can and Then hey, it leaves some for at least some for my people well yeah well that's funny that you bring that up because the deals that I've got in recently and I'm I always ask like it was either you or Ian I start to scratch my head. I'm going where's all the 30,000 springboard Students like where are they when you know me because every time there's not a lot of deals So when I see some of these come through I'm expecting, you know 10 offers you know, I mean or I know a lot of them go fast and some of them sell off-market so I get it, but Yeah It's kind of interesting
[PHIL GREELY] (42:52 - 43:37)
Yeah I think that I don't know if I have a good answer for that other than You positioned yourself well with investors could be able to do multiple transit multiple projects at one time And I think by and large most of the Newer investors whether that be with springboard or not just are you know, like myself we're talking about capital, right? And I'm constrained so far to this point I've only done transactions that I can handle myself without I guess one project I do have an investor on But most of like my friends with a few exceptions are just kind of doing one at a time So if they're in the middle of a project and the good deal comes down the road They're not positioned like you are to snap it up and add it to the add to the project list So I think that's part of it.
[Stephen Husted] (43:38 - 44:47)
I Enjoy being in Seattle's market of all markets, but the journey was where it started and this is where I am now But everybody that I've met I really everything feels good and I'm telling you right now This is what I believe in if that weather was better. I'd probably already have moved Come up here today. It's like 90 degrees I know It's funny.
Like I had always had good weather the whole time I traveled to because when I first started traveling out to Seattle, it was like the end of May and We started buying like in July and August. I'm like, I'm this place is amazing This is the coolest place and then I closed on one and like Round Thanksgiving and we flew out there I was trying to shoot videos and the videos the videos were hilarious because I Like mic'd up and I'm got like steam coming out and I'm like, I can't think straight. They're like, yeah, what's going on?
I'm like, my brain's cold. Like I'm freezing They're like this is not that cold. I think Roman had like a hoodie on Yeah It's like in a parka and gloves.
I'm like you guys like what? How do you do this?
[PHIL GREELY] (44:48 - 44:56)
Yeah, you get used to it but it's not it's not California weather Yeah, well, I Got pros and cons to that too.
[Stephen Husted] (44:56 - 45:03)
But yeah, well, I appreciate you jumping on today. Where can the audience find you? Well, I'm on Instagram.
[PHIL GREELY] (45:03 - 45:23)
Let's see Phil dot really is my real estate Instagram Really group is my agent web page where we put out a lot of content, too But yeah, no, I'm Instagram is where I primarily post all of my videos and engage But yeah happy to answer questions about the Seattle market or make a connection and been here my entire life
[Stephen Husted] (45:23 - 45:51)
So, you know it well, so I am glad I'm glad we connected and you've got me into a property got some architects in my pipeline that have helped me kind of move the needle I Truly think that it's all about your team Who you got around you? I appreciate things.
It's so I appreciate you, you know helping me out So, I know this is not the last time I'll be talking to you probably Tomorrow, I try to have you on speed dial.
[PHIL GREELY] (45:51 - 45:57)
So and I try to have something for you every time I call Please do it's awesome.
[Stephen Husted] (45:57 - 46:32)
All right, buddy. Good talking to you and I'll be talking to you tomorrow That's right. So yeah
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