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RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Podcast
Talking local sports, business and real estate.
RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Podcast
Juel Casamayor on Building a Vibrant Real Estate Career
Hey guys, it's John McNamara, host of Ron and Vegas. We're talking local business real estate and if you guys like what you see today, please subscribe. Follow us on Ron and Vegas podcast. Guys, we got a special guest today Jewel Casamore.
Speaker 2:You were very close. It's Jewel Casamayor.
Speaker 1:Casamayor. Yes, you're very close you did good, yeah, okay, thank you. Thank you. Welcome on. Thank you're very close. You did good, yeah, okay, thank you. Thank you. Well, welcome on.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:I'm super excited to have you on.
Speaker 2:Me as well, yeah.
Speaker 1:Newcomer of the year, Virtue Real Estate Group.
Speaker 2:Yes, that was a surprise to me. Unexpected, but it's a pleasure to name that, so I take it with pride.
Speaker 1:You should Congrats. You're a very hard worker. You show up every day, great energy, you're doing very well, so that's why I wanted you on, so thank you for being on, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:So tell me your story, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, where I'm from, all of that good stuff, right, yeah, if you don't mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Get to know Jewel a little bit better.
Speaker 2:So I'm originally from Atlanta. I was born in Atlanta, but I pretty much grew up between Atlanta, san Diego and California. I really consider myself more of a California girl, just because I spent most of my adult life there.
Speaker 1:Oh great, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So and then eventually moved to Las Vegas approximately 12 or 13 years ago. At this point now Loving it, glad I made the change and now just bringing everyone from California here and helping movers those who are relocating from California to Las Vegas.
Speaker 1:Good thing you're in real estate.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, everyone needs a home.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. That's an interesting segue. So from San Diego to Las Vegas directly.
Speaker 2:So it's actually from LA to Las Vegas, cool.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay, and you're enjoying Vegas.
Speaker 2:I am, yeah, I mean, you can't beat, you know, the living expense number one. There's no traffic, I enjoy. I'm a foodie person, so I enjoy, enjoy restaurants, so there's unlimited options when it comes to that and yeah, so it's really not much.
Speaker 1:I'm missing from California yeah and I'm getting so much more yeah, yeah, I hear the whole time because interesting stat we got two-thirds people that live here from Southern California.
Speaker 2:They are, and they're still moving here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah it's going higher, yeah, is booming and they're still moving here. Oh, yeah, it's going higher.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the city is booming and we're expecting it to continue growing. I almost see in the next you know, maybe decade this being like another LA as far as the number of people moving here and opportunities.
Speaker 1:You feel it in Summerlin right?
Speaker 2:Definitely feel it in Summerlin.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, believe it or not, there's more people moving in into the Lone Mountain area as well. So yes, it's extending.
Speaker 1:That's a good area. Yeah, so you're a foodie. I'm not Okay, but I have a lot of friends who are foodies. So when I have other no other foodie people, I'm like, okay, what are your restaurant go-to?
Speaker 2:so I can look cool to my other friends, if that makes sense well, um, one of my favorites is catch, which is over at aria, and that's one of my favorite restaurant restaurants as well. I'm a sushi person, so I get pretty much each sushi every day of the week. Not everyone is enjoys that, but I do. I can literally eat sushi every single day. Um, so, yellowtail, that's um.
Speaker 1:At the bellagio, that's really good as well have you been there, yeah?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's really really good. So, um, I get, I love sashimi the most, but I also enjoy rolls oh, okay, cool, I like sushi.
Speaker 1:That's good, yeah, so how long have you been in real estate and what? Because you've been in vegas for quite some time now, yes, so how'd you get into real estate? What caused that whole?
Speaker 2:The change right. So I initially started off in real estate when I was in LA, but that was also during the end of the recession and so I did not really continue in that business because I was also working doing TV hosting and things of that sort in California. So I kind of put that out a little bit on the back burner because, believe it or not, you cannot do real estate part-time. It's just there's those that are able to do it are, you know, it's not. It's not often that you really find that there, that's that's very rare.
Speaker 2:So I wasn't able to really put 110% into the business and once I moved here I knew this is what I wanted to do and I just kind of focused all of my energy into the real estate business and been doing it ever since. It's kind of started off working doing general, left general for a short period of time, went into working as a new home sales, which gave me so much knowledge of the backhand of real estate that a lot of people just don't know when it comes to construction from the process of the building process.
Speaker 2:So I'm able to kind of help guide my clients who are looking to work with new home construction or in development and working with custom homes as well. So I have that knowledge as a new home specialist that helps out.
Speaker 1:That's really great because you see that a lot with folks that have experience with new construction, as they know the ins and outs a little bit different than just the typical resale agent.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you're very, because I don't know if you remember this or not I've never said this to you before, but I was going to show a property that you were going to be the showing agent on and I canceled on you last minute. I don't remember that?
Speaker 2:That for you.
Speaker 1:Well, it was my client that canceled. I did not.
Speaker 2:That's okay.
Speaker 1:But I was really impressed because I think it's the first time I've been selling for 20 years in Vegas where I canceled on somebody and you asked really great questions why we were canceling. You were very professional. I was kind of bragging to you a little about you at the office, a little bit to your team, and I was like I've never seen that before. So that that goes a long way. So you've definitely you do a good job with your communication, even when the agent didn't even show up on you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's important because when you're communicating with your clients, you need to be able to express to them and share with them the reasons why those cancellations, or if someone decides not to purchase at home, you need to effectively be able to communicate that to them. So asking those detailed questions is something I've kind of do as a normal part of my job.
Speaker 1:That's good, that's huge. Feedback is such an important part of the process because if they have the information, then they feel good. If you just don't give them the answers, it's a good way to get fired. So you're on top of that one.
Speaker 2:I can't believe how many agents actually don't do that. Majority, majority.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is the one thing. So I got into the business 20 years ago. I've been in Vegas 17 years now, but I'm calling expired. That's how I built my business and the number one complaint always was I never hear from my agent. So my value proposition to all my clients ever since then was I'm going to communicate with you. Correct. I'm going to pick up my phone.
Speaker 2:I'm going to text you, yes.
Speaker 1:It's not really that hard. It can be time consuming, but if you want to get those commission checks, Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I mean, I agree with you a hundred percent. I usually kind of start off by letting my clients know that you know, in this process of selling your home we're going to communicate a lot, we're going to get to know each other a lot and I set that expectation up in the beginning so that when I am making those phone calls and those texts and believe me, sometimes it could be overwhelming, but at the end of the day they know and they have as much information as possible to make sound decisions at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:So, that's part of my job, to make sure that I do that for them.
Speaker 1:That's good. Yeah, I do the same thing, and I'll even say like hey, if you want me to communicate less, let me know. Then I don't have to check in every other day on them.
Speaker 2:I have to tell you a story. I have a client who actually was getting a little stressed out and she asked her husband to tell me to not send any more updates, to only communicate with him. And respectfully, I do that only communicate with him. And respectfully, yeah, I do that, um, but yes, so there are.
Speaker 1:there are those cases where you know your client just prefers not to be involved and you respect that and and do exactly what they they're asking yeah, that's a good way to do it because, yeah, there are clients out there like, hey, just just let me know when I have an offer. Yeah, why are you giving me feedback and all that? And there's some clients that they want feedback every showing right, so you got to kind of tailor to them, the client right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you fill them out, get an idea of how that client wants to communicate. Usually I ask that question at the beginning you prefer text, email calls. But then from there you do get a feel of the personality, of their analytical or not. How much information are you going to need to provide them? Or if they are the ones that just don't want to have that communication whatsoever?
Speaker 1:so that's great. Yeah, I'm very. Once I meet somebody I'm like okay, you analytical, you're expressive, are you amiable? Yeah, you know, I go through. Are you driver personality? Because how you communicate with people, you gotta communicate in their level.
Speaker 2:That they want to, so absolutely.
Speaker 1:That's great. So what? What, uh? Why did you decide to go into luxury real estate? What was you know what propelled you to that?
Speaker 2:Well, for me, not only working with high end products in itself, um, you're able to kind of bring in customer service a little bit more, and, being for me, I also try to add in basically a package where they really don't have to do anything whatsoever. And so that's why high end allows me to do that, whereas the the I still work both ends. I mean, that's I don't just only work with luxury. Yeah, I will accept any business that comes my way, so, but luxury allows me to kind of tailor a little bit more into that as well. And just, you know, I I have some clients that are athletes and some that are doctors, and you know it's fun just being able to meet different people from different walks of life and learn a lot from them, as they're learning from me.
Speaker 1:So that gives me that opportunity great so you're like full concierge to your client yes, absolutely that's great, okay, so I gotta brag about you a little bit more newcomer of the year.
Speaker 1:So if, um, you're having a lot of success right now, I know you kind of dive into a little bit. You kind of you want to part-time, full-time. You've got a you know um, new home background. So what would you say to, like the new agent coming into the business or just trying to make a breakthrough into the business? What advice would you give them? You know, maybe what has been the kind of like the difference, you know where you have really just kind of blown up, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, I think, when I, when I'm meeting new agents coming in and they ask me you know, what should I do, what I'm noticing is that everyone a lot of them, not everyone, a lot of them come in with the expectation of thinking that you know, real estate is like selling sunset.
Speaker 2:It is not selling sun. This is a business. It is a nine to five job, sometimes 24 hours, and, um, it takes a lot of hard work, as you know. You'd mentioned earlier that we you know we're in the office every day. You know, sometimes eight to even more hours at times, unless we have showings and things of that sort. So it takes work. So I would tell them to focus in what their goals are, be disciplined about those and always keep that in mind. So you're going to have ups and downs as part of any business whatsoever, but just making sure that you stay focused on what your ultimate goal is.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:I know that they can reach it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's not a fashion show, guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not about going in and you know, not doing the work and it doesn't come. You know, for those who are able to get the jobs and get the work without putting much effort, that's the diamond in the rough. That is not the norm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I used to watch what was a millionaire show, whatever it was, and it's still, fun shows. They're fun, but it's not what actually occurs, no, but they are fun to watch. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Cool yeah it's. They are fun to watch. Yeah, cool yeah, it's entertainment. That's that's what the show is meant for it it definitely does highlight you know the real estate business in itself, which is great, yeah, but even some of our clients sometimes think that you know what our job is is based upon what they see on TV yeah, well, the good thing, kind of what you do, right, and we have a CRM in place that kind of gives that information to our clients.
Speaker 1:but it's good that you over-communicate your clients exactly what you're doing, because if you're not doing that then they're like they think you're like on that show, like you know, having mimosas and getting into a fight with the broker and sometimes that happens, Darren.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but yeah, we won't stop Just kidding. We're joking, obviously Just kidding.
Speaker 1:Yes, but yeah, I want to. You actually had something in there too that I noticed is you talked about like going into the office? If you look at the big board, the people that are on the big board, for the most part they're going into the office every day. So just like some advice, because I know the pandemic changed a lot with people not coming to the office. Because I know myself I like being there because then my energy is on my work correct and seeing, uh, you guys there every day, kind of I like it. I like seeing other agents working and we feed off of each other. We, we do it helps.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then we learn from each other as well. We do I mean, no one is perfect. We're all learning. At least, hopefully you would have the attitude of understanding that you don't know everything and there's always something that you could learn and being able to have someone to kind of bounce things off of. And people have different you know, know ideas and interpretations of things that you can also learn from. So I think that's important, but yes, definitely when you're in the office, your focus yeah because you're in there for a purpose and so that definitely helps.
Speaker 2:And I mean, I have my home office that I utilize at times, but I get up every single morning and I'm there, you know, working from nine until whenever my next appointment is. So yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:Well, we appreciate your energy in the office. You always say, hi, I got a big smile, great energy.
Speaker 2:I smile a lot.
Speaker 1:I love to see that, because not everybody smiles at us. Watch out Um last year. You're obviously having a lot of growth. What have been kind of like your challenges that you've been kind of going through and what you had to work through?
Speaker 2:Definitely in the past I would say six months or so it's been a little bit more of a challenge for myself. But basically my goal for coming up in 2025 is to expand my brand. But basically my goal for coming up in 2025 is to expand my brand. So taking the time making sure that I'm doing my social media filming and it definitely takes time to do those things as well but that's been my challenge is making sure I grow my brand and stay focused and diligent on that Great, so that's been my challenge recently and just getting my brand out there, yeah, so what are you going to do to grow the brand?
Speaker 2:Well, obviously, the social media. For those who say social media doesn't really matter, I really believe it does. I mean, let's just say, even if the if your contacts or leads are not coming directly from your social media, believe me, your client, your clients, are looking from your social media. Believe me, your clients are looking at your social media before they make their decision of whether to hire you or not. So, whether it's directly or indirectly, it is still part of your business, it's still part of your brand, and sometimes, in different cases, it could be even more so than a website in this day and age. So working on that is one of the biggest things for me, and then getting the opportunity to sit here and chat with you is another great opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I appreciate you coming on. I think you're on the nose because I'm a dinosaur in real estate. It's 20 years, right, so back in the day I had the great idea of having a resume and handing it to people because nobody had that. The new resume is social media.
Speaker 1:I think you hit it on the nose that they're looking on your social media to see if you're relevant, what you're doing, if you're selling homes, are you active, and it's just a great tool to show what you do every single day, and generally it doesn't cost anything for you to do, so it's just a matter of taking the time to to do it yeah yeah, I definitely.
Speaker 2:I remember uh meeting with a couple of uh brokers before coming on to darren darren and, um, what I loved about startup I say what I loved about daring is that we were on the same page we understood where my goal was, where my, my vision was, and we aligned in that sense. So I did not take that lightly. When I go in and I meet with a broker, they're not just interviewing me, I'm interviewing them.
Speaker 1:Yes, very important.
Speaker 2:Yes, I plan to make that my home, and so I took a little bit of time. But we were in sync. We were in line of what we wanted for not only the brokerage, for the team, for myself and for him, and so that was the easy decision for me to make yeah, that's great to hear, because that's what uh yeah with when we met with Darren too.
Speaker 1:He's a different type of cat, mm-hmm, and he thinks big and he is about, yeah, branding and he helps with that, but he's a super humble guy, that's what I like about him, cause I first met him Easy to talk to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the first time I met him, I'm like, where are we going to meet this like top producer? I'm like, oh, this is him. Cause he was just so humble and down to earth, cause he didn't come from anything. He built his business on its own. He's just a super impressive guy and you could talk to Darren about anything. That's what I like about him. That's why it works. That's why he's such a great salesperson and just absolutely crushing it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, I agree.
Speaker 1:So more about your vision, though. So where do you see yourself like in the next five years?
Speaker 2:Well, ultimately I would like, when people think of luxury real estate, they think of me. So I'm trying to put my image out there more so that those who are looking to purchase homes or list homes, working in new home construction or custom built homes, they see me and think of me for that next job. So that's where I would like to be in the next five years. So I'm not trying to take anyone's job, I just want to be up there.
Speaker 1:Okay, I think it's going to be this year.
Speaker 2:I'm putting money on it right now. I'm working toward it for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you'll get it for sure. So I did a little background on you. So you are a former NFL cheerleader.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And Miss DC.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Which is super impressive. So tell me more maybe not necessarily about that specifically, but what are the lessons you've learned that you've been able to apply into real estate? Because the one thing I've noticed about super successful people that have come on this pod is the biggest lesson over the last year is they tend to be former athletes. So tell me a little bit more about that, what you learned from those experience and how it's kind of propelled you in your real estate career.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent. Those and it doesn't mean that it only translate to those who are athletes, but, however, those that are are athletes. They tend to have discipline, they understand hard work, they know that they is something that they have to do every single day in order to achieve those goals. And the same thing was for cheering and for being working in pageants. I mean, I was in pageants since I was a little girl, but I always had a big goal, and so I knew that each step was going to take me to that next level, to get to the ultimate, you know, ultimate. And the same thing was for cheering.
Speaker 2:I was an athlete, I cheered in school, but, however, for NFL, that's a whole different ballgame, and so doing the classes and practice and so forth, those things were, you know, just took discipline. And so the same thing applies to the real estate business. So when you say that you know, you, what you notice is that the athletes tend to, you know, have strong discipline. Yeah, it kind of gets embedded in you, um, and you ultimately understand that that is going to take work.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So when you you don't win or you fall down, you just have to get back up. There is no just giving up. There's no option for that. At least for me, I don't have that option. There is no option for me to give up and just let it go. I'm going to get to where I want to get to. Depending on the time, that could change, but I know that I will.
Speaker 1:Burn the ships.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I love it. Yeah, because I'd imagine cheerleading and Miss CC, that'd take a lot of discipline. I think you're on the nose like being an athlete. You have to practice a lot, a lot, and you're just used to like it's repetitive, getting beat up and losing all the time, 100% Just to get. Maybe that win someday. Yes, right.
Speaker 2:Yes, I always live by the motto that I have to work 10 times harder to achieve things. So my mindset is always that. So my mindset is always that. So, um, I don't, I wish it wasn't. That is wish it wasn't. It's that hard but it is. So I have to work just as hard, um, if not more, to achieve those goals. So I'm willing to put in that work very good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's clearly translating so thank you, yeah, awesome cool, so learn a lot about with you with real estate. So when you're not selling all these million dollar homes on the big board at Virtue Real Estate newcomer of the year, what do you do for fun?
Speaker 2:Believe it or not, I don't do a whole lot. I do still work out, I still train, I still weight train, but I actually enjoy spending time with my family. As you know, we're always going. We're always giving a lot of our energy out. So when I have the opportunity to decompress, that's what I like to do. My mind is always going. So if that means watching a movie to kind of tune my mind off, then I'll do that. But my favorite thing in the world is going out to restaurants. I love to.
Speaker 2:As I mentioned before, I'm a foodie, so I love to go out to new restaurants, and there's always the opportunity to do that here in Vegas, and so, yeah, that's what I love to do. I'm very simple I play with my little dogs and spend time with my family and, yeah, I keep it very simple.
Speaker 1:I'm the same way. I don't have a ton of hobbies. Yeah, I like football and and real estate.
Speaker 2:okay, okay what was your favorite team?
Speaker 1:new england patriots okay, I won't be mad at you, for that I grew up we were watching two bledsoe back in the day and then went to tom brady. So that kind of worked out okay. Okay, how about you?
Speaker 2:um well, I will forever be. Well, it's no longer the washington redskins, but I will always be the washington redskins fans and also, uh, thecons as well. I tend to kind of gravitate more to football than. I do anything else. So whether they win or not, they always have a fan in me.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Well, good time to be a fan of those programs. I mean Commanders with Jane Daniels looked really good this year. Yes, PennX. Yeah, do you go to any Raider games? What else do you do in Vegas?
Speaker 2:I haven't gone to anything. Yeah, I haven't gone to any of the raiders games. I haven't had the opportunity. But it is my plan for this year, but no, I haven't had the opportunity. Okay, yeah, I actually was. I was selected to speak about going in to co be one of the coaches or directors at one point, but I never pursued it because I was focused on my real estate. So I had to make a decision.
Speaker 1:Well, you made the right decision. So, you're crushing in real estate. I want to thank you for being on. It's been a pleasure yeah it's been fun. If you guys need somebody to buy or sell real estate, help you out. Jules, your gal, she's amazing. Guys, this is Run in Vegas. Take care of yourselves today.