In this episode, you’re not going to find any cocktails, and you won’t find any dreams. Today, we’re going to be talking about Kings and Priests.
When I started my independent brokerage a few years ago, I put out a beacon for anybody who would fit this standard and was willing to show up – somebody who was driven and hungry to succeed. One of the people that showed up back then was Eric Houchens. Eric Houchens was a guy who I’d been in the trenches with since 2006. We started in the business at the same time and we both survived the 2008 real estate crisis. Anybody who has survived that crisis is worth listening to.
Eric is not only a realtor. He’s a chaplain for our business. You see, we laid our business at the feet of God many years ago. Eric closes our sales meetings with prayer. He leads our company through FASTs. And he’s here for the day-to-day needs of our customers and clients. If you go to our website, you’ll see in the top right-hand corner a button that says, request prayer. All of those requests go to Eric. He’s an ordained minister in the trenches with Realtors and clients and me. We talk about many of the different ways that God has shown up in his business. I hope his story blesses you today, especially if you’re in need of something in your life that you can’t quite put your finger on.
Eric is proof that if you can trust God and you show up every day, good things can happen. In fact, they happen to me as well. You see, kings need priests and priests need kings, and sometimes we have to be both at the same time in order to carry out the Great Commission, which is just to love God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength, and to love other people as we would love ourselves. That’s not always easy to do. In fact some of you might be really uncomfortable by this message, but I encourage you to stay with me and to listen in because these are real stories of real people struggling through life and business in an effort to do it for a greater purpose.
If you like our podcast, share it with people, and again, that gives me the inspiration to continue on. I just want to thank you. If you are a regular listener to the podcast (because we all know you have a lot of things that you can listen to), it’s very meaningful to me that you chose us!
Link to Special Guest:
https://www.facebook.com/EricHoutchensworleyandassociates
For video versions of the podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/@CocktailsAndDreamsPodcast
Connect with Jeramie and our business:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/worleyrealestatenetwork
Jeramie’s Book, Workbook or Audiobook:
Myths, Management & Mastery of Vacation Rentals
https://worleyconsulting.textretailer.com/qc/tlkA3RcG9W
Link to our website:
https://worleyrealestatenetwork.com/
For a free trial to the best investment grade Short Term Rental Data tool for locating the best deals out there and to help Investors and Agents achieve mastery in their real estate business:
https://vrolio.typeform.com/cocktailndreams
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Eric Houtchen | Faith, Real Estate, And Even More Faith
In this show, you’re not going to find any cocktails and you won’t find any dreams. We’re going to be talking about kings and priests. When I started my independent brokerage a few years ago, I put out a beacon for anybody who would fit this standard and was willing to show up. Somebody who was driven and hungry to succeed.
One of the people that showed up back then was Eric Houtchen. Eric Houtchen was a guy who I’d been in the trenches with since 2006. We started the business at the same time and both survived the 2008 real estate crisis. Anybody that has survived that crisis is worth listening to. Eric is not only a realtor, he’s a chaplain for our business.
We laid our business at the feet of God many years ago. Eric helps us at our sales meetings with prayer, he leads our company through fasts. He’s here for the day-to-day needs of our customers and clients. In fact, if you go to our website, you’ll see in the top right-hand corner a button that says Request Prayer. All of those requests go to Eric. He’s an ordained minister in the trenches with realtors, clients, and me. We talk about many of the different ways that God has showed up in his business.
I hope his stories bless you, especially if you’re in need of something in your life that you can’t quite put your finger on. Eric is proof that if you can trust God, you show up every day that good things can happen. In fact, they happen to me as well. Kings need priests and priests need kings. Sometimes, we have to be both at the same time in order to carry out the Great Commission, which is just to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, strength, and to love other people as we would love ourselves.
That’s not always easy to do. In fact, some of you might be uncomfortable by this message, but I encourage you to stay with me and to read because these are real stories of real people struggling through life and business in an effort to do it for a greater purpose. That’s why we do this show as well. I hope that you get something out of it and you’re reading. If you are, what I need from you is I need to know that you are listening.
I need to know that this is making an impact on you. One of the ways you can do that is to just reach out and let us know. You can also like and subscribe and that encourages me. It helps me show up every day and in an effort of my mission to go out and let you know that God loves you and not to give up. Please don’t do that. If you’re struggling now and you’re looking for inspiration. You’re going to find it in this show. If you want to give up, then don’t. Go on for one more day because that’s what I do.
There’s been so many things in my life that I’ve wanted to give up on, including this show from time to time because it’s a lot of work and a lot of effort. Sometimes you wonder if anybody’s reading or getting something out of it. For me, I like to hear from you and I love to hear stories of your success. Please share those with us and don’t keep us a secret.
If you like our show, please share it with people. Again, that gives me the inspiration to continue on. I wanted to thank you if you are a regular to the show because you have a lot of things that you can read to. It’s very meaningful to me that you choose this. Please read this show. It will bless you. I hope you enjoy.
Let’s start this episode with three questions. The first question is, how many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll Center of a Tootsie Pop?
At least 400 but I never got that far because I always end up crunching into it to get to the tootsie roll center.
You and everybody else. The world will never know. Question number two, do you have a dad joke pre-loaded that you could tell us?
How many do you want?
One. It doesn’t have to be the best one.
What do you call a group of people you like to go out and eat with?
What?
Taste buds.
I like that. Question three, how long have you been selling real estate?
Seventeen years.
I knew the answer to that question because you and I started together.
At the same age.
At the same time.
The same office.
It’s like I’m looking in a mirror, almost. Except I’m wearing a Voltron shirt and you’re wearing a Captain America shirt.
I don’t have a hat on.
Do you have a Voltron shirt?
I don’t.
Did you ever watch Voltron?
A little bit.
Did you? What do you remember from Voltron?
I didn’t watch a lot of it. I was more like the He-Man person and Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny.
Looney Tunes. The good stuff.
The original stuff. Not the Looney Tunes from now.
The classics. My grandpa used to sit and watch Looney Tunes like the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. I never saw a guy laugh so hard in my entire life. He would sit there and watch that stuff. Those are some great memories I have of my grandpa. Do you have any memories of your family, or grandparents?
I had two grandparents. I had four growing up, but two that was local. Remember when they had Saturday morning cartoons? We’d wake up and we’d watch Snorkels.
Your grandpa would watch that with you?
When we were on the phone. We had the long cord like a 20-foot-long phone cord.
He’d be on his phone and you’d be on your phone. You’d watch the snorkels together?
We’d laugh together.
That’s a great memory.
My grandpa Rife, he went and would take me fishing. He’s the one who taught me how to fish along with my parents, skin fish and take the scales off. When I three, I got my first knife because I sharpened one of the limestone rocks and I wanted to take the scales off like the big people were doing. I went and I used it to chop the head off of the fish and they’re like, “He needs a knife,” because I was pretty good at it.
Did you ever lose a corner of your Totin’ chip in Boy Scouts?
Never.
I never did either. For those of you that don’t know what a Totin’ chip is, in order to be certified to be able to have a knife in Boy Scouts, you would to carry a knife. You get this Totin chip. If you were ever caught doing something inappropriate with a knife, you would get a corner cut off. If you got all four corners cut off, you get your knife taken away and take the course again. You had to take it again. What’s your favorite Boy Scout knot?
I always love the square knot, left over right, right over left, and you’re done.
It’s easy. For me, it was the bow line because it’s the most functional knot. If you’re ever in a situation, if you’re ever down in a pit, this is the way it was presented to me. You need to tie a knot around yourself. A knot that doesn’t slip. When they’re trying to rescue you, they’re not choking you or squeezing your abdomen as you’re trying to get out of the hole.
Can you do it one-armed?
A one-armed bowline? I’ve never tried.
You can do that.
I would love to try that. I probably could.
Take some practice.
I would. We should do that before.
I’ve been done it in a while, but I’ve been able to do it.
We should try it.
Something fun about the square knot. You can make a half hitch out of that.
You can? How do you do that?
You do it with your left over right and right over left. You hold one end of your string up and pull the top line down and you have a half itch.
I didn’t know that. That’s pretty awesome. You’re supposed to learn two new things to stay young.
I’ve just learned one.
That’s great. It’s good to have you here because that your skill set could be valuable to people now. What’s interesting is that in many years, you and I have witnessed a full market cycle. 2006 is when we started and we got about eighteen months of great market. Except we were learning the market at that point.
We we’re learning contracts, too.
There’s learning curves, so you’re not doing a whole lot of selling those first eighteen months. Especially if you don’t have any mentorship or real training. By the time we learned how to write contracts well and serve our clients, the market totally crashed.
It was a hard day.
It was a hard half decade.
That one day, I was watching the stock market on my computer and I was like, “What am I going to do?”
We’ll talk about what you did and how you got out of it. That’s what I want to tell people because it’s hard to find veterans real estate agents that are still at it because either they came into the market later or they’re already out of it by then because real estate has a high burn rate. It’s a very emotionally intense profession. I don’t think a lot of people get that. Especially, if you don’t know what a real estate agent does or how stressful it can be.
The three things that people fear worse than death or would rather not do is public speaking, death of a spouse, and buy a house. Those three things are incredibly stressful and yet, here we are, there’s more gray hair on my face than there was in you, too. I want to talk a little bit about how you got started in real estate, how you survived the crash, and what you’re doing now. Your story could be very hopeful not just to real estate agents getting started, but also to other entrepreneurs that are getting started. Even people who already run a business and are striving to learn what they can do to be a real community standout.
Let me say this about you. I recruited probably 50 agents in the first version of our company in Worley and Associates. That was difficult because try to take your name when you’re not from around here, sticking on a company, and good luck. Try to grow it. That’s what happened to me and I’m also an introvert. It was difficult for me to try to figure out how to do this, but I’m also very driven. It’s very hard to be an introvert and driven.
For me, the formula is surround myself with incredible people. I remember talking to you a few times after I left the company that we were both with together. That was interesting because you and I had a lot of mutual respect, but never came together until you decided to come join the firm. That was a few years ago. It feels like longer than that though. I feel like we’ve been together for a long time. We’re like bros.
One of the things that I wanted to bring up was that your joining of Worley and Associates was very interesting and special because something happened to me that had never happened with any of the 50 agents that joined. I was never complimented and congratulated by so many people in this community, even outside of the real estate industry. When you chose Worley and Associates as your home, I was congratulated I can’t even count the number of times. This, “Congratulations, you’ve got a great guy. Congratulations, Eric has joined your firm. This is a good day for you.”
I was like, “Thank you. I know.” I just wanted to tell you that because you are very powerful. You’re more powerful than you know and one of the most giving people that I’ve ever met. You truly deeply care about your clients. You are the perfect member and addition, you were the perfect addition to the Island of Misfit Toys, which is what we were at Worley and Associates and continue to be now that we’re the Worley Real Estate Network and scaling.
We’re looking for those people who are underappreciated by the world, who know they can do more than what’s available to them at this moment. We come alongside these misfits and we say,
“We believe in you.” The reason why you’re a misfit is because you’re different and special. Generally speaking, everybody wants to conform but I do not and you do not. The people we’re around do not. We don’t. We are born to be something better and something different and we succeeded that. I just wanted to tell you that.
Thank you.
You’re welcome.
I have both mutual respect for you and Kelly and everyone here. This here is one of the only jobs I’ve ever had in my life where we all get along. I don’t have animosity. I don’t see it even with other members here. There’s no animosity here. If there is, I don’t know about it.
That’s fine, too. I’ve often joked that, on the East coast, they’ll tell you to your face whether they like you or not. In Los Angeles, they’ll talk about you behind your back but they’ll be nice to your face. I’ve always thought I like the Los Angeles approach. If you don’t like me, I’d rather just not know. Talk about me behind my back.
Everyone here gets along. Our culture here is different than other parts of the world, too.
When we had our event, we had this big live event in Branson. We’re doing another one in 2025. We’re calling it RanCon. It is an event for real estate agents and entrepreneurs where they can come and learn the hottest, latest, and greatest stuff. The things that are meaningful to their business that are going to move the needle in their life.
If you’re not a real estate investor, you come to this event and you become a real estate investor because you’re surrounded by real estate investors, taught by real investors. We want to talk to you about things that you don’t know yet like container homes. You’re going to see these on these shows like buying those vacant lots in Arkansas with Michael Poggi. Those shows are being released now.
It’s a cocktails and dreams live. More so than that, it’s a way for us to love on people, which is what we do. That’s why it’s so special when people come in and they feel it. It’s so hard to describe because you don’t get it. A lot of times we spend more time at work than we do at home. What environment do we want to create for other people?
You have a great environment.
I dig it. We have Mimosa Mondays and there’s no requirement to participate. We’ll pray for you, but there’s no requirement that you have one faith or the other. It’s how it is. In Teeny County, somebody described me, they’re like, “Jeramie, you’re the perfect combination of a Christian and a person who likes to have a drink every now and then.” That’s true. I’ll say this, Kelly and I have had a very difficult time finding couple friends in this area because you have to be able to be the same level of Christian and the same level of drinker.
Either you drink a little bit too much for people and you are wildly judged by them. They’ll never talk to you again or we’re the ones giving them a place to sleep the night because they can’t make it home. It’s like once or twice of that. I’ve already been through those college years. I don’t need any more college roommate type friends, especially when you’re a couple. It’s like, “It’s 10:30, I’m ready to catch some Zs here.”
Wouldn’t that be known as like, saved by the bell, the middle age years?
Exactly. Let’s talk a little bit about the way you got into real estate because you were a waiter before.
I was a fine dining waiter. I was working up a candlestick in. If you look up from the Branson landing, I watched the Branson landing get built from this little bitty old fine dining restaurant.
It got taken out by a tornado.
The 2010 leap day tornado, which is unfortunate because that was a great place. While I was there, I had some people I was waiting on. They’re like, “Eric, you need to get out of selling fine wine and lobster and go into real estate.” I’m like, “That’s funny. How cute.” The next day, it happened again. Not the same people. A different guest that came in. They’re like, “Eric, you need to get out of selling food and waiting tables and go sell real estate.” I’m like, “That’s two times in a row. Two days in a row.”
What did you think when somebody said that to you?
I laughed. I was like, “I don’t think so.”
It never crossed your mind.
That was on like a Thursday and a Friday that happened. That Sunday, I went to church and my pastor said, “Eric, I need to talk to you in my office.” I’m like, “Oh man.” Do you know how you feel like a kid being called out to the principal’s office?
That would be a tough one for me.
I’m like, “Can my wife come?” He goes, “Bring her in.” I said, “Jill, let’s go and go the principal’s office.” We went in there and Pastor Bobby goes, “Eric, you know I pray for all my people and I feel like God told me to tell you something.” I said, “What’s that?” He goes, “You need to go become a real estate agent.” I’m like, “Three times in a week.”
Confirmation, three witnesses at bore witness with your spirit.
I’m like, “All right.” At this time, we was pregnant with Connor and Connor soon to be eighteen, which it’s easy for me to keep track of how long I’ve been in the business. Jill’s decently pregnant at the time and she went. You always worry about money when you’re going to have a baby. I said, “Lord, if you want me to go I need you to provide away financially.” I went to lifetime learning up in Springfield and it was like $450.
That was your pre-licensed courses.
Both pre-licensed courses and I’m like, “Lord, you need to provide away.” A few days later, this is around the 4th of July. It was around like July 1st or 2nd. We went and I opened the restaurant that day. Before you open the restaurant, you go through and pick up the parking lot trash and cigarette butts, then go in do your shift and you leave early. You’re the first one out that day.
After the shift you always pick up the parking lot again in case there was something that came in. I found this bank envelope. It was white. I won’t forget it. There wasn’t like our best bank or any bank name on it. It was just a bank envelope and it had $550 in there. I did the right thing, wrote my name down, put it in there and put it in the office. Thirty days later, they’re like, “No one claimed it, so it’s yours.”
That was August 2nd. The next day we had a baby doctor appointment, so we went to Springfield. Jill and I had a plan to go to the appointment then afterwards, we’ll go sign myself up for real estate classes. We walk into the doctor’s appointment and the doctor comes in and says, “You all ready to have a baby now?” That’s how I can remember August 3rd is the day I got started. We got Jill settled into the room then she said, “Go sign up and come back because you know where I’m at.”
I did that and I had my books. I had everything fully funded along the way. That $550 I still had a little bit left over for gas to get up there back and forth from Branson. I feel like God called me into this business with the witnesses with him providing a way and it hasn’t been super easy. It’s not like, “My first year, I made a million dollars.” It wasn’t that way at all.
I feel like God called me into this business with the witnesses, with Him providing a way. Share on XHow did you do your first year?
I think I sold $450,000. It took me nine months to get my first sale. It was a condo over at Fox Point. I can take you right to it and point at it, but that’s when things started moving a little bit. It wasn’t anything major, but still, I was excited that I had my first sale and I had another one coming.
It took me six months to get my first sale. When it was all said and done, I made $40,000 my first year total. Maybe I did a million in volume maybe a little more than that. The next year, I did a little bit more than that. Probably a high $60,000 then by year three, I was over a $100,000 at that point. It takes about $3 million in volume in most markets in order to be a full-time real estate agent, in order to make the money.
A lot of people think real estate agents make too much money and I’m sure some do but it wasn’t the case for me. I know it wasn’t the case for you. We struggled, learned, and worked our butts off to be able to learn and operate successfully in the minefield of real estate. I’m sure people can pour concrete themselves. Some people are good at it. They’ve got a knack for it. They know how to do it. I would hire someone to pour a patio and that’s how it is with real estate, too.
There’s way more to it than people give it credit for. There are good real estate agents and bad real estate agents. As any other industry, the bad ones get the most attention and the good ones are overlooked. When we talk about all these NAR lawsuits, how does all that make you feel as a veteran in this space?
At first, I’m like, “I don’t think this is going to pan out,” then it panned out. I’m like, “We need to get a strategy together.” Captain America is strategic, so we want to go and make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward. We know what was going to happen and how we need to react with that. We may fail at first and learn from it. The main thing is you learn from it and you keep moving forward.
Faith And Real Estate: We may fail at first, but the main thing is we learn from it and keep moving forward.
Honestly, it’s going to weed out a lot of people that don’t have any value to prove.
It’s like when we first came into the business. There was 850 agents on our board and it went down to 354 or 274 or something like that.
A lot of shakeout. I remember in 2008 when the market got bad, I had picked up a waiting table’s job. I was 30 something years old and everyone else was a waiter. They’re working part time. It costs money to be in this business, so it’s a shakeout and we’re in another shakeout. I don’t to say that to deter people who are getting into the industry because there’s a ton of value that you and I received by learning real estate at the time that we did.
We learned to lift weights when there were no light weights. We learned to lift heavy weights hard and fast. By the time the good market came around, we were ready. We were fit. We just held out buckets and that’s just what we did. It was that way. Now that the market has consolidated again, we don’t want to do it but we need to do the hard things first.
Jason Yeager said in the sales meeting, “Take a cold shower.” If you’re in real estate, you better be cutting your teeth on the hard things first, doing the things that nobody else wants to do. When you’re in an environment like the one we’re in. The last sales meeting we had, I didn’t want to come on too strong but I wanted to lay down the truth for people and let them know that it’s time for us, if we’re going to win as a team, to start playing like a team. That means practicing like a team and I was overjoyed to see all of the leaders in our organization take front and center at their unique roles.
I love the role that you’re in. You’re such a blessing to me that you are a chaplain for our organization. As my pastor, Mike, who’s also been on this show. If you love leadership, please go listen to the Mike Carlton show. All I had to do was sit there and nod and say yes or no a few times. Go listen to him talk. It was a beautiful hour of wisdom. It certainly was.
He encouraged me as he saw me lay my business at the feet of God many years ago. After 21 days of prayer, God began to do good work in my business. He invited Kelly and I on a marketplace ministry trip, which was business leaders and pastors together in one room and talking about how the church and how the business world should have a good relationship. The business world can do things that the church cannot do and the church can do things that the business world cannot do. It’s so very true, but I do pastor people in a way and so do you and so do all of us who hold a leadership role.
A lot of us think at times, “I want to do more for God in my business or I want to be more courageous or I might be a Christian.” I don’t talk about my faith ever. My faith is private to me because it’s me and it’s mine. I don’t want to stand in front of God someday and have him say, “I never knew you.” I don’t want to stand in front of God someday and say, “I spit you out of my mouth.” I don’t want him to say, “You were a lukewarm Christian.”
I’m always wondering, “Am I doing enough?” That’s why I need mentors in my life who are spiritual brothers that can say, “You are doing enough. You love God. You’re good.” Toni Robbins says, “Most people underestimate what they can do. They overestimate what they can do in a year but they underestimate what they can do in a decade.” That quote has nourished me, because as we struggle and try to do everything for God, instead of being stressed out about it, what I’ve done is learn to follow the leadership of Jesus. That’s to surround myself with other business people that want to go out help people.
We’re not the arm. We’re not the pinkie finger or the body. The body has arms, legs, a torso, a brain, and a head that works and eyes and ears. It’s all of those together that we need everyone in our life that will help us make sure we’re walking a straight narrow path.
We need everyone in our life who will help us make sure we're walking the straight and narrow path. Share on XThat’s true. One of the things that these business leaders were doing is that they had a chaplain in their organization. I thought, “That’s exactly what we need,” because especially real estate. I want walking paths in the woods because people need to rest from a crazy phone call. We had a ping-pong table in our office for a long time because we needed to cut loose from time to time.
We have some drinks on Fridays sometimes. We have prayer in our office. We have all of these things that just create this environment. I often see people come down to you and confide in you. Your prayer list is so long usually most of the time. It’s a big responsibility being the chaplain of a company. Talk to me a little bit about being a real estate agent and a chaplain?
The real estate agent, that’s fun. It’s something new every day. I’ve never had two real estate transactions that ran exactly the same. Everyone’s different. Every transaction’s different. Everyone’s wants are different. A lot of people are like, “I need a three-bed and two-bath home in the $250,000 range.” We can find that. We know where to go and where to look, but that once you write the contract to closing, it never goes exactly the same.
That’s like our lives. Our lives never go exactly the same as each other. I’ve had people who was like, “I need prayer for my kids, for my health, for this or that.” The prayers are never exactly the same. Being a chaplain and a real estate and are quite similar, believe it or not. I know that there’s people that have to bear some heavy things. I’ve had to bear some heavy things and it’s hard.
I have faith in Jesus and I know that every story in the Bible was real. It’s not a little children’s storybook from like Jonah and the Whale. That’s a live thing that happened. I know it all happened for a reason and once you study a little bit more you’re like, “Here’s why this happened.” We go through things in our life where we’re like, “This is why this happened.” It’s the path God has us on. It’s amazing to see a lot of these people come back to me and they’re like, “Eric, just so you know my prayer was answered. Thank you so much for praying me through.” I know we’ve prayed in my office, your office, and in here. I don’t know how many times.
This basement is our domain.
It’s our sanctuary down here.
We could do whatever we want down here. This is like a college bachelor pad down here. We got a refrigerator in the living room. We have a recording studio own our training room.
Also, a microwave, recliners and couches. We have everything we need. A TV to train off. This here is our ministry and there’s so much that comes in and out of this place. I pray for the people that we don’t know and we do know that this building and the people inside of it will be blessed and protected from the bottom of the footers to the top of the roof from the North, South, East and West. I know that my prayers are not going unanswered. They’re all being answered. I may not hear right away on, “That just happened.” It may take a week or a month. Some of them It took a couple years, but in result, we got the prayer answered.
Tell me a story about when you started to gain traction in your real estate business. At what point did you feel that initial fear melt away like, “I’m going to be okay. I’m going to make it at this?”
I was tired of being broken tired and I cried out to God. I told Jill, I’m like, “Honey, I’m taking today off and I’m going to stay here and pray.” I got in the middle of my living room and I prayed. I’m like, “Lord, I don’t know what to do. Luckily, you know where we’re at and what’s going on. I want to go and get some relief. I want to be able to have some closings, provide for my family, be a good husband, a good dad, and have some peace even financially.”
That was my biggest burden. It was the financial burden and this was hard times coming out of the recession. A couple of hours later, I get a phone call from my buddy Josh and he said, “Eric, have you ever worked with investors?” I said, “I know a little bit about the math on how that works, but I’m not fluent, but I’m willing to learn.” He said, “Great. I’m going to have the people I worked with go in and give you a call because they’re wanting to build a portfolio of long-term rentals.” This here was hours after I said amen to my prayer.
A couple of days later, I had these clients in town. They went and they said, “Here’s what we’re looking for. We need at least 7% of cash on cash return.” I’m like, “Cash on cash return?” I google that. I’m like, “This math is easy.” I did the math and found some properties. They’re like, “Let’s go look at this one.” I’m like, “Okay.” We went and looked at it and they’re like, “It’s cute. I’m afraid that the lady who lives here.”
She was elderly. She wouldn’t be able to move out in times of a two week closing. They said, “Let’s go and do a cash deal full price and close in two weeks but let’s give her like another two and a half three weeks to move after closing.” This lady she was pushing 90 if she wasn’t in her 90s. We got that accepted. They closed on the property and they’re like, “That was good. We appreciate you working with us.”
Your investors closed on the property. They were impressed by you. The woman we’re talking about is this seller, the 90 year old woman.
We closed on it and it went well. The day that we closed, I found another property and they were already headed back to the St. Louis. I called them up and I said, “I found another property in Forsythe. Here’s what it is. It’s a 7.8% return on your money.” They’re like, “Do you think it’ll rent?” I said, “I do. It’s a nice place.” They’re like, “All right, let’s go full-price cash deal and closing two weeks.” In a month, I had two closings. That was pretty decent momentum.
Answered prayer.
That was immediate.
A fast answered. Let’s talk about that for a minute, because sometimes prayers don’t get answered so fast. What’s your take on that?
God knows our every need. He knew that we had a house payment coming up, a car payment and we had a baby, freshly born. That was Lucas. That was a big deal. We had diapers and all this stuff to buy and God answered. He heard my heart and my cry and he answered it. He’s like, “I see you’re at a place where I can mold you and make you into who you are.” That’s when it started. It was beautiful.
Even now, they’re soon to have 111 properties between here and down South. They’re building brand new stuff, duplexes, and single homes. That’s pretty decent and God’s blessing them. I prayed with them on the phone. I prayed with them while they were in some dark moments. I was able to go and pray with them.
These are your wealthy investor clients. Here’s your marketplace ministry. You have the opportunity to activate your faith during your transactions. Have you ever found anyone that’s uncomfortable with that?
You have the opportunity to activate your faith during your transactions. Share on XNot that I know of. I had one guy test me. He goes, “Are you one of those Christian guys?” I’m like, “Yes, I am. I’m one of those Christian guys.” He goes, “Good. That’s what I was hoping for. I just wanted to test you and see how you responded.” That made me go, “I wonder why he did that,” but I know why he did it.
See if you deny Him three times.
I didn’t. I honored and I’m bold. I want to go and say, “I’m a Christian. If you don’t like it I’m sorry. I’ll pray for you whether you like it or not.” There’s a lot of that I meet and they’re like, “Thank you for your prayers. My kids are doing this, or I have this.” I’ll pray with them over the phone or in person. I don’t care. I like touching lives and being that person that they know they can come to with personal needs or whatever and I don’t talk about them to other people.
That’s part of being a chaplain is the confidentiality. Speaking of that, we’re not going to say your investor’s names because they’re billionaire clients. Look at there, God sent you a billionaire to feed your family. You work for them almost exclusively through some tough times. That’s one of the things that we discovered, especially that one of the patterns that I realized early in this business. Regardless of whether it’s an upper market or a down market, the people with means are buying. They’re picking up good deals when the market’s low and they’re picking up good deals and opportunities when the market’s high.
There’s always a good deal no matter what the market is. If you can equip yourself to serve a millionaire, you will become a millionaire. You did a great job at that and you’ve blessed these billionaires that have come in and they’re picking up portfolios because they’re just using their assets wisely. They’re investing in real estate. Let me ask you this, you said the way they became billionaires was through tithing through their business. We won’t talk about their business.
It was their business, but also their personal. They do tithe with their business and they also tithe on their personal. They went and told me. Their one story I remember and it hit home was he came home from work one day and he didn’t make a sale. He sold cars and he’s like, “Honey, I didn’t make a sale.” She goes, “Honey, we need to tithe.” He said, “Honey, we don’t have the money to tithe. It’s either we tithe and go without electricity or we just have electricity.”
She goes, “I believe that you’ll have a sale. Go ahead and tithe it.” He wrote the check and the next day he sold a car. That money profit there paid the electric bill and he’s like, “We’ll all be.” He went and he said, “Lord, I’m going to trust you.” He grew this business. Unbelievable. It wasn’t him who built. It was God who built it because he asked for wisdom and knowledge on where to go. If you ask God for wisdom he’ll give it to you. You just have to ask. If you want patience, you have to pray for it but watch out.
Be careful what you pray for. If you want wisdom, you’ll get life experience. If you want patience, you’ll get a test and you will get patience for sure.
What’s neat about this couple is I built up a rapport with them and they’re like, “Eric, can you go check on our house? Eric, can we send a package to your house? It’ll be there on Thursday.” I’m like, “Yes.” I have keys to every single one of their properties, their boats, and their toys and they’re like, “If you need to go use it, go grab it.” I hop in their side by side and go grab a boat and move it from one slip to another or go pick stuff up at the SOAR forum, whatever they need.
They know that they can trust me. I want to convey that getting to know your real estate agent at a different level, they will bend over backwards for you. I don’t do it to ask for money or anything in return. I do it because we’re being neighborly. We’re helping someone out. If they’re not in town, they need a package delivered, send it to my house. No big deal.
No doubt about it, especially in this area and you. You’re also very unique to you and your business and the way you do things. You go way above and beyond I’ve seen other people do. It seems like there’s a theme here. It seems like your greatest marketing strategy is prayer and hope, and it seems to have worked for you. Why do you think that sometimes when people tithe, God will grow their business like your clients and turn them into billionaires. Sometimes when people tithe, just their basic needs are met. Any thoughts there?
My pastor, he says that tithing doesn’t discover your bills. It’s a mental, physical, relational, financial, and spiritual. God wants to go and help all areas of our life. Not just our financial needs. What if God only met our financial needs? You’d come home and you’re like, “There’s my wife. I have a broken arm, but who cares? I fell and broke my arm.” He cares about all areas of our lives.
We focus on money too much sometimes.
We do. You need money. You have to be able to pay your electric bill and first world issues.
It’s convenient. It’s hard to trade a chicken for a couple of pieces of lumber. It’s just tough for that.
God covers all areas of our life and He’s fighting battle that we don’t even know that’s about to happen or could have already happened and he blocked it.
No doubt about that.
It’s not just the financial part. I believe that my investors, my billionaire investors, they have a giving heart. They’re like, “We gave this or we gave that. God will bless us and we’re not worried about it. Maybe they send us good people. What’s funny, he doesn’t call money money. He doesn’t call it cash. He calls it resources.
He told me, he said, “Eric, your greatest resource for you is your family.” He said he was focused on his business and growing his business. It was making money and he didn’t put a lot of lot into his family. Now that he’s retired, he’s focused more on his family and bringing them together and building them up. they’re set up for forever.
That’s giving me some ideas. I could put my kids out on the highway with a hat and maybe get them to collect some cash. Maybe I could put them to work. They are the best source of cheap labor on the planet when you’re flipping a property. No doubt about it because my kids can paint like nobody’s business.
Scrape paint then pressure wash it then paint it. We’re getting ready to help out our charter organization and scouts with a house that they’re beautifying. The boys get to learn how to scrape paint and pressure wash and paint.
You put in floors over at your mom and dad’s house not long ago.
It was hard to walk the next two days.
You said you were walking around like a 40-something.
It was awful.
I know that feeling. Before I talk about this next subject, which is very fascinating. Is there any other say tips or advice or wisdom that you could part to somebody who’s maybe within their first couple of years of the business, real estate?
If you’re either going into the business or you’ve been in the business for a year, or year and a half when the market started to trend down. If you’re not getting support from your office, if they’re like, “Here’s the MLS and here’s the lockbox. Get to work.” You need to surround yourself by people who’s willing to mentor you and who’s willing to love on you. Mastermind. We have a a great new agent training here. My new agent training was like, “Here’s the MLS. You need to go to the board and get signed up. Here’s the top six contracts that you need to memorize.”
Restrooms are across the hall.
Coffee’s right here.
Pay your bill on time.
That was pretty much our training. We feed them breakfast because we break bread on the first day and it’s a six-week course. Now we’re getting ready to do more courses here on social media to the NAR. That’s pretty amazing that we offer that. If you’re a new agent go and find someone who will mentor you and love on you and say, “Here’s how I do this.” Don’t do it exactly like them because you’re different than person. Change it up a little bit.
Find somebody who will celebrate the benchmarks with you, each one, when you move forward in your life. Also, find someone who’s financially invested in your success, because why not? Wouldn’t you want somebody to win when you win if you’re not giving something away? Unless, that person is, as you described, prior, the first description, somebody who’s not helping. If somebody’s just collecting a check based on your work, you’re a donkey. You’re a pack mule. Don’t be a pack mule, is what you’re saying. Be a racehorse. Let somebody cheer you on. Be secretariat. Have you ever seen that movie, Secretariat?
No, I don’t watch a lot of movies like that.
Let me say, you must go watch Secretariat with your family. If you want, I’m not going to say anything else. I’m just going to say, it is a movie that will bless you in terms of overcoming adversity. We’re talking about a woman who was in a male dominated industry, horse racing. Go watch the movie. That’s all I’m going to say. I’m getting goosebumps watching it.
Don’t Google it. Don’t look it up. Don’t give it away, but come talk to me or text me after you’ve seen it. I will act out physically for you the last 30 minutes of the movie, or the last 15 minutes or 5 minutes or whatever the big huge climax. I will act that out for you because I’ve never experienced so much. Go watch it.
Something else I want to add. Do you remember Marietta Oakley?
I do.
We all need to have a Marietta Oakley in our life because she’s the one who showed me how to write my first real estate contract. She’s the one uh showed me the path from getting the client to closing to, “What do you do after closing as a real estate agent? Do you say thanks so much for the check and I’ll see you in 5 to 7 years?” There’s more to that. It’s relationship building true.
We need a Marietta Oakley in our life who will go and take the time to show you how to write a real estate contract, how to talk to you, and how to talk to other people. She was there my first couple of closing. She was my mentor, but I call her, “That’s my Marietta Oakley.” Everyone needs a Marietta Oakley in their life to go and mentor you. If you don’t have a Marietta Oakley mentor in your life, go find one.
Do you remember Aaron Schaffner?
I love Aaron.
I saw Aaron not too long ago at the CE class we had. Everybody needs an Aaron Schaffner in their life because when I was trying to think my way into success, in the office, in front of the computer, thinking my way into my business. He looks at me. I’m like Ernie and he’s Bert. I’m like, “Okay, Bert. I’m just going to sit here and think my way into business.” He’s like, “What are you doing there, Ern?” Seriously, he was like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “I’m just trying to figure out this real estate business.” He’s like, “Let’s go.” I’m like, “Where are we going?” He’s like, “We’re going to go inside some properties. We’re going to go look at the market.”
He brought me the cash buyer on my first sale.
He did? That’s phenomenal. He is a great dude. I wish I would have stayed in touch with him better. I should reach out to him for lunch. He was the guy that kicked me in the butt and took my business to the street level and said, “Let’s get inside properties.” We would go preview properties. If I didn’t have business, if I wasn’t showing clients, then I was inside properties. It was the act of getting inside properties that made me learn the market.
If you don’t know what your inventory is, how are you supposed to sell it? If you don’t know what the engine of the Chevy is that you’re selling, how are you going to compete with that? I got to the point where I had been in all these properties that when people would start calling me off of my magazine ad, then they would say, “What about this property on page four or whatever?” I’d open it up and I’d be like, “I was inside that property. It has this, this, and this. You told me you’re looking for this, so it won’t have that, but it does have this feature. Would you like to set up an appointment to go look at it? Let’s do it.”
They’d be in the back seat of the car, this guy and his wife. They were looking through the magazine and pointing out these things. I’d look at them and I’m like, “I saw that one not too long ago. I showed that one to a client, or that one, the price reduced on it.” That alone will impress people, so you’ve got to know your inventory. The thing that’s next for you, normally I ask people what’s next, but I know what’s next for you, so I want to just share a little bit.
I know that you’re big on networking and networking groups. I know that you were in B&I for a long time and are a huge proponent of networking groups. That was a part of your identity for a long time, but it sounds like you’re going off on your own now. You are creating something very special. Talk about that.
After a decade, I’m not in B&I anymore. God shuts one door to open another one. There’s a reason why I’m not in B&I because you know I love Jesus but I also love networking. Why not bring them together? We were down here talking together. I’m like, “Maybe I should start a marketplace ministry networking group.” You’re like, “Do it.” The funny thing is, it started to roll. “I know I want this. Here’s the flow of the meeting. Here’s how this is going to happen. I need to call people to see if they would have interest.” I don’t want to put all this together then two people show up and they’re like, “Thanks. It was my life.”
Even if two show up, you can get to twenty. It takes a while, but I’m so amazed by the explosive growth you’ve had before you even had one meeting. It’s like the way was paved before you even had the idea. It’s like people were waiting for a Christ-centered marketplace ministry group.
One lady, an interior designer. I called Holly up and I’m like, “Holly, I’m thinking about starting a marketplace ministry networking group. We’re going to have prayer and an uplifting story in there that you that we all leave the meeting feeling uplifted like we can take on today’s challenges as if it’s Thor busting through a rock. I want to see if you have interest in growing this and discipling people, loving on them. Go and share business with people. If I need a plumber. Tim, can you come help me with my plumbing? He goes into the house and like, “We need an interior designer.” Here’s Holly. We all pass business around.”
She’s like, “Eric, I’ve always said no to all these networking groups that are in Branson, but I want to let you know that you’re the first one I’m going to say yes to. Let me know when the first meeting is.” It was that easy. There’s 32 people that have either said they’ll join or they want more information on it. It’s been an idea for a month. That’s a lot of people and I didn’t call anyone last few week. It’s going to grow. I have people in my life that are like, “I want to be on this board with you. I want to help you. I want this and that.”
It’s so amazing that it’s going so smooth. Our first meeting’s the last Wednesday of the month. I’m excited for it. I already have some stuff to pitch for the uplifting story. The 10X moment is one of them with Pastor Scott Wilson, how when his dad died and how someone doing a 10X moment with him go, “I’m okay.” You have a support.
You used as a model when you had a moment in your life that was very shocking. It’s not my story to tell. I won’t say what it is but I’ll just say that it was something that would bring most grown men to their knees. Instead, you used it as a 10X moment to support and love on that family member of yours. I’ve never been more impressed by a man in my life than to watch you bear so much potential pain and turn it into honor and love.
As Jordan Peterson says in a lot of his interviews like, “You have to be able to destroy something. Good people should be a monster.” Good people should be a monster. They should be able to destroy and the act of good is restraint. It’s not doing that thing but good people need to be able to come up against evil in an equally powerful way. You’re that guy. I don’t think people appreciate you enough for that. First of all, you’re a big guy. You could crush me and most people. You just could.
You’re just faster than me.
Did you see me trip over that barbed wire and walk in the land?
Your feet was like, “Bap, bap, bap.” They were great.
The architect was like, “This guy’s pretty spry,” but you are that strong man that does restrain himself. You’re a incredibly attentive and loving husband and dad and poppy.
Times two.
You’re a grandpa, aren’t you?
Grandpa’s are old. I’m still young and cool. I’m a poppy. I had a grandpa. My dad’s a papa. I have to be a pop.
You don’t destroy. You create and you multiply and you lead with love. I think very few people on the planet do that. I wanted to admire you for that and appreciate you. You are a prophet and you’ve spoken prophetic words into my life. I’m so honored to be able to come downstairs and do life with you. These are the best days for, whether they’re good or bad. We’ve had both days, both of us. I hear your conversations and you hear mine through the wall because basically we share an office.
I’m overjoyed to get to do life with you, my brother. I just wanted to honor you for that. I wanted to tell you folks who are reading, whether you are a billionaire who wants to invest in real estate. You should definitely call Eric. If you’re somebody who wants to buy real estate or invest in real estate for the first time, Eric is somebody that can make you feel educated, honored, and excited.
No matter where you are on the spectrum of wealth, real estate investing, business, or just overall life. You can go to WorleyRealEstateNetwork.com and in the upper right hand corner of our website, you can click a box that says Request Prayer. That prayer request will go right to Eric. He is our chaplain. You don’t have to do business with us to have access to us. We love you. If you are struggling or excited, no matter where you are in your life or business. Eric and I want to stand beside you and we want to let you know that God loves you and don’t give up. Thanks for being here, Eric.
Thanks so much. It’s been fun.
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A big thank you for reading the end of our show. I know your time is valuable. I hope you got a few takeaways that are going to help you get a greater return on that time. I know you will. If you did enjoy it, I’d sure appreciate a share or a comment. Feel free to subscribe for instant access to new episodes and offers. There’s also a ton of free content and ways to learn more and engage more at WorleyRealEstateNetwork.com. Until then, we’ll continue to bring you recipes for success and real stories from real people who like you are living out your divine purpose. God loves you no matter what happens. Don’t give up.
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About Eric Houtchen
Eric Houtchen is a seasoned Realtor based in Branson, MO, bringing 17 years of experience in the real estate industry. His expertise lies in facilitating transactions for a variety of property types, including Single Family Homes, Condominiums, Vacant Land, and short-term rentals, with a focus on Airbnb properties.