From Hidden Gems To Soaring Net Worth: The Power Of Real Estate Research With Jeramie Worley
Ditch the gut feeling and unlock the treasure chest of real estate wealth forever! In this episode, Jeramie Worley, the author of Myths, Management, and Mastery of Vacation Rentals, shows us the power of real estate research. Jeramie is an authority on short-term rentals. Today, he reveals how diving into market trends, uncovering hidden investment opportunities, and strategically planning your moves can fuel your net worth for years to come. Join us! Today, we’ll explore the current state of the real estate industry, uncover core lessons for success, and show you how research can be the key that unlocks your real estate riches. Tune in and get ready to transform your financial future!
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From Hidden Gems To Soaring Net Worth: The Power Of Real Estate Research With Jeramie Worley
If you’re a coach, you’re going to love what I have for you. My software platform ClientFol.io has been helping hundreds of coaches save time on admin and get better results from their clients while generating powerful client testimonials for the work that they’ve done. The reason that I offer this is because I couldn’t find it when I needed it myself as a coach. We do this by tracking accountability and holding clients to it. We then collect actual stats on their weekly performance. After coaching someone for months using the system, you not only have proof that you could show them but you could show others how effective you are as a coach. If you’d like to give it a try, it’s $1. You can go to GetClientFolio.com and give it a spin. Now onto my amazing guest and his incredible story.
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He accidentally discovered a hidden flaw in the home brokerage business model. With nothing but relentless grit, drive, and advice from a kindergartner, he uncovered patterns that led him to a fortune. Starting as a realtor in 2006, he quickly became the number one independent brokerage in Branson, Missouri by understanding the market. When he realized exactly what drove that market, he exploded and decided to expand again. He’s going to tell us all about that. He’s also the esteemed author of Myths, Management & Mastery of Vacation Rentals and the host of Cocktails & Dreams Real Estate Podcast. Welcome, Jeramie Worley, to the show.
Thank you, Mitch. I’m very happy to be here
My pleasure, Jeramie. You have such an incredible story. Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell us how this all got started for you?
I had decided to make a career change in my life. I’m a trained actor. I have a degree in Theater and Directing. I’ve worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company. I’m an alumnus of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. I spent my time learning to use my craft, listen, be on stage, and create performances. I can tell you why I chose that career maybe a little bit down the road because it coincides with the same reasons why I chose a real estate career.
At the end of one career, my priorities had shifted because I was in Los Angeles and the economy was beginning to tank. There was only one other passion that I had in my life. I didn’t want to live in California because I just had a daughter. It was miles and miles away from my family and family is very important to me. I wanted my children to grow up around their family.
I was traveling back to Missouri. I spent my last $3,500 on a moving truck to get back to Missouri. I got my real estate license and then had to begin this journey up a mountain to I didn’t know where. I just knew that I was passionate about real estate. It was a pathway towards wealth but I didn’t know how to get there and that’s where I started.
Out of curiosity, being a real estate broker is every housewife’s ultra part-time activity. Few of them make a few dollars here and there. There are people like you who take it on real seriously and turn it into something much more. What would you say is the opportunity in 2024? This happened in 2006. Is that right?
It did. When I got my real estate license, there were over 840 real estate agents in my market. I’m in a small market. To give you an idea, there are normally maybe 400 to 500 agents who can survive in this market and only 20% of those are working a full-time gig. You have to sell about $3 million worth of real estate volume in my market to make a living wage. 80% of those agents are doing less than $1 million in volume. You’re right. There are a lot of housewives, waiters, and plumbers out there working in the real estate business. The opportunity in 2024 is in niche specialization. If we can no longer be general practitioners of real estate, we have to find something to specialize in and that’s how you get out in front of the pack early in your career.
Myths, Management And Mastery Of Vacation Markets
You wrote a book about vacation markets. The name of the book is Myths, Management & Mastery of Vacation Rentals. Out of curiosity, because I’m always wondering about this, where are the myths? What did people think that isn’t true or what is it that people don’t know about vacation markets? Most people think, “We can have a month off and live in our second home and then Airbnb for the rest of the time.” Is that normal? Is that the way people think? Is that wrong?
It is normal. Even before Airbnb and before any large-scale data that we had, it was Harvey Dent who did large-scale real estate demographics in his Dent report, which is controversial. Not everybody follows his line of thinking, although he had some major wins and misses. The general idea of real estate demographics and the lifestyle trend of human beings as they grow up and buy real estate still makes sense, except that the demographic is changing but the overall arc is we’re on our own. You might camp out on somebody’s couch for a while because you’re young, twenty-something, trying to make it move into a new town.
You get an apartment, maybe get married, buy a house, maybe buy a second home, and then downsize again into retirement. That overall arc doesn’t change except for the fact that the starting point for people to own that second home, that American dream of owning that place where you can go, recharge, and relax has gotten the age demographic of people that are able to buy that has been reduced considerably. It used to be around 55 to 65 but Millennials have moved into the largest purchasers of short-term rentals and vacation homes in the market. Eighteen percent of Millennials are buying second homes before they buy their primary home as well, which is a very interesting statistic.
They’re not buying it for the same reason as before. They’re buying it as a business opportunity, it sounds like.
In some cases but when you think about it, what we’ve discovered about the Millennials that we’ve worked with in selling regular residential real estate versus second home ownership is that in a lot of cases, especially in large urban areas, Millennials don’t want to own anything. They want to rent. They want a maintenance-free life. Lifestyle is more important than maintaining the thing but they still want to own something. They still want to own a piece of ground somewhere.
Second Home Ownership
They’ll go and buy something within an hour and a half away from that major metro because they want the opportunity to buy something. They want to personalize something. This is all demographics. People want to put their finger on it. They want that place to go that’s building equity. Everybody wants to build equity. Everybody wants that second home, that piece of ground, that little corner of America that they can go in and hang their hat.
Our personal home isn’t a huge asset. For some of us, it’s a liability because it doesn’t make us any money. It costs money to maintain. We’re gaining equity in that home but the Airbnb business model has given people maybe a bigger vision for what they could do with some of their disposable income and some of their assets in those medium and long-term buckets. It certainly has given the average Joe pathway to tremendous wealth and cashflow. That’s how I have seen it work in my life and the lives of the people that I coach.
Our personal home isn't a huge asset. It's a liability because it doesn't make us any money. It costs money to maintain. Click To TweetAlthough the desire to own something hasn’t changed, the desire to own it in a different or unique way has, is what I’m hearing. I don’t know about you but when I finally got to the point where I could make a purchase and buy a home, I did so. I was 28 at the time. The first piece of property that I owned was a four-decker building. It was a four-unit apartment building in maybe not the nicest part of the town in Boston, Massachusetts.
I was thrilled that I was able to live there almost rent-free because the three other units paid for my rent and all expenses, including the mortgage. For me, that was my very first venture into real estate. Ever since then, with one small exception after a divorce, I’ve owned where I lived. The part where it’s interesting to me is the secondary market and the young people who are approaching this differently. If you believe that this is a trend that will continue, what comes next? Is what comes next with no ownership at all? You said both when you were describing that young person’s desire before.
Let’s back up and talk a little bit about the philosophy and history of second home ownership. When I moved from California, I didn’t have any real estate training whatsoever. I had bought one home for myself that I had sold and moved to California, rented, and then came back. I didn’t know much about owning a real estate business. I had read a lot of books on flipping and owning real estate. I didn’t have any money at that time.
The broker that I was with didn’t provide any real training. I was at a Realty Executives business model where I had to pay a certain amount of transaction fee and a monthly fee. If I didn’t produce every day when I showed up, I was going negative. There was this intense drive for me to succeed. I had eighteen months of learning the real estate curve before the market crashed in 2008. To give people a frame of reference, in 2008, there were no buyers anywhere in the marketplace. Not only that but when you were lucky enough to find a buyer, there was no bank that would be willing to give you a loan for that.
Here I am in Branson, Missouri with a new real estate license, trying to sell second homes because weren’t a lot of first-time homebuyers come into Branson. It’s more of a retirement second home destination to give you a frame of reference. Ten million visitors come to Branson every year. The population is about 20,000. That’s the overall demographic. What do you do? You’ve got to feed your family. I began to recognize patterns.
There were only two people that were buying at that time. One was investors. There were a lot of bottom feeders. There were people looking to scoop up great deals. The other was people who had a need to keep their family together, even in dark economic times. This was the first major a-ha that I had. At that time, the demographic of people who wanted to buy a second home in a resort community were people who were probably 55 to 65. Their kids were in late high school or maybe early college and were starting to connect with spouses and form families of their own.
Mom and Dad, the patriarch of the family, were desperate to find a way to hold that family unit together. They would look for a second home in a resort community that they could offer and provide for the whole family to come. It’s my understanding that once kids move out, they don’t come back. They were looking for a way to do that and the economy was in shambles at that time. Those properties, in addition to providing that person the ability to rent it out when they weren’t using it, for the first time in history, could buy a house that was big enough for them and their entire family and afford it.
When people would come to Branson and they had $65,000 that they wanted to invest in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo, and this was several years ago so you can see how prices have changed considerably, they would hire me to take them out and help them find a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo. I would say, “How many people do you have in your family?” They’d say, “There are eight of us.” I was like, “How are you all going to fit in a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo?” They’re like, “We’re a close family.” I was like, “Have you slept on an air mattress? Do you know what this feels like?”
I began to show them how they could take that $65,000 and use it as a down payment. On a $300,000 property, there was a 5-bedroom property that would earn this much per month. I began to show them the numbers behind the short-term rental economy and how with very minimal risk, they could earn a considerable amount of income and make this property profit wildly for them. I showed the amazing tax shelter for them.
Understanding The Short-Term Rental Game
It was a yes almost every time. I would check on those people weeks and months later, “How’s it going?” They say, “Jeramie, this property is kicking but we want to buy another one.” That became the driving force behind it. Kelly and I also were buying them at the time and learning the management behind them so we would provide general advice to our clients for free because we wanted to help them succeed.
My book became the system that I used to answer the first 50 regular questions that people had. Every time somebody would come to my market, they would get excited. We’d look at properties and then also they would go back home. I would call to check on them as good salespeople do. They’d be like, “Jeramie, we had a great time with you. We were in Branson but I’m busy with my laundry and my kids’ college and soccer.”
I intentionally put my face on the book so that I could hand them a book, they could drive home with it, put it on their counter, and my beady little eyes would be staring at them until they opened up that book. I would call them back and say, “Have you read the book? I’m not calling to sell you anything. I’m calling to check on your knowledge and education.” They’d be like, “I’m going to crack it open tonight.” That book is a class in a book.
It’s a step-by-step version of everything that you need to know to understand the short-term rental game. It allowed me to have engaging conversations with them to keep them excited and buying. I felt purposefully great because I was helping them hold that family unit together. It created a lot of joy for me to be able to see that happen in somebody’s life.
I’ll tie that back into the reason why I was in entertainment. I wanted to create joy in people’s lives. Making somebody laugh and forget their troubles, for me, was a great joy. Helping somebody break the barrier of financial freedom is also a tremendous joy for me. That’s why I’ve found myself hanging in this industry. Even though the demographic has changed and it’s younger, the Millennial demographic wants to own a piece of America and build something unique and special to them. They want to have a retreat. All of the reasons are the same, even though the demographic has changed somewhat.
The reasons are the same. The demographics have changed. Some of the structures that you described are what I would call education-based selling. What you were doing was instead of saying, “You want a 2-2. We could find you one of those. Let’s look at this one.” You were doing something much different than that. You were trying to understand the reason why they were there and what they were looking for. From what I’m hearing, you realize that there were some patterns here and reasons why these people kept coming to your area, looking for these types of places.
The Current State Of Affairs
Jeramie, this goes back a while since you started doing this. What has changed? We are in an economy where I don’t know if you want to call it a bubble economy. No one knows if there’s a depression coming. No one knows anything and seems to care. What is your impression of the state of affairs? This will date us to March 2024 but at the same time, it will provide perspective to people who have been doing this a long time or have purchased real estate throughout their lives. What do you think?
The biggest challenge that I’m dealing with in my business is helping people understand this massive paradigm shift in this industry. I feel like a canary in the coal mine like I did before Airbnb existed. I was shouting from the rooftops telling people, “You guys have got to get into the Airbnb business.” It was the vacation rental business at that time and then it was the short-term rental business because there’s more than just vacation rentals.
There are hospital stays in major metros, big sports games, and college towns. There are a lot of reasons why somebody would want to use a short-term rental above and beyond vacation. Now, it’s like Kleenex. It’s no longer a tissue. It’s an Airbnb. That whole lexicon of the industry has changed. Back then, I had to lie to people to get them to buy an Airbnb. What I mean by that is a 5-bedroom, 3-bath would earn about $50,000 in gross income in my market.
People didn’t believe it. You’re a salesman. You’re like, “I don’t want to listen to you anymore because the words you’re saying are gross and wild. You’re making numbers up out of the air.” I would tell them, “You would only earn $25,000. Go ahead, go for it.” They were happy with that. When they earned $50,000, they were like, “This did way better than I thought.” “I know. Do you want to buy another one? It’s time to add to the portfolio.”
People were more willing to take risks back then than they are now. They had more faith back then than they are now. They want data and information. It’s good and bad. I’ll tell you why. Back then, I had to beg people when I sold them a property like, “This is one of the best reasons why you can be such a great relationship-based salesperson. The people that I sold the property to trusted me enough with their tax returns.”
I had to ask them for their tax returns for their Schedule C or Schedule E, depending on how they took title of the property. I would black out their name and Social Security number. I would show that to the next prospective buyer. I would even connect them and say, “Here’s a couple of families that I’ve done business with. Feel free to give them a call. This is legit and real.”
I dragged so many people into the short-term rental business, kicking and screaming only to have increased their net worth tremendously. The buyer has changed. It’s no longer a person wandering into the short-term rental asset class saying, “Show me how to make money.” There’s data available to people. Most of it is bad. They wander about exactly what income a 2 bedroom versus a 5 bedroom will do. They’ll wander in looking at occupancy rates and they need to have access to data.
If they don’t have access to data, they’re not going to make a purchase. If that particular property doesn’t have a twelve-month history of income, then it’s not a favorable property to them. They would highly favor a property that did over one that didn’t, which makes it tough for new construction, new developments, and new areas.
Look For An Opportunity, Not A Deal
The reason why I said it’s good and bad is it’s good because they are making smart decisions based on educated guesses and data. In some cases, they’ll miss out on opportunities. In my book, I always tell people to look for an opportunity, not a deal. I learned this back in 2008 when everybody came out of the woodwork looking to buy a foreclosure.
Look for an opportunity, not a deal. Click To TweetThey’re like, “I want a foreclosure and a short sale.” I’m like, “First of all, there’s nothing short about a short sale and there’s nothing real sexy about a foreclosure. You can get a deal but a lot of people don’t realize the mold, issues, and unkept properties that you have to get into. You know that the property that you had took extensive repair.” People don’t realize the cost of that. I began to ask people a question, “If I could find you a motivated seller, would that be okay for you, as opposed to a foreclosure?”
Back then in 2008 when I was listing properties, I primarily had to hold people’s hand and get them to show up with $20,000 to be able to close on the property because they were upside down on the loan. Helping people exit a property that would no longer cost them money, even though it costs them money to exit was the sales pitch. I found people who were willing to pick up good deals or opportunities. It helped me sell more property by reframing the thought process in somebody’s mind. We still see people miss opportunities in the short-term rental world but for the most part, if you don’t have access to high-quality data, you’re still guessing.
If you don't have access to high-quality data, you’re still guessing. Click To TweetI’d like to look at the changes to back when you started until 2024. Back when you started, people could invest $65,000 and potentially 5X to 10X their money in 10 or 15 years. I’ll ask you a series and you can answer them any way you want. 1) Does that still hold true in 2024? 2) There were lots of opportunities back then. Sometimes people don’t realize they are opportunities. In 2024, are there lots of opportunities?
3) Going back to the first part of what I asked, we’re in a different financial climate. What is your prediction or thinking about where this is taking us? We have the idea that interest rates will go down but who knows? Maybe they won’t. We have the idea that the economy is good but maybe it’s not. There are a lot of unknowns, maybe even more so than ever before. Where do you stand on all of this? How are you looking at this world?
We could hang out here for a long time if you want. The answer is there’s always a good deal if you’re looking for it. It might be harder to find but we have witnessed the short-term rental asset class be born and matured right in front of our very eyes. We haven’t had the opportunity to do that with any sub-asset class like storage units. We’ve seen it happen with maybe Uber. The sharing economy has created a lot of new things that we’ve been able to see mature.
We’ve seen a lot of people who have no knowledge of the short-term rental industry. We’ve seen a massive surge and increase in short-term rental inventory and buyers. We’re seeing a consolidation phase. The massive problem in the short-term rental industry is that a lot of people came rushing into the industry because they heard we could make money but they didn’t necessarily realize that they had to be good hosts and they were getting into the hospitality business.
We’re seeing a lot of people scramble to find a good property manager. They don’t have to handle the property so their income is reduced because they’re paying for that property manager. That’s another reason why they’re scrutinizing their numbers and why they’ve got some assets. Occupancies are relatively low because the economy is tightening the availability of disposable income for families. Maybe people don’t go on vacation.
The cool thing about a place like Branson is that it’s in driving distance from half of the nation. Missouri has eight border states. A 3 to 6-hour drive is half the United States. Branson tends to be a recession-resistant town. The short-term rental industry tends to be a recession-resistant asset class. Think about it. Four families can pool their resources and get something much nicer and cheaper than four individual hotel rooms. Plus, you can cook all of your meals right there.
Instead of paying $75 to go to IHOP, you can spend a couple of cents on eggs and sausage and make some scrambled eggs for people. It’s a much better, wholesome, and even healthier experience for some people while they’re sipping coffee and looking at a gorgeous lake view. This is one of the reasons why a town like Branson succeeded wildly when it did. Most of America has maybe heard of Branson because they’ve heard it being made fun of on The Simpsons or something like that. They think of Dolly Parton and Mel Tillis. They think of old, retired, and washed-up people.
Branson has some of the most beautiful lakes, the best fishing, and the absolute best shopping, outlet stores, and entertainment all within driving distance of half the nation. For the longest time, it was the nation’s best-kept secret because the average home price was so low compared to the ADR, Average Daily Rate, or that per night rent that somebody could rent the property for. Branson was commanding the same level of income on a 4 to 6-bedroom that Orlando was but the inventory was considerably less.
People had the opportunity to win big in Branson by purchasing about anything. Anything that anybody bought from 2006 to 2012 has increased in value. From 2006 to 2012, short-term rentals were the only asset class in Branson that increased in value over time. When other assets were subject to the overall macro market trend of dipping in value before they came back up in value, short-term rentals continued to tick upwards and shut down a lot of the foreclosures in a lot of the communities because people switched over and started renting these houses out. In a lot of ways, the short-term rental asset class protected a lot of communities.
One of the things we’ve discovered is that because so many people rushed into the industry, the industry is experiencing fragmentation, which is creating opportunities. That fragmentation is more for the user, not for the buyer of the asset. It’s like, “Me and you, Mitch, we want to go on vacation. We want to go somewhere in Colorado.” If we were going to stay in a hotel and we wanted to go to Motel 6, you’d be like, “Jeramie, I’m not a Motel 6 guy. I’m more of a Ritz-Carlton guy.” I’m like, “Let’s go stay at a Ritz-Carlton.”
You and I both know what to expect from those brands but the short-term rental industry, for the most part, doesn’t have those brands yet. Some are emerging but there are no brandings. We are subject to reading the reviews of past guests every single time on every single property that we want to stay at but if somebody were to come along and create a branded short-term rental, that’s a massive opportunity. That’s what we’re coaching a lot of our new clients to do.
I also became a shareholder in a company called Vrolio. They asked me to take over as CEO to begin to lead this company to success. Vrolio is a data provider. It provides the absolute best investment-grade data for short-term rentals, mid-term rentals, and soon-to-be long-term rentals. This is where the biggest opportunity lies. It ties into everything that I’ve previously said.
We’ve got a recession looming, these recession-resistant asset classes, and a situation where, for the most part, some markets are overbought. The reason why I say some markets is because there are incredible opportunities out there and I classify those as emerging markets. These are markets where people are looking for a destination getaway, not a busy vacation getaway. They’re looking for a retreat and a unique property that they can take a picture of themselves and their significant other in front of. They’re looking for those adventure stays and unique things. They create awe in emotion the minute you drive up to them.
One example of an emerging market would be outside of Gatlinburg, which is an established market, which is overbought. It’s hard to make the numbers work because you have to go in and spend millions to be able to buy an established property that probably has a lot of deferred maintenance, or it’s a new property so you’re buying it top end of market value. You have to make that property work as a host. You have to be a successful host to make emerging market properties succeed.
Cosby, which is about 45 miles outside of Gatlinburg but still close to hiking, is farther away from the attractions but still a great destination vacation where somebody could buy and earn 75% of the income that they could earn in the proper actual attraction city. The acquisition price is so much lower. The opportunity to get appreciation is much higher. The opportunity to increase rents is much higher. Another example of this is Omaha, Arkansas.
In Branson, Missouri, ten million people come to stay per year but maybe people are tired of staying in a condo. If they wanted to drive twenty minutes farther and have a nice lake view property in the woods and it’s a little bit more country than having people stare at them or having beach towels off of every rail and every condo complex, and they would rather see roadrunners, turkeys, pileated woodpeckers, and things like that, those emerging markets are where the best opportunities lie.
Those emerging markets are where the best opportunities lie. Click To TweetThe next best opportunity in those established markets is tired hosts. You and I have heard of tired landlords. Many investors for years bought tired landlord lists. We’re looking for tired hosts, people who have their hand up and say, “I’m ready to exit. Let’s give you a good deal.” Vrolio, the company that I’ve bought into and led, is the only place where we can go get tired landlord lists and provide them to the people that we coach.
Let’s broaden this out a little bit. We have people reading from all over the country and maybe even other countries. What are the 4 lessons that you can extract from your 15 to 20 years of experience that I can apply in 2024? Take into account the date and time that we live and the fact that the economy is getting tighter and a lot of people don’t have the cash they did earlier when things were back in the 2000 era, which isn’t that long ago and the economy was much better. That’s my opinion but I think it was. What should people do in 2024? We can look for tired hosts. That’s one. Should we start to think more about the traditional market again or do you believe that vacation rentals are still where the opportunity and future are? What is your opinion?
There is a ton of steam behind the short-term rental industry. Airbnb reported that 1.64 million nights were rented in September 2023 alone. It’s a $64 billion industry. There’s a lot of steam behind this industry and every industry has a skyrocketing phase. It’s healthy to see a pullback in any market. This is where we are. We’re in the healthy pullback of the short-term rental industry.
The opportunities still exist. When I coach people on fully understanding the power of the short-term rental industry, I take them through three examples. We probably don’t have time to go in-depth into the examples but to skim the surface, when you look at long-term rental versus short-term rental and the actual cashflow, when you do a napkin pitch, I call it, you can go to my website, the Worley Real Estate Network and Worley Real Estate Network YouTube channel.
On there, I’ve got these pitch videos where I show you exactly on the back of a napkin in three minutes how a short-term rental will outperform a long-term rental. It’s three and a half times the cashflow. It’s a massive a-ha when you walk somebody through that illustration. A 3 bedroom, 2 bath long-term rental might only earn $12,000 to $20,000 per year annually. It’s the most gross income you can get. That’s a human being occupying your property 365 days of the year.
A short-term rental off of a 60% vacancy rate will produce three and a half times the cashflow. I can show people how the same 3 bedroom, 2 bath will do $45,000, $55,000, or $60,000, depending on the market. By that same illustration, I can show people how a 9-bedroom short-term rental will outperform a 12-unit apartment complex. Using the same logic, I can show people how a 12-bedroom short-term rental will outperform a 15,000-square-foot commercial building.
What you’re doing is significantly increasing the amount of involvement the owner has in the property. Whereas in a long-term rental, you rent it from somebody. You pay your rent and everybody’s happy. As in a short-term rental, as a tired host after two years of doing this, you want your life back. There are certainly ups and downs. We are coming to the point in our interview where I need to ask you some very personal questions. Some of them are fun and I hope you like them.
What you shared is very valuable. There’s going to be a way for people to get closer to working with you and understanding what you do. We’re going to get into that in a minute. First, let me ask you these questions. I’ve been asking these questions for years. I’ve been hosting my show since 2017. It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve always enjoyed doing it. These questions have been the cornerstone of the entire show. Here’s the first one. Who in all of space and time would you like to have one hour to enjoy a walk in the park, a quick lunch, or an intense conversation with?
This is probably maybe a trite answer but for me, the answer is not trite at all. It would be Jesus Christ, simply because it’s taken me all of my life to move from obedience and honor to love for this human being who walked the planet. It wasn’t until I had the opportunity to lead that I finally understood the mind and the heart of Jesus Christ. Take away the majesty, Messiah, and miracles.
We have an individual who cared so deeply for twelve people that He lived with them for three years. Three of those people were his leadership team and he spent even more time with them. In addition to exemplifying the things that he was teaching, he taught large groups of people and then pulled them aside and said, “This is how I taught them. This is why I taught them this.” The best thing that he could do was to leave them. I used to walk around.
If you study the leadership style of Jesus, it is incredible because it’s compassionate, firm, and intelligent. When the disciples would come to him and say, “Rabbi, you have to feed these people.” He would say, “You feed them.” He sent them out to go get the resources. They had to find somebody willing to provide resources. Those resources were brought to Jesus and He multiplied them. It’s funny though because if I were to go back and I would ask Jesus, we would all want to say, “What’s the most important thing that you said?”
Somebody already asked him that. It’s written. What is the greatest of all the commandments? It’s to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. That’s it. I would want to go back, be in that presence, absorb, learn, and have a moment with this person who split time in half. There are BC and AD. I look forward to having that conversation with Him someday because that’s the pathway that I’m on. I’ll get my chance.
You will. It’s funny because He’s popular on this show. We hear him come up a lot as an answer to that question but I’ve rarely even heard a similar answer twice. Everybody has a different reason. I love that idea. I’ve heard people say Elon Musk. Sure, we know who Elon is and all that but there’s a different reason that everyone has. The beauty of this question is it allows us to understand why.
You want to meet a historical figure. We’ve had people say Churchill but it wasn’t because he was famous that they wanted to meet him. It was because they could learn something from him. That’s exactly what I heard from you too. Great answer. Thank you very much. Here’s the grand finale, the change the world question. What is it that you are doing or would like to do that truly has the potential to change the world?
I feel like my business partner, Erica Muller, and I are on the pathway to change the way real estate investing is done from here on out. If I were to ask you, “Go find me a 1-pound gold nugget somewhere in America and you have 15 seconds to do it,” what are you going to do? By the time you pick up the phone, your time is up. What if I asked you to find me five 1-pound gold nuggets somewhere in America? With the software that Erica has developed and the plan that we’ve come up with together, with a couple of clicks, you can log on and based on the amount of cash that you have that you want to invest and the amount of return that you’d like to get, you can find exactly it in America. We can analyze 15,000 real estate markets at once and find exactly where you want to invest.
Let’s say the value of a 1-pound gold nugget is $22,000 and I wanted $22,000 in cashflow every year from one property, I type that into the software and it will show me lines of cities and property types where I could go get that return. That starts the process of my education. Through the process of acquisitions and some more engineering that we want to build, once we acquire that long-term rental data, we’ll have short-term rental, mid-term rental, and long-term rental data right down to the actual address. When you type in in a few clicks exactly what you want your return to be, we’ll be able to show you the city and exactly which properties within that city to buy that will help you get that return.
What is the URL of the product that you’re talking about?
Go to Vrolio.com. That’s the website where you can learn about the product. It is a B2B product so it’s not a B2C product. It’s a product that we provide to real estate professionals so that they can white-label the general overall consumer. They can come to us and get a little demo of it. Real estate professionals subscribe to the product and then they can give for free this information to their real estate investors who are their customers or clients, their real estate team if they’re a property management company, or their acquisitions team if they’re real estate investors, or the appraisers and lenders. Any real estate professional who wants access to this extremely accurate data can subscribe.
It’s like the MLS model, would you say? That used to be a subscription only to the industry model. It’s changing as you know. There are websites that access MLS where you can be a consumer, look up, and get the same information.
It is why we have such a heart for real estate agents. We’re no longer in the information age. We’ve exited that some time ago. Information isn’t that valuable anymore because it’s so free and prevalent. We’re in the automation age. We’re in this AI age where we want things done for us. I recognized all of the trends in the industry so I’m realizing that investors want automated underwriting devices. They don’t want to spend 2 hours underwriting 10 properties. Agents don’t either.
Our software allows you to underwrite 10 properties in 2 minutes. It’s ridiculously easy and fast. Data is sexy. A lot of people like data. Data by itself is numbers. The data has to be normalized. We have to use the data to ask better questions. Here’s a use case that answers one of the past questions that you asked. For example, my wife, who is transactional, had some investor clients who came to town and got a question that she’s never been asked ever before in history.
It was, “I’m looking for a short-term rental that’s a low performer in an area where there are high performers because I want to get a deal.” Luckily, she subscribes to the software. She gets in there and finds a pocket of high earners, highlights the low earners, cross references the MLS, and has one on the market. She has clients coming in town to hopefully sell them a property that they can buy at a discount and then restore.
If people want to get a hold of you, they’d go to WorleyRealEstateNetwork.com. Is that correct?
Yes. They can go there and contact us through the forms. They can also email my admin, Beth, for access to the masterclass that I’m very willing to give out to people. It’s that intro-level masterclass for short-term rentals. It’s everything that you need to know. I designed it for real estate professionals. If you’re a consumer, you’re going to get way more than you bargained for but it’s all pro-level education. It will serve them.
At that time, they can always talk to my assistant Beth about getting connected with a great real estate agent. I’m old school so I like to connect with people and get them in touch with somebody fast. Automated forms are good but I like to serve humans and make sure that we get a chance to talk to them and find out what their investment goals are. Also, pair them with a real estate agent who also makes a good fit for them.
The gift sounds amazing. It’s a full course with lots of great information in a series of videos. You can access this gift by sending an email to [email protected]. Jeramie, it’s been a pleasure. It was great meeting you at BA. We spent some time together. I was interviewed for your show and you’re interviewed for mine. I enjoyed our time together again as well.
I did too. I connected with you when you were a guest on my show. You’re so generous with your time and actual personal story. Of all the people that I’ve interviewed, it is one of the most spectacular. It’s an honor to be associated with you. You have a long list of accolades. I want to be like you. I’m not so big on football. The Kansas City Chiefs are my home. They won the Super Bowl. If you could get me a Mitch Russo jersey, I would wear it. You’re a tremendous man and I admire you.
Thank you, Jeramie. I’ll work on the t-shirt but for now, it’s not in the cards. Have a great time. We will talk again soon.
We’ll see you, Mitch.
Important Links
- ClientFol.io
- Myths, Management & Mastery of Vacation Rentals
- Cocktails & Dreams Real Estate Podcast
- Vrolio
- Worley Real Estate Network
- Worley Real Estate Network – YouTube
- [email protected]
- Show – Past episode on Worley Real Estate Network featuring Mitch Russo
About Jeramie Worley
Jeramie accidentally perfected the second home brokerage business model in the worst real estate market in history. With nothing but grit, relentless drive, and the advice of a kindergartener, he excelled in recognizing patterns in real estate.
Fast forward to today, he is founder of the Worley Real Estate Network, A servant leader, with the privilege of uniting a global real estate team brokered by eXp Realty, with
HQ in Branson, MO. His team serves:
Agents
Investors
Real Estate Developers
Buyers and Sellers of Short Term Rental Real Estate Portfolios
Retail and Commercial Buyers and Sellers
Large Real Estate Project Managers
Jeramie served as a top-producing realtor beginning in 2006. He then opened a brokerage in 2011 and quickly became the number one independent brokerage in the Branson, MO area. In 2022 he made the decision to scale that successful model around the globe.
Jeramie is the author of the highly acclaimed MYTHS, MANAGEMENT & MASTERY OF VACATION RENTALS, second edition. His service to STR real estate investors has earned him regular speaking engagements on the topic of team building, short-term rental investing, and getting a greater return on your time. He is the host of the Cocktails and Dreams Real Estate Podcast and is looking to connect with people who want to share their unique secrets to success.
Get a sample of his inquisitive and entertaining style here: https://cocktailsanddreams.buzzsprout.com/1998864
Jeramie’s primary goal is to expand his network with other service-oriented leaders.
Please send any inquiries by email to Jeramie’s assistant, Beth, at [email protected]
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