Christopher Watters of Watters International Realty: Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry

An Interview With Jason Hartman

Just because you went through real estate school doesn’t mean you’re ready to sell a home. Go find someone to shadow and be mentored by. Coaching and training is a lifelong event in real estate to stay relevant and successful. Real estate school is just the beginning of your learning journey.

As a part of my series about the ‘Five Things You Need To Know To Succeed In The Real Estate Industry’, I had the pleasure of interviewing Christopher Watters.

Christopher Watters has been a trusted real estate advisor to families across Central Texas for the past 15 years. In 2010, he founded his own practice, Watters International Realty and later began opening branches across the country. Watters holds multiple advisory roles in technology and real estate investment companies with a personal goal of helping to create positive and lasting change to enhance the consumer experience.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the Real Estate industry?

I had a lawn mowing business through college. When I was in my final semester of college, one particular customer of mine in real estate suggested I learn more about it. I am a marketer at heart and thoroughly enjoy the high from getting a sale. After getting some exposure to what a day in the life of a real estate agent was like, I knew that this was for me.

Can you share with our readers the most interesting or amusing story that occured to you in your career so far? Can you share the lesson or take away you took out of that story?

I went on an appointment in a beautiful neighborhood located in a suburb of Austin called Round Rock. The seller’s home looked very nice on the exterior like every other home in the neighborhood. When I walked inside though I was surprised to say the least as to what I found.

I called it the 50 shades of grey home. The master bedroom had the sheet rock ripped off and thick rubber paneling covering the walls and ceiling. There were a variety of devices that looked like it was from medieval times. The master bedroom closet has been ripped down to the studs. The 2 x 4s had been replaced with metal pipe. It was a jail cell with various types of restraints.

The seller told me to show myself around. He said very little, signed the paperwork, and told me to get it sold ASAP. The house received an over-asking price offer from someone in the BSDM community who loved the upgrades in the Master. There is a buyer for everything, you just need to know your target audience.

Do you have a favorite “life lesson quote”? Can you share a story or example of how that was relevant to you in your life?

“It’s not the fear of what you don’t know, it’s the fear of what you know that’s not so.”

This resonated with me when I got started in real estate and was in my early 20s. I started making assumptions about what worked and didn’t early in my career. Then I learned sometimes you’re just a few millimeters away from doing something super innovative that I had previously couldn’t get to work.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We’re building technology to integrate the software used by mortgage companies, real estate agents, and escrow officers at the title company. The goal is to make a more seamless experience for the consumer by keeping everyone on the same page and reducing the friction between each of these three industry participants that are vital to a successful closing.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Innovative consumer facing programs to create more certainty and convenience for our clients.

1. With inventory low, sellers are concerned where they will go after the sale of their home. This caused us to create a guaranteed rent back program for sellers. After the sale of their home, we would guarantee the seller up to three months to live in their home until they found the dream home. Our marketing and copy writing team set expectations with buyers and it worked beautifully.
2. After the freeze in Texas (February 2021) the entire state was without power for a week. We began getting calls from homeowners who had broken pipes and water heaters. We began offering a cash advance to folks to get things fixed so they didn’t have to sell their home at a discount. Now the cash advance ($15k) with no interest is a permanent benefit.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

No doubt, coaches and mentors are key to learning and growing. My best teachers were books. Napoleon Hil, Norman Peele, Zig Ziegler and Tony Robbins are a few. During the market crash in 2008 to 2009, everything was falling apart. No one could get financing. Homes by the thousands were not selling. Keeping my mind right during this time reading these books helped me to stay focused.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Can you share 3 things that most excite you about the Real Estate industry? If you can please share a story or example.

1. Changing technology is allowing us to put more power in the hands of consumers. For example, self tour lockboxes.
2. Artificial intelligence is helping us get more targeted with our marketing to accelerate how fast we can find the perfect buyer for a home.
3. There are such a multitude of platforms taking Consumers attention. Mobile apps, social media, tv, radio etc. It’s an exciting challenge to create a synergistic Omni marketing campaign to stay in front of consumers.

Can you share 3 things that most concern you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest? Please share stories or examples if possible.

1. One change I would make is if real estate agents don’t sell a minimum number of homes they lose their license. There are too many part time agents that don’t have the market expertise consumers deserve.
2. I would eliminate the house flipping industry, or more specifically the people that take advantage of homeowners causing them to sell their homes for 10s of thousands less than what it’s worth by giving them false information on market value.
3. I would eliminate websites that share an estimated value of your home online. These algorithms can’t walk inside your home and see the upgrades and level of care you’ve taken for your home.

What advice would you give to other real estate leaders to help their teams to thrive and to create a really fantastic work culture?

Approach the recruiting and election process like the navy seals or special forces. Create a barrier to entry so that only the best work for you.

Ok, here is the main question of our interview. You are a “Real Estate Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 5 non intuitive things one should know to succeed in the Real Estate industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

1. Just because you went through real estate school doesn’t mean you’re ready to sell a home. Go find someone to shadow and be mentored by. Coaching and training is a lifelong event in real estate to stay relevant and successful. Real estate school is just the beginning of your learning journey.
2. Your income as an agent is directly correlated to how good you are meeting complete strangers and turning them into raving fans. I personally almost went broke trying to rely on just my sphere of influence in the first 6 months.
3. Commercial real estate and residential are completely different. From pricing to how you meet clients.. wildly different. Go all In on one.. don’t be Jack of all trades, master of none.
4. There is a lot of math required in Real Estate. Calculating home values, calculating monthly payments, calculating absorption rates. If you can master how to decipher data you will go from being a great salesperson to a true market expert. Understanding this helped me to figure out exactly how to price homes based on where home values are going in the future, not past sold data. This has caused our homes to sell for more than the one next door.
5. Buyers and sellers don’t walk in your office asking for assistance. In 16 years I’ve had 3 people walk in my office asking for us to help them buy or sell. You have to understand marketing to get in front of more people than just the ones you already know. How fast you can build your database through marketing will dictate how fast your income grows.

Because of your position, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

End homelessness! Use distressed office buildings, hotels, and structures across the United States facing foreclosure. Government buys them at a discount to house the homeless. There are also city owned chunks of land all over the US, you can build tiny homes on them to house the homeless.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Christopherwatters.com

Thank you for your time, and your excellent insights! We wish you continued success.