- 3:05- Revolutionizing HOAs and connecting homeowners with trusted professionals.
- 8:20- Revolutionizing homeowner associations through transparency and community engagement.
- 4:13- Changing HOA perception through community engagement and social media.
- 19:29- Community involvement and charity work in real estate.
- 22:24- Setting goals and living intentionally.
- Website: https://hoa.com/
- Website: https://ravingreferrals.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonbarnum/
- Email: brandon@hoa.com
- Contact Number: 843-619-3005
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/exitstrategiesradioshow/
- FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/exitstrategiessc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxoSuynJd5c4qQ_eDXLJaZA
- Website: https://www.exitstrategiesradioshow.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmelette/
CORWYN:
Do you want something more? More meaningful moments, opportunities, deeper relationships, and memorable experiences? Do you want to make a difference? If you said yes to any of that, a career in real estate could be the opportunity you’re looking for. Guiding people through one of the most important decisions they ever made. The purchase or sale of their home can be both rewarding and lucrative. Exit Realty’s revolutionary compensation model, training, and technology provide you with the tools you need to start and build your successful real estate career. Call Exit Realty Lowcountry Group today at 843-619-3005, that’s 843-619-3005 or visit join.exitlowcountry.com and make your exit today.
Good morning. Good morning and great morning guys. Welcome to another fabulous episode of Exit Strategies Radio Show. Hey, I am your host, Corwyn J Melette, broker and owner of Exit Realty Group in beautiful North Charleston, South Carolina. Guys, hey, if it’s your first time listening to this show you, Sir or ma’am are in for a treat. Because our mission is very simple that is to empower our community through financial literacy and real estate education. Guys, we’re legacy building. And that is what we do. So look, we’ve been on an amazing ride. And we’re going to continue today, today is going to be no different because we’ve had some amazing guests and awesome people who have been very gracious to us and took time out to grace our stage, with their presence and with their knowledge and information. So I want you to grab your pen, I want you to grab your paper, I want you to have everything you need. And most importantly, I want you to know where to go back to if you miss anything. So you can get it again because it’s uber important guys. And we are connected and we are engaged so that we can make this journey together. So quote, unquote, we can reach what is yet promised, because we are setting out on the journey together. collectively together. All right. So guys, look, today. We got a good one for you. We have none other than Brandon Barnum. He is the CEO of hoa.com. I look before y’all freak out and say we got HOA on the phone, or the television, or own wherever you watching or listening to us at. This ain’t your HOA. This is better. All right. So look, we got Brandon with us today. Brandon, how are you doing?
BRANDON:
Hi, I’m blessed. And how is your favorite brother? How are you doing?
CORWYN:
Man? I’m incredible. Man. I love that. I love that response. Thank you so much for that this morning. So look here, Brandon, tell us high level, who you are, hoa.com. And what are you guys doing?
BRANDON:
Yeah, you bet. Yeah. So obviously, I’m the CEO of hoa.com. And quite frankly, we’re on a mission to revolutionize HOAs. What most people don’t realize is there are 370,000 homeowners associations in the US. 53% of all homeowners in the US live in the HOA. But brother, people do not love their HOA. So we’re on a mission to change that and help communities connect in a major way.
CORWYN:
That is awesome. I had to give that kind of entry. This ain’t your HOA, this is the new improved version. They’re looking at it they need to connect. So if you don’t mind, Brandon, tell us you guys do a lot. So I want to make sure that we touch on all those things today. But you have a heck of a story that kind of got you here. So if you don’t mind, where’s the brainchild? Where did this come from? As far as the.com?
BRANDON:
Absolutely. So I got started as a single dad in the mortgage business, I got custody of my son when I was 24 years old, he was two at the time. And I was not in the mortgage business. But I was only making about 20 grand a year working as a marketing director for an estate planning law firm. And once I got custody, I had to make some changes, because $20,000 was not enough to pay for myself and a kid. So I got into the mortgage business, which I was in for 12 years, I had somebody that teach me taught me the art and science of what I now call raving referrals. And it’s just how to add value to everyone not only to the consumers you serve, but also the professionals that are serving those same clients. And so that helped me 10x My income from 20,000 to $200,000 a year within 18 months. And since that time, I’ve been just on a mission to help other people grow their business, Anoma tech guys. hoa.com is my 10th tech platform over the last 26 years. The last one we built was called referrer.com. We built that up to 5 million members, including 250,000 realtors, and then we exited that in 2019. And when we started hoa.com. It wasn’t hoa.com. We started as the Homeowner Alliance, the actual name of the company and our mission was simple. We want to connect homeowners with professionals they can trust.
CORWYN:
That is huge. Wow. I like that. That’s interesting, the transition that you went through. But want to go back to this because you said something that kind of resonated with me. You’re a serial entrepreneur. I love that. So Homeowners Alliance, connecting people. You want to help people make improvements. What is the foundation of that? And what I mean by that is what is this thing that you teach tale say that you quote unquote, preach from the pulpit and yell and scream for the mountaintop to people all the time for them to change.
BRANDON:
Ah, it’s referrals and that’s the key to my success, right? And it’s helped so many other people. It’s all about referrals. And when you think about referrals, the reason we refer somebody is we’re trying to solve a challenge, right? You’re in the real estate business. You’ve got a client, they’re looking to sell their home, they might need staging, they might want to do a home inspection before they even put it on the market. So they know what they’re dealing with in case some issues need to be dealt with proactively. Then once you put it on the market, and they buy that home now they need a mover, a painter, a plumber, all the professionals that serve those homeowners, and we don’t think it should be Angie’s List, we think it should be Corwyn’s list, we think you should have your list of your trusted team of professionals that you go to any time you need. So what we say is we’re creating the triple-A, for homeownership. If you have triple A and your car breaks down, you know where to call. And we want to be the place where you go to find a pro. That’s really what we’re creating here.
CORWYN:
I like the concept of AAA of homeownership. So this platform, this network, the people that are a part of it, how do you find the right people to be a part of the network?
BRANDON:
People apply, they go through an application process, we do background checks, and make sure they have the experience and quite frankly, the commitment to excellence, to serve the homeowners that we are looking to serve. So we check them out online, we check out their ratings, their reviews, how long they’ve been in the business if they’re a realtor, or mortgage lender, we see how much volume they’re doing, we check their volume to see if they’re doing what they say they’re doing. And then just make sure that they’re quality, upstanding people. And then really what we’re doing for the professionals is we’re helping them create their trusted team. I’ve worked with a lot of realtors over the years. And the biggest challenge I hear from agents is they give a ton of referrals out and they don’t get as many back cause they blank. So we shift that we have a community co-marketing program, where you can send all of your clients a home valuation report every single month, it’s on autopilot. It’s not only from you, it is from you branded for you. But it also includes all of the other home service professionals that you trust and recommend. And that way all of the homeowners that you serve, know who they can go to when they have anything related to their house.
CORWYN:
Brandon, I always talk to people about your team, if you’re a homeowner, or usually I referenced this as someone who is seeking to get into homeownership. And they’re either sometimes I have messed up, the team owner, sometimes I put them as the coach, but ultimately, they’re the person that’s a level above the team that’s on the field. If you’re the owner, then you got to have a quarterback, you got to have running backs cornerback tight in wide receivers, trustfully. And trust that they’re good, but you got to have you got all these players. And if we don’t play basketball, then we got to have we got to have a strong five. But we need a strong six on the bench to come off and do things when it’s necessary to give some relief from the pressure. So with all of that, as far as the concept, what you just spoke about is as a homeowner, you’re the owner of that team. And your quarterback or your point guard is your agent, the center, if you will, of all that action, that kind of gives you all this creates the plays and gives you all these other people. So if you need someone for this or somebody for that, that you have that one place, that everything goes out from that kind of the concept that we’re talking about.
BRANDON:
Absolutely. And then we provide a concierge service as well. So like for you, as you have new clients that are putting a house under contract, you probably know corpsman that buying a home is the third most stressful thing that people go through in life, right? Number one, you know what number one is, with that death of a loved one, right? If somebody you love dies, and number two is divorce. And number three is buying a house. So that’s why you need a great advisor like you somebody they can trust. I love your example. You’re talking about being the point guard. So it’s distributing the ball. And I think of you almost as the coach that’s point calling the plays because you see everything Corwyn, you have the expertise, the knowledge to know how it’s supposed to be orchestrated for your team to win. So we not only help you create that team, we also help with a concierge service. So when somebody puts a house under contract, our concierge service, we do everything for him. We do everything from changing your address to setting up your utilities, and internet cable, the beauty of the full thing for you is it’s all branded to the professional it’s giving you it’s free to the homeowner, but that buyer gets everything they need. And it’s all done for him. So we’re just out to create as much value as we can. And then the other thing that we do because we’re on a mission to revolutionize homeowner associations, we do live events. We don’t produce them ourselves, but we create the plan the play call, if you will the playbook, and then our partner agents like yourself will implement those community barbecue ice cream, social scavenger hunts, and all kinds of fun and activities to bring the neighborhood together. Because we believe that people want to belong again, and they want to know their neighbors. And so we just bring the party to the park, which is a lot of fun.
CORWYN:
I like that. I agree with that. Brandon wholeheartedly, I think people do want a sense of community, but they want a positive sense of community, there’s so much negativity that you see oftentimes, but they want a positive sense of community, they want to see their neighbor, and speak and be spoken to and have nice events and things of that nature. So you’re right, there is a tremendous opportunity for people to come together and make that happen.
BRANDON:
Corwyn, imagine what we find is most HOAs are like the police force. It’s like your community cops giving you fines and fees for having a weed growing in your yard instead of writing you up a fine. How about if they just cut the weed and then there’s no issue and everybody’s happy? So we have a very service-focused approach to homeowner management and HOA management. So that’s why we’re on a mission to revolutionize how HOAs are run.
CORWYN:
Let me ask you this, how are you moving the needle on this? What I mean by that is that your strategy in working with whether it be professionals or with HOAs is to be perceived differently within the areas and the people that you serve.
BRANDON:
Yeah, so one of the things that we’re working on right now is a community survey. It’s like a satisfaction survey that goes out to every homeowner in the neighborhood with a postcard and a QR code that’s tied directly to that address or every postcard is customized. We know who the homeowner is and when they fill out that survey, we get their feedback on how they feel about their property management company or their HOA board. 65% of all HOAs outsource to a property management company. And 35% are self-managed where volunteers meet, they all have volunteer boards, but the people that coordinate the landscapers and all of the necessary resources to take care of the common space and the neighborhood 65% of those outsource so what we want to do is we want to find out, how do the homeowners feel about the service that they’re giving. And then we report that back to the HOA board. And if it’s not good enough, we want to help them raise their standards. So we have a whole model that includes transparency, and blockchain voting, we believe that all of the board meetings need to be on Zoom, they need to be recorded, transcribed, and available for everybody in the neighborhood. And all the money. Here’s one of the biggest issues I tell people I’m the CEO of hoa.com. And they just tell me I hate my HOA, that’s the first thing I hear almost every single time and a lot of it is two things. Number one, the community cop. So we talked about it, but also the communication is lacking. And then the way the money is spent. People don’t feel like they’ve got a voice in that. And so that’s what we’re out to change.
CORWYN:
I think that’s so needed branding because people were caused, we’re in such a place in time where people just gripe about everything. And it’s funny because I just met with someone who was putting together a contract in one of the sections in the purchase agreement, references, HOA transfers, and all that stuff. Who’s responsible in the first thing this morning the HOA is gonna say, well, it’s not an HOA, this neighborhood is not an HOA. Now if they decide to set one up in the future, hey, I have nothing to do with that. But there is no HOA now. The first thing they everything they had to say even though they never lived in a neighborhood with HOAs. The first thing they had to say was all negative is that and I just don’t invest the information that gets around. It’s always that negative piece. They’re finding you there giving you the rules and all this stuff. And you may see the car drive through taking pitches and all that stuff because you got a weed or wheezing yard or what have you. That’s all the negative stuff that always leads. So again, you’re right when people hear about HOAs, many people think negatively. I don’t want to live in a neighborhood with an HOA, but why not? So you guys are set out on a mission to help change that perception
BRANDON:
100%. Our goal is that five years from now, everyone will love their HOA, and I want to get responsive, thank you so much. You’ve changed our community. We know our people. Now our HOA board is friendly positive and constructive. When you’re talking about over half of all American homeowners who are dealing with this issue, and they don’t love their HOA, that’s a real problem. And we see it as a real opportunity to serve.
CORWYN:
it’s a great idea. The concept is community. And then you, in turn, introduce everyone in the community to each other meaning the service providers with the residents, and vice versa. So then you have everybody in one setting. And that allows people to work together more effectively and more efficiently.
BRANDON:
Get to know each other. You see our tagline here is connecting communities. That’s what we’re all about. And give you an example. We just had a community barbecue not long ago here, I live in Phoenix, Arizona. So it was not far from my house. I don’t usually get to go to these things. But I was able to go and it was so cool man because there were about 50 people there. And it was put on by a realtor and a mortgage lender. They hired a 13-year-old who lived in the neighborhood to knock on every door with a postcard and a QR code saying come out to the community barbecue. Bring your own meets your realtor and the mortgage lender I think together spent maybe 50 bucks to buy some chips and some sodas and some sides and there were about 50 people that came out the kids are playing basketball, the dads are playing cornhole, there was even a kickball game. fabulous thing for me is that as I looked around, at one point, I looked around and I was looking at every single person there, not one person was on their cell phone. Everybody was just hanging out getting to know their neighbors, listening to music, having a good time laughing, and loving. And that’s the kind of connected community that we want to live in.
CORWYN:
That is awesome man, because that is rare. Pet is rare, we will be playing a ball game, and they stop it just hold on a minute. And we can sit and be standing in the middle of the court on the phone somewhere another so I completely get that now you strive to reach people socially, social media, things of that nature, to draw people in. So what are some of the methods in which you guys do that? To enhance and draw people in?
BRANDON:
Yeah, I’m a great question. Here’s the thing. People don’t care what you say about yourself, they care what other people say about you. So we don’t want to be the content creators. We want to be the content curators, there’s people like you doing this show that are creating awesome content all the time, and we want to be able to get this message out to the masses. So our social media strategy is really to spotlight and highlight the people that are part of our name, our network, and our neighborhoods. So we’re creating community pages for every neighborhood in America. Right, like next door. And then we select top trusted professionals that are the community backbone. They’re the ones that are out at the events, they’re being seen consistently. And then our automated community co-marketing engine keeps them top of mind because the homeowners receive that valuation email every month to find out if their house went up or down. But it includes all of those professionals. So they’re seeing the same people over and over again. And we want them to know that hoa.com is where you go to find a pro. And so that whole process of retargeting and remarketing, it’s not about us. It’s about y’all. It’s about you guys that are really in the community making a difference. So we find success stories where people are, are raving about you. They’ve just written you a testimonial. That’s what we like to promote on social media. Because we want to spotlight the great professionals and homeowners who say, Hey, thank you so much, you’ve changed my life.
CORWYN:
I love that it’s constant. It’s dropping in the information and getting people around each other. I mean, it’s a whole lot different. I tell this to my agents, when you’re out and about in the community. You probably go to the grocery store the same grocery store all the time. People should know you in the grocery store. Somebody should know you, your neighbors aren’t bumping into you and seeing you there and talking with you. At least two people in the store should know you because you never know where a conversation will occur at a quote-unquote one of the people I served with and leadership, Rob would always all just call it says this thing you hold in court, but shouldn’t be a surprise to people that you quote unquote hold in court right there on out number eight, in front of the frosted flakes or something, you know, I’m saying in telling people about real estate talking about what’s going on in the community as far as homes, pricing, and all that stuff is going on in the areas, we should be able to hold court, quote, unquote, anywhere. And this right here, this sense community makes it so that you can do that, or should be better connected to be able to do that pretty much anywhere. I want to ask you one more thing because you guys are focused on charities. So tell our listeners a little bit about that.
BRANDON:
You know, we want everybody to be a charity champion, whether you’re a homeowner or a business owner, there are charities that you love and support, but are you sharing that love with others? Now, I’ve been in the Charitable Action Movement for a long time, I started when I was 34. So almost 20 years ago, I started serving for a local charity in Portland, Oregon, where I live. And they asked me to be on the corporate industry council. So I started helping raise money and awareness with other business owners. And that just helped me fall in love with making a difference, the feeling that you get the reward you get when you’re involved. And you can see the impact you’re creating is amazing. From a business perspective, consumer homeowners say that they want to know the impact that you’re creating 94% say they want to know what you’re doing to make a difference in the community. So if you want more business, make more impact, be a charity champion, find a charity or a cause that you’re passionate about, and start integrating that story into what you do. So like, I’m a big brother, big sister. So as my wife, and I love doing that, I get to mentor a 15-year-old boy, our kids are grown and gone. So we’re empty nesters we’re trying to adopt right now. But every other week, I’m hanging out with this 15-year-old boy who has no father in his life. So that’s just something I’m personally passionate about. Find whatever it is that you love, and find something that if you’re a business owner, that ties into your business, you might be in real estate, you might want to partner with Habitat for Humanity or a company or charity like that. And then you start telling the story of that, hey, come join me, we’re coming out here, we’re going to clean up this school, we’re going to serve at the food bank, whatever that is, start integrating that story into your social media and your messaging, and you’re going to raise the bar, and people are going to care because you care.
CORWYN:
So, Brandon, we have quickly gotten towards the end of today’s show. And I want to always ask people, and I refer to it oftentimes as my mic drop question, but always ask a question or questions alone, this hindsight is always 20/20. So I’m gonna ask you for what you’re doing now. And I know that you’re a serial entrepreneur, and I can just spirits they have a man. But what is it that if you can look back across everything that you’ve done, and everything that you’re doing, as well as even consider the things that you still yet hope to do? If you could have done differently, what have you learned by now, that if you applauded it earlier in life would have you much further along,
BRANDON:
There’re always two things that I’m super passionate about. One is getting clear on what it is that you want to create. So my mentor said, Put your goals in writing, and have a date by which you want to accomplish them. And so getting clear on what you want, I call it life by design. Instead of life by default. There are a lot of people who are just flowing through their lives, but they don’t have clarity as to what they want. And I did this exercise back when I was 34. And changed my life. My mentor challenged me to write 101 goals. And so I’ve got over 300 right here that I want to accomplish by the year 2050. So that’s number one. And the second is the power of partnership. If you’re in business, find others that are serving your ideal clients or perfect prospects, and add as much value to them as possible, as you show them, how you’re going to help them solve their challenges for their clients. Those clients become your clients.
CORWYN:
So I love that. Brandon. You caused me to make some notes. Because here’s the other thing. Oh, here’s something for our listeners. For those of you who are listening and who are not watching, Brandon just held up pages of written typed-out goals with dates next to him, he just folded them down and there was still a stack in his hand guys. So I need you to understand that this is quite serious. Looking at that looks like it from over here. That looks like a good probably seven or eight pages. And we talk about looking at a written out in a quote-unquote 40 cap font in the 10 or 11. That’s a lot of goals there. That is massive. So Brandon, look, I’m flabbergasted man because I love that. I want to take one thing as we close out today. But that LBD, that life by design or life by default, and I agree so much that people oftentimes just live their lives. By default whatever happens is whatever it is But there is no design. I’m not saying that you don’t have things that you have to deal with that occur by default. But you don’t focus on living in that manner. You focus on living intentionally. That’s what I just took from what you just said.
BRANDON:
Absolutely. Amen. Yeah. Even if you’re working for somebody else, have a vision for what it is that you want out of life. And if you’ve never asked yourself that question, now’s a great time to start. The beauty is it’s not to wait, it doesn’t matter how old you are. I was just up at a conference in Denver, Colorado, and I was leading a mastermind, we’re having this conversation. And helping people get that clarity, clarity is power. And once you write something down, and you put the date of when you want to accomplish, achieve, manifest, whatever that is, you’ll be amazed how quickly it comes to be. Because it all starts with the power of our mind, whether you call it the law of attraction, it’s a prayer to me, whatever that is for you. Get right with God, and get clear on what you want. And you’ll be amazed how quickly it happens for you.
CORWYN:
Brandon, thank you for that. So Brandon, look, as we close out, man, I want to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with us today. Thank you for sharing that information with our listeners and with our listeners today. Thank you for being a part of the Exit Strategies Radio Show Family.
BRANDON:
It’s my honor and pleasure. Thanks for having me, Corwyn.
CORWYN:
So for our listeners, guys, y’all got some great information. And look here, and I hope y’all picked up that last part that Brandon just eased on right down there for you now, but y’all to get but he talked about it. Y’all gotta go in your prayer closet, and y’all gotta be focused and make some things happen. That’s what I just heard. So hopefully I’ll pick that thing up now. And I need y’all to pick it up. I’ll need you to put it back down. I need you to run and move with it. All right. But for our listeners, y’all know how I feel. Y’all know what I say? Y’all know, I always put the two of those things together. And I say it to you this way, which is I love you. I love you. I love you. And we’re gonna see you guys out there in those streets.
