How I Doubled My Average Price Point (And Quadrupled My Number Of Listings)

Haley Blanco:  I think Platform helped me use my platform literally to do better things and in turn, the people see that and they appreciate that.

Tim Chermak: Yeah. I mean, we've said it many, many times on The Platform Marketing Show that the agents that are the most active in their community are the agents that are going to win because that is one thing that you seriously cannot fake. Either you're actually connected and you're involved in your community or you're not. And it doesn't matter what clever retargeting ads or social media posts that Platform can come up with or cool video scripts we can have you film, whatever, if you're not actually plugged into your community, you just really can't fake it, right? But if you are connected in your community and then you use this broader Platform Marketing strategy to blast that out there and enhance that you are connected, then really, really cool things can happen.

Tim Chermak: This is The Platform Marketing Show where we interview the most creative and ambitious real estate agents in the country, dissect their local marketing strategy, and get the behind-the-scenes scoop on how they're generating listing leads and warm referrals. We'll dive into the specifics of what marketing campaigns are working for them, how much they're spending on those campaigns, and figure out how they have perfected what we call the Platform Marketing strategy. This is your host, Tim Chermak. I'm the founder and CEO of Platform. I love marketing and I talk too much, so let's dive in.

Tim Chermak: Hey guys, it's Tim Chermak, and welcome back to another episode of The Platform Marketing Show. I'm joined today by Haley Blanco. Haley, welcome to the show.

Haley Blanco:  Hi. Thank you for having me.

Tim Chermak: Haley, first question I have to ask. I know you're younger. How old are you?

Haley Blanco:  I am 28.

Tim Chermak: Okay, yeah. Were you born in 1990, what is that?

Haley Blanco: Seven.

Tim Chermak: 1997?

Haley Blanco: Mm-hmm.

Tim Chermak: It's crazy. It's crazy doing a podcast episode with someone born in the year 1997. That's just absolutely wild.

Haley Blanco: I feel old. I just turned 28 in May and I feel so old. But then in the grand scheme of things, I'm like, I'm young.

Tim Chermak: That is hilarious. So, you've grown your business a lot in the last couple years. You've been a real estate agent for three years, which means, I guess you got licensed when you were about 25 years old. Your business in the last year since you started this Platform strategy amongst a lot of other moving parts and things you have going on in your life, you have a lot of irons in the fire, your business is on pace to about double this year from about $4 million, $4.5 million to closer to $8 million to $9 million this year. But one thing we were talking about before the show that I think is remarkable, that I think you might even take this for granted a little bit, is that to do $4.5 million, last year you did 35 transactions?

Haley Blanco: So in '23, I did 35 transactions. Last year, we did 23, but also, we'll get into that. My market was very hard last year.

Tim Chermak: That is crazy that to do $4.5 million-- I mean, most agents in most areas of the country, 'cause you're in a part of Florida where it's lower price points, right? And I completely understand that type of market. I'm from a small rural town in Minnesota that people, like when I was even in college, you could still buy homes there for $120,000, right? And still there's homes for sale in my hometown for $150,000.

Tim Chermak: So you're in a market where you did 35 transactions, and 35 transactions got you $4.5 million of sales volume. So this year you're on pace to double, but what's really interesting is that you might end up doing fewer transactions this year but double your sales volume, which is obviously a different way of saying your average price point has doubled in that time as well, which that is really, really cool.

Tim Chermak: So let's go back in time 3+ years and share with me what your career looked like. I know that you owned a boutique and you were really into that world. You were successful doing that. How did you get into real estate? What was the impetus of what led you, hey, I think I want to be a real estate agent?

Haley Blanco: In the boutique world, I was like, there's gotta be a way to make better money than this. I mean nothing in the boutique world. I paid my own bills, but I had no extra money to do anything. But it was a fun job and it made me happy, and I feel like that was important at that age of my life. And then as I got older, I'm like, okay, something's gotta give. What's a job I can do? I have an AA degree, but I was like, I don't really want to work for someone. I don't wanna work in the-- I don't know. I don't wanna do corporate-type thing.

Haley Blanco: And so I had a couple friends that did real estate and so I'd reached out to one. It was one of my husband's friends, and I was just like, "Hey, how did you do this?" And he was just like, "Oh, it's amazing. All I did was take this course." And so I was like, "Okay, I'm really thinking about diving into this." And so I remember we were on the way home from IKEA, me, my mom, and my husband--

Tim Chermak: "It's super, super easy. You'll make so much money. Real estate's really easy."

Haley Blanco: Yeah. I'm like, "Oh, perfect. Sign me up." So I was in the car with my mom and husband, and I'm very impulsive. I don't think about things, I just bite the bullet. And so we were on the way home from IKEA and I was like, "Hey, I found this course online. I'm gonna do this." And they were like, "Well, I think you should just think about it." And I was like, "Nope. Add to cart, check out." Bought the course right then and then took the course and it just took off. I never looked back.

Tim Chermak: And at that time, you were owning, operating a boutique? 

Haley Blanco: So I had the boutique here at home, but it was after COVID. And so it just wasn't doing anything and I was neglecting it. So I would say the first two years, first year and a half maybe in real estate, I wasn't focusing on the boutique. It was there, but I wasn't really using it. And then when things slowed down in real estate, I opened up a new one. I mean in the grand scheme of things, it was great 'cause I was like, there's gotta be a way to make extra money. Like, this makes me happy. It was my creative outlet. And so when things slowed down last year, that's when I did that. But then I was like, I can't wear all of these hats.

Tim Chermak: Yeah, you just have to go all in on one thing at a certain point. And so when you say you owned a clothing boutique, for people who aren't young and cool, what does that mean? What did you sell? Who was your ideal customer? Tell me more about that boutique business you had.

Haley Blanco: So I sold a lot of summer, like Florida-style things; dresses, pants, tank tops, jewelry, candles, but it was small. When I came to Perry for the last one that I did, it was in a hair salon. So essentially I was like, this is great. It's gonna run itself because you're gonna have clients in here getting their hair done. They're gonna pay for this while they're just shopping and waiting, but it was very small scale. I had one or two employees here and there. If I couldn't be there, I had to step out to do a showing or something. But then eventually I was like, I can't. I'm neglecting my clients. I'm neglecting the business for the boutique. It sounds great. It is fun. You don't get rich off of it, but if it makes you happy and pays the bills.

Tim Chermak: At a certain point, you probably felt like, hey, I'm kind of half-assing both of these things.

Haley Blanco: That's what it was, yeah. 

Tim Chermak: So, you got into real estate. It was kind of an impulsive decision. What was your very first year in real estate?

Haley Blanco: Well, I started in end of July and so I did $2.3 million from July to December.

Tim Chermak: And that was 2022?

Haley Blanco: Yes.

Tim Chermak: Okay. So you really got into real estate right when the market was starting to--

Haley Blanco: It was booming. 

Tim Chermak: Oh yeah. I should say, it was booming in 2022 relative to what it is now. But I think 2022 was also the year that the Fed started raising interest rates. And so right when you got in is actually when the market started to slow down, because for sure 2023 was slower than 2022. I mean, I don't care what part of the country you're in, that's true. And 2024 was slower than 2023.

Tim Chermak: This is the first year, actually, as we're recording this. We're recording this about halfway through 2025. And I don't know when someone is gonna listen to this episode. Maybe someone finds this episode three years from now or something, but we're recording it midway through 2025, and this is the first year where I think there's some divergence where different areas of the country, the markets are really different.

Tim Chermak: It's not like, hey, everyone's in a hardcore seller's market, or even everyone's in a correction buyer's market. You're starting to see some real local diversity, I guess, in terms of some areas of the country. Like, much of Florida is in full-blown correction territory where prices are coming down, buyers are starting to have a little bit more leverage in asking for concessions, asking for more things on the home inspections, you know. Well, frankly, actually doing a home inspection, having financing contingencies, all these things that weren't happening in 2021 and 2022.

Tim Chermak: And so the market is definitely, at least in Florida, 'cause I can say this 'cause I live in Florida, as do you, that we're in kind of a correction here where buyers are starting to regain a little bit more leverage in these negotiations. So like, you have a really interesting career arc because you joined right at kind of the peak, and every year you've been a real estate agent, frankly, the market has been worse every year, and yet your business is growing. Your income is going up every year. You're on pace this year to double what you did last year.

Tim Chermak: And I hinted at this earlier, what's even more impressive, Haley, about your growth is that you've doubled your price point in the last year. That is actually more important in the grand scheme of things than doubling the transactions, because it'd be far better for you and your sanity to double your price point every year than to double your transactions every year, right?

Haley Blanco: 100%. 

Tim Chermak: I mean, even if you end up doing the same amount of transactions next year, but you double your price point again, that's a much better living for you just mental health-wise than it is to, hey, I'm gonna do 50 transactions next year or whatever. So you discovered the Platform strategy I think about a year ago?

Haley Blanco: Yeah. May of 20-- Yeah. A year ago exactly. Well, a little less, or more.

Tim Chermak: So, May of last year. How did you first find out about Platform? Did someone tell you? Or did you see one of our social media ads? 

Haley Blanco: I saw one of the social media, either ads from you guys or an agent that was using, I cannot remember. I could probably shout out Kara Newton for a lot of it. And I never could tell. Like, are you paying somebody to do this? Is this a company? Because it's so well hidden. But I started diving deep into it and I was like, "Okay, Platform. What is this?" And so then I was like, "Oh, this is really cool." 

Haley Blanco: Because in the grand scheme of things, you get calls all the time. They're like, "Hey, I can do this for you. Join my team." And I'm like, "No, I'm good. I'm good with Canva. I'm good with social media. I've got this," but at the end of the day, the client doesn't care if I can make a really pretty, aesthetic post. And in the beginning that's all I was doing, and I was like, "Oh, I've got this. People are gonna find me 'cause this post looks so good. It's gonna say 'Just sold' or 'Under contract.'" That's what I was focusing on, and I'm like, oh, that didn't matter at all.

Tim Chermak: Well, you're at the point in your career too, where, I'll be totally honest with you, you probably have the time in your career, at least right now, to be doing a lot of social media stuff yourself, perhaps even editing all your own videos. You might have the time to do a lot of that yourself, but it becomes this problem as you scale. 'Cause you're gonna do, this year it sounds like you're gonna finish the year at $8 million, $9 million, perhaps even $10 million again, which is really impressive 'cause it's only your third year. And the vast, vast, vast majority of agents will go their entire career without ever selling $10 million. They might be a real estate agent for 20 years and they'll never break $10 million. You're gonna do that in a down market in either your third or fourth year, you'll get through $10 million.

Tim Chermak: But you might feel like right now, hey, I have time to edit my own videos. I have time to do my own social media. But as you become more successful, the weird thing is you end up having more money, but what you run out of is time. And then the only thing that can make you more money is paradoxically reclaiming the time that you no longer have. That's where a program like Platform Marketing comes in. Because if we can even just help you edit your own videos, be helping you think of social media posts and obviously posting social media and retargeting ads, even if it doesn't save you 20 hours a week, if it even saves you five hours a week, that five hours is basically giving you a whole afternoon back that now you can go on showings, you can go on listing appointments, you can spend more time with your existing database and sphere and get more referrals. That extra five hours can help you grow your business a lot.

Tim Chermak: And obviously you've experienced that in the last year because your business has in fact doubled. And again, more importantly, it's doubled and the average price point for you has doubled as well. So, tell me about your market. What is the average price point? How many people live there? What is the greater Perry, Florida market like? Because I know there's not a whole lot going on there.

Haley Blanco: So our population is around 6,000. Average price point, I would say roughly $230,000. We have a lot of mobile homes and manufactured homes here, a lot of vacant land. Your higher end houses are gonna be $400,000 to $500,000. If you get a six-plus, then that's gonna be a hard one to sell in this area. The really unique thing about our market in Perry right now is that we had a large paper mill, which was the largest industry here. It employed a couple thousand people. That shut down last year, so everyone had to leave for work. And then not only that, but in 2023 we got hit with a major hurricane and it destroyed the town of Perry. And then last year we got hit with Hurricane Helene, which destroyed the coastal area of Perry. So we've had three major blows to the industry, the community, and all of that. So we're all like, how are we gonna sell something here when you've got--

Tim Chermak: I just need to stop you here 'cause I need to clarify this. You said that there was a paper mill that employed 2,000 people?

Haley Blanco: At least 2,000, yeah.

Tim Chermak: In a town of 6,000 people?

Haley Blanco: I'm shooting high at 2,000. Okay, worst case, maybe minimum 1,200 people. It was huge.

Tim Chermak: That's still 20% to 30% of the population basically is working for that paper mill. That's crazy. That's a huge impact on the local economy.

Haley Blanco: Yeah, it's still hard. Because you've got all of these houses that they need to sell, but why is anyone gonna move to Perry right now? 

Tim Chermak: No one's buying. 

Haley Blanco: Unless you're retired or--

Tim Chermak: So it's like everyone is selling and no one's buying. That's tough. 

Haley Blanco: And then if you are selling, your house has a blue tarp on it, 'cause your roof got blown off or a tree fell. It was hard, and we're still slowly getting back. 

Tim Chermak: So in the midst of all that, again, I just asked the question, how did you grow your business? How are you doubling your business every year if your hyper-local economy is that troubled? I mean, 'cause that sucks. That must be hard.

Haley Blanco: Yeah, it is really hard and I do have to think that Platform has given me a way to increase, because there was a lot of agents. We have a lot of agents in our community for how small the town is, and I would say at least half of them stepped back and was like, "I can't do this right now." And so I kind of chose to step in and make myself stand out a little bit, but I knew like, hey, I'm gonna need some extra help right now. I can't do this without an extra something either pushing me, telling me what to do to post every day. I just need something.

Haley Blanco: And so I think that just consistently being out there on social media and stuff has helped too, but also when all of these things happened, I kind of jumped in community-wise and hosted all of these, or tried to help. Like when the hurricane happened down at the beach, another agent that's on a completely different brokerage than I am, we both joined in and offered a relief station, like distribution site. We had FEMA come in. We did really cool things there and I think that that's given me a lot of business, which is not what I wanted out of that at all. But that gave me a lot of business this year 'cause they're like, "I saw what you did at the beach and I really want to use you for this." And I'm like, "That's great." It makes me feel guilty almost 'cause that's not what the intentions were, but  I think Platform helped me use my platform literally to do better things and in turn, the people see that and they appreciate that.

Tim Chermak: Yeah. I mean, we've said it many, many times on The Platform Marketing Show that the agents that are the most active in their community are the agents that are going to win because that is one thing that you seriously cannot fake. Either you're actually connected and you're involved in your community or you're not. And it doesn't matter what clever retargeting ads or social media posts that Platform can come up with or cool video scripts we can have you film, whatever, if you're not actually plugged into your community, you just really can't fake it, right? But if you are connected in your coomunity and then you use this broader Platform Marketing strategy to blast that out there and enhance that you are connected, then really, really cool things can happen.

Tim Chermak: If the whole broader area starts realizing like, hey, Haley's super cool. Haley is up and coming. Haley's really plugged in. She's a champion of the community. That's the type of agent I wanna work with as someone who's just, first and foremost, a champion of the community who just happens to be a real estate agent. That's the whole strategy right there in a nutshell. I know you've only been licensed at this point for, I guess this is your fourth year in real estate. Have you tried any other marketing programs? Did you ever buy Zillow leads or Realtor.com or any other marketing companies?

Haley Blanco: My broker is actually, she spoils us. So when I first started, she actually would give us Zillow leads. She paid for Zillow in the beginning. I wanna say that's it, but they were such a waste of time. But it gave me really good practice in the beginning as a new agent of like, hey, I'm gonna go show you 10 houses and you're gonna ghost me, but waste of time and waste of money. 

Tim Chermak: It just kind of showed you what bad leads feel like. Again, you joined in 2022. That was the pivot year that I think most Zillow leads for most areas of the country, not just Florida, 2022 is the year Zillow largely stopped working for most agents, or it depends on your market. But 2022 was the last year that it even sort of worked because obviously that's when the Fed started raising interest rates and no longer could you go buy a house with a 3% mortgage rate. You were probably gonna get 5%. And then eventually that 5% became 6%, and that 6% became 7%. And here we are all these years later, at least at the time of this recording, most people are getting a mortgage rate that starts with a seven, unless there's some sort of buydown happening.

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