Celebrate Agent Appreciation Month and #ThankAnAgent with Inman this January. Discover more and see how to get involved, click here.
Inman Diaries is a weekly feature tracking the day-to-day activities of America’s leading real estate agents — in their own words over the course of a seven-day week. In our latest installment, Troy Palmquist juggles his growing indie brokerage, his investment business and time with his family.
Saturday
6 a.m. Every day I make the bed. A couple of years ago I saw a video of the University of Texas at Austin’s 2014 Commencement Address where Admiral William H. McRaven said, “If you want to change the world, start by making your bed.” It’s the first thing I do every morning, even before I’ve had my coffee. This one task accomplished leads to the next task; starting off the day right sets you up for success.
6:30 a.m. Almost every morning begins with coffee with my two-year-old son, Rhett — a great way to start my day. Most days we go to The Coffee Bean, but sometimes we walk the block to the ocean to collect seashells. This is an important time for me to refocus on the purpose for everything I do — my family. We’re opening a coffee shop in the Agoura Hills office in February. I love the way coffee connects people and the way the rituals associated with coffee launch you into the day.
7 a.m. The start of a long day of previewing properties for our parent company’s investment portfolio. Whether they are prospects for our iBuyer program or potential flips, it’s important to me to see the property in person in order to make more informed decisions.
I work and oversee the properties of one of the largest portfolios in Southern California, including a new multi-million dollar Chatsworth acquisition which is currently being staged. Today we drove more than 250 miles throughout LA looking at properties before they go on the market as well as those that are currently under our company’s management. Rhett was with me today — a long day for a toddler. How does he have fun during a day like this? (Be sure to check out my Instagram stories to follow along with our adventures.)
- He puts on his Address hat, his gear, and his “construction” boots.
- He saw construction equipment at work.
- He saw horses, a police car, and other exciting sights.
- He picked oranges off the orange trees for a healthy snack.
- He is the official door-tester in the houses we check out.
- We stop frequently at playgrounds and parks we find along the way.
Sunday
9 a.m. After coffee with Rhett, it’s time to head to Spanish Hills Golf and Country Club to spend some time at the driving range. I love this time to connect with fellow club members, get some exercise, and enjoy some early morning quiet time.
10:30 a.m. Listing Presentation prep with agents at The Address helps me to stay aware of the progress each agent is making in generating and nurturing leads while allowing them to take advantage of my experience and expertise as they prepare to meet with highly discerning luxury clients in the Southern California market.
12:30 p.m. Jump and Jammin with Rhett is a great time to help him get some energy out while spending a fun afternoon together. While I’ll probably always be someone who works seven days a week, interspersing family-focused activities like this with the workday helps our family stay connected.
2:30 p.m. Because my wife and I both meet frequently with clients, we think it is important to keep our cars clean and detailed. First impressions are everything, after all. We have a service that comes out to the house weekly to take care of this task.
Monday
9 a.m. First thing Monday morning it’s important to regroup with my staff and review both daily tasks and weekly planning. We start the day with a wide-ranging meeting covering new offers and counter-offers we’re putting together, reviewing repair requests, and reviewing details for listings that are currently in escrow. Afterwards, I meet with the accounting department to conduct our daily commission and financial review.
Time blocking helps me ensure that there is always a time for these meetings so that I can prioritize these important conversations. Even though they may take place at different times in the daily schedule, these meetings always happen.
10 a.m. Meeting with Christopher Gunn, director of account management for MoxiWorks. Chris will be meeting with the staff later today — the first meeting in our new Agoura Hills office — so I want to connect with him ahead of that meeting to discuss upcoming changes to the MoxiWorks platform.
According to the Dunbar’s Number theory, the human brain can only hold about 150 names and faces as primary contacts. MoxiWorks allows you to maximize more of your contacts and use the platform to streamline the way you interact with leads, clients, and colleagues. It is a major part of our infrastructure and something we love learning more about.
11 a.m. Agoura Hills Staff Meeting featuring Christopher Gunn. Topics include:
- The relationship between social intelligence and social groupings
- How understanding the quality of your relationships can impact your business
- Why those who focus on building a quality network, managing sphere of influence, and keeping great records see consistent success.
Our goal is to give agents actionable strategies and help them better understand the role systems and technology can play in helping them grow their business using the power of the relationships they already have.
3:30 p.m. Portfolio Review offers an opportunity for a status check on investment properties currently in the pipeline while we strategize their marketing, pricing, and positioning within their respective markets.
6:30 p.m. Family dinner is a priority at our house and offers us a chance for uninterrupted facetime each evening. After dinner I watch Jeopardy! most evenings, then spend the rest of the night helping to put Rhett to bed and spending time with my wife, Carrie. While we may check emails as needed, it is important to us to keep this time focused on each other. Rhett is developing his own routine in the evenings. After dinner he plays, has a bath, we read a book, then say bedtime prayers. This gives him a reliable transition to bedtime and, I believe, helps to impress on him the importance of developing positive personal habits.
Tuesday
8:30 a.m. After coffee and a walk on the beach with Rhett there’s an early morning in-escrow site visit. Afterwards, I attend the Ventura County Coastal Association of Realtors (VCCAR) Board Installation Breakfast.
I was recently elected to the Board as well as being named to the National Association of Realtors’ 2020 Leading Edge Advisory Board. I believe in the importance of taking a leadership role and having a say in the direction of these industry organizations, especially as an independent brokerage owner.
Having that involvement on the local level — and now on the national level as well — is exciting and offers me an opportunity to give back to the industry that has given so much to me and my family.
11 a.m. Worked on an iBuyer deal that we opened escrow on for a multi-million dollar flip in Laguna Beach with our rockstar agent T. J. Walsh.
1:30 p.m. Meeting with the CE Shop about their Ambassador Program. The CE Shop is one of the industry’s leaders in continuing education with a nationwide platform that is ideal for people who hold multiple state licenses.
This is an opportunity to discuss participating in content creation and curriculum development for them, helping expand my reach to real estate agents across the country. I am a big believer in the power of education and quality content to help agents achieve their professional goals and provide the best possible service to clients.
So many agents seem to think of continuing education as an obligation, but I think that if you’re not continuing to learn and grow you’re doing something wrong. I always learn something from the classes I take, and I consider it a vital part of professional development.
3 p.m. Met with PR firm Lion and Orb’s Audie Chamberlain to finalize talking points for an upcoming meeting at Agoura Hills with C.A.R. Chief Economist Leslie Appleton-Young. We were grateful and excited for the introduction to her from our publicist.
We also discussed PR support for Andy Dane Carter’s golf course listing in Palos Verdes that just came on the market. It’s an amazing, one-of-a-kind home and we want to ensure that we are putting all the support he needs behind it.
4 p.m. A meeting with Tom Ferry and The Address to finalize partnership, giving our agents access to one of the top coaching programs in the country. (More to follow on this in the next couple of weeks, when we release details.)
5 p.m. Received the final counter of terms for the lease of our soon-to-be Long Beach location. The space is perfect because it is in the thick of upscale retail and is surrounded by prestigious neighbors.
7 p.m. Between dinner and Jeopardy! I spend some time on the phone with a couple of former Climb agents discussing the recent news about the brand. This dialogue was the result of an article I wrote the previous week for Inman discussing the shuttering of Climb’s remaining offices and the potential vacuum that creates for indie brokerages in San Francisco.
Wednesday
9:30 a.m. I head to our corporate headquarters for a Style Guide Meeting with our Creative Director and graphic designer. Everything about the way that we brand and present ourselves at The Address is intentional.
A style guide helps us maintain that brand consistency and communicate it to every agent and support staff member at the company. This consistency is especially important as we continue to grow and merge with other brokerages and teams.
I think it’s important as a broker to stay involved with marketing and oversight, both to stay current with the market and to ensure that we are in compliance with DRE.
9:45 a.m. Got an inbound call from realtor.com, which led to a new listing for one of our agents, Katie Connelly. She followed up right away and got the listing signed that day.
12:00 p.m. Furniture Delivery at Agoura Hills included the discovery that half of our new conference room table was sent to Missouri. Hopped on a call with the owner of the company and will have the new table within a week. (Sidenote: We did get the conference room chairs and they are beautiful.)
3 p.m. Working on the outline for next week’s Inman article doesn’t just happen. I find that content creation rarely gets done by people unless they make it a priority. While some people fear the blank page, I fear having a great idea that slips away because I didn’t make time to sit down and write.
For this diary, I was inspired by a tough appraisal process to write about best practices for home inspections and appraisals. I try to keep an eye out for opportunities to connect content to real-life challenges so that the writing is more relevant and useful.
4 p.m. A visit to the Malibu office offers a great opportunity to connect in person with our agents there. In August, we entered into a joint partnership with 4 Malibu, a 14-agent luxury real estate team that specializes in residential and commercial sales alongside leasing, property management, design, and development. This has allowed us to expand to five offices and gain a strategic foothold in the desirable Malibu luxury market.
I went to meet the painter as well to make sure that the office space was ready for our Friday install. Props to our agent Brandt for helping remove the previous furniture and prep the space for the design overhaul.
Thursday
8:30 a.m. Met the painter at Malibu to let him in.
11:30 a.m. Review website proposal from Santa Monica design firm Luxury Presence. As The Address continues to grow, it’s vital to make sure we’re putting our best face forward for our website’s visitors and that our site reflects our focus on the finest, most customized marketing for our listings.
In addition, Luxury Presence works with some of the top tech, top talent, and top names in the real estate industry, including 17 of the top 100 Wall Street Journal agents. Aligning with a company like this ensures that we are at the forefront of design and functionality for our digital footprint.
12 p.m. Self Defense Class and Pepper Spray Demo at Agoura HQ. Realtor safety seems to be on everyone’s mind and we have made it a major initiative for 2020 at The Address. Today is the first of a series of scheduled self-defense classes with a local security consultant. The real- life pepper spray demo is an important part of developing muscle memory to ensure agents can protect themselves if needed.
In addition, we have instituted a number of new processes in order to streamline communication between agents and the office in order to make sure that we know where are agents are and with whom when they are out in the community.
4:30 p.m. This year I was appointed to the Executive Board as secretary of the Boys and Girls Club of Oxnard and Port Hueneme. Today we presented the new beach cruiser we had donated to the local Boys and Girls Club for their Youth of the Year winner.
8 p.m. FOMO is real, so I spent some time looking at flights and hotels to see if I could fit in a trip to NYC for Inman Connect.
Friday
9:30 a.m. We are heading into a holiday weekend, so Carrie, Rhett and I will be heading out of town for some much-needed family time. Thus, this morning begins an extensive review of everything we have in the works before I hit the road. First up, a meeting with accounting for our daily commission and financial review.
11:30 a.m. Pre-listing and active inventory review is a time for us to ensure that all of the parts are in motion to provide the best possible rollout of new listings, as well as to monitor feedback and communication on current listings.
One of the things we are known for is our custom signage which features the home’s details rather than the agent and logo. Pre-listing and marketing is something we take very seriously at The Address and it’s part of what makes us unique.
4 p.m. Today we had new furniture and signage installed at the Malibu office. We also have a new billboard on the Pacific Coast Highway for our “Home of the Month” campaign. For my last work-related site visit this week I’ll be stopping by to check out the office and a new listing.
6 p.m. Home to pick up the family and get on the road for our holiday getaway in Santa Barbara. At dinner, we got notification that our new Moët vending machine had shipped from Florida for delivery to our Agoura Hills HQ. A fun ending to a busy and productive week.
Troy Palmquist is the founder and broker of The Address in Southern California. Follow him on Facebook, or connect with him on LinkedIn.
Inman Diaries is a weekly feature tracking the day-to-day activities of America’s leading real estate agents and brokers. To submit a diary, please send requests to Diary@Inman.com.
