Jerry Mooty: I've always believed,
culture eats strategy for lunch.
Culture builds success because
you have the right people working
together in a team environment,
a collaborative environment, then
you're gonna grow your business.
Chase: you're listening to Building
Dallas, hosted by Arrington Roofing.
With 42 years of roofing, north
Texas, Arrington Roofing is
building a better roof for you.
Reese Arrington: Hello, my
name is Reese Arrington.
Welcome back to Building Dallas.
Presented by Arrington Roofing.
We're building a better roof for you.
Today's guest started in law as the
co-founder of McCathern | Mooty,
then jumped into entrepreneurship,
helping launch a first of its kind
payments, partnership in pro sports
and scaling blue star sports in
a global youth sports platform.
He's partnered with a Dallas Cowboys
organization, raised capital from top tier
investors, and now leads an at properties
Dallas team spanning residential,
commercial, and ranch properties.
We're talking law to startup
lessons, elite partnerships, raising
big money, and where the real
opportunities are in North Texas today.
Welcome, Jerry Moody.
Thank you for having me.
Uh, that's quite a resume to have right
there that I gotta read off the screen,
but I know that there's a lot more
to the man than just what's on paper.
So I just wanna give you an opportunity
to tell us any part of your story
and who you are, how you got here.
How did you get to where you are today?
What makes you.
Sure, sure.
Jerry Mooty: So, little background.
So grew up in Springfield, Missouri.
Um, family all went to University
of Arkansas, so I thought
that's where I was gonna go.
Um, had a, had a pretty good
high school football career.
Was was a, um, too small for my position.
I was a running back at 160 pounds, but
I was a third in the state, so had some
opportunities to play college football.
Ended up changing my mind from Arkansas
to SMU at the last minute, kind of a
random deal where I read that SMU was
getting their football team back, uh,
from the death penalty, so mm-hmm.
Called 4 1 1 back then and got a
hold of the athletic department
at SMU and ended up talking to the
new head coach of SMU Forest Greg.
And within a few days had an application
approved to go to SMU in 1988.
So that's what got me to Dallas.
Um, so have always been kind of.
Doing things.
I'm an only child, so I go out and have
always fought for what I believe in and,
and had tried to make things happen.
So that started on when I was 18.
Wow.
Reese Arrington: Wow.
Um, so you came and you brought us
something, you brought these hats for us.
And I just want ask you, uh, your
current, your current, um, um, endeavor
right now is Christie's, right?
Correct.
Correct.
At properties?
Correct.
And so is this kind of your brand, some
part of your branding for that company?
Jerry Mooty: Yeah, so Christie's
International Real Estate,
it's an affiliate network.
So, uh, fancier name for franchise.
So I own all the Christie's
affiliates in Texas.
So we have five offices, um, in
total, four in DFW and one in Austin.
Um.
When I acquired those franchises,
it came along with a group out
of Chicago called At Properties.
Mm-hmm.
They used the at symbol and as part of
their marketing campaign several years
ago, they rolled out the love campaign.
So they would say, bringing the
love to Chicago, bringing the love,
uh, you know, to the community.
And so we've really leaned on that
since we've launched our affiliate.
And so we say bringing the love to Dallas
or South Lake or Fort Worth or Austin.
Hmm.
So it's been ironic that, um, we use
that in our marketing campaign and then
we came up with these trucker hats and
I'm everywhere I wear one, I get people
come up, says, where'd you buy it?
Yeah.
And I say, well, they're not for
sale, but give me a business card.
And I'm usually sending them a hat with
a thank you note or something like that.
So I've been on about.
Five or six jumbotrons at sporting
events because of the love hats.
Wow.
So ut Mavericks.
Um, so it's kind of, it's kind of stands
Reese Arrington: out in the crowd.
Everybody loves love, right?
That's right.
Yeah.
How can you get mad at that?
That's great.
So, you know, as a branding
thing, obviously people love it.
Um, but how, what does that look
like in business to have that
attitude towards your clients,
towards a community in action?
You know, what, what is, what is,
how does that inform what you do?
So I
Jerry Mooty: think, I think
it boils down to how you wanna
run your company and, and what.
Um, you know, we, we call agents,
so, so Christie's is a real estate
brokerage firm, so we have a bunch of
agents buying and selling real estate.
We have some other
divisions we can talk about.
Um, but really how do you keep
those agents happy and loyal to you?
And so we really believe and lean
heavily into building a right culture.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and so this kind of plays
into a little bit of that.
Um, but we're very social, we're
very, um, community driven.
Um, we do a lot of events inside the
office and out with our, with our agents.
So, you know, my experience through
running a law firm for 17 years and
then the other endeavors, um, I believe
strongly that culture, you know, builds
success more so than, um, success build or
Reese Arrington: strategy builds success.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, it's really hot topics right now.
I feel like on social media, everything
I get on Instagram is, you know, business
and sales and having the right SOPs
and you know, like you said, strategy.
And when I started working with my dad.
I realized, wow, man, this guy has
an incredible amount of patience
for the people on his team.
And he's invested into
people in the long term.
And it shows because people love working
here and they stay around, but you know,
more than just the, the systems and the
processes and all that, building the
culture, uh, trickles down from the top.
And I think that is really
difficult to find people that
really match you on culture.
How do you find talent that are
hardworking, dedicated individuals
who also hold the same values?
I
Jerry Mooty: mean, part
of it is experience.
Just going through the interview
process, I can usually tell right
out of the gate if somebody is,
is gonna be a good fit or not.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but you also, um, especially
in the law business, you, you get
hoodwinked every once in a while and
think somebody's one way and then they
come in and their, their personality
or, uh, something may not fit your
culture, so you gotta make some changes.
Um, the other thing I think that's very
important, and your dad probably would
agree, is, you know, not everybody's
gonna get along in the beginning.
It's like building a football team and
you gotta learn how to be a teammate.
And some people may come from
a different environment and
not know how to be a teammate.
Um, and so there's a lot of coaching
that goes along with that, A lot of
training, a lot of addressing any kind
of personality conflicts that arise.
Um, and ultimately you want people
to get along and if they can't,
then you usually make a change.
Mm-hmm.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Well, it seems like you have
a very service, a serve first.
Oriented, uh, serve first mindset
in your business, whether it comes
to serving your clients or your
employees, you know, correct.
To keep them satisfied.
Um, where did that come from?
I mean, not, you know, I know a lot
of people that are successful and
it seems like it was all about money
or success or power, um, which, you
know, money isn't a bad thing, right?
Right.
We, we all want to do well and
give back to our communities.
What drove you?
To be successful coming outta SMU.
What was that urge?
Prob
Jerry Mooty: probably the biggest
kind of, um, business figure
slash father figure was my mom's
dad, my grandfather, pat Jones.
He, um, he was a phenomenal man.
He came from a small town in
England, Arkansas, um, got into
the grocery store business, so
he was very community ingrained.
Um, so much so that my mom and my uncle
were, were helping, uh, people get their
shopping carts out when they showed up
at, you know, at a 5, 6, 7 years old.
Um, and walking them through the grocery
store and helping them get their grocery.
So, um, very, very hands on, you
know, community service driven.
Um, he then moved on into
the insurance business, so he
was selling life insurance.
Um, and so very face-to-face,
very, um, you know, social, um.
Focus.
So he would always meet people
in social settings and then try
to sell them an insurance policy.
So he was very, in my prominent years
or formidable years, um, I would ride
in the car with him around southwest
Missouri and, and see his interaction
with, with people and businesses.
And so that was really a, a strong
kind of, um, learning time in my
life on how to handle, handle people.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
It's all about relationships.
That's right.
It really comes down to it.
I mean, uh, I don't know how it
is with you and law or whatever
business you're in real estate,
but we, we have 65% referrals.
That's right.
We deal, you know, after being
in business for 42 years, we
actually put roofs on homes twice.
Right?
Yeah.
Roofs last a long time, but we actually
had put multiple roofs in the same house,
and not just because of a hailstorm, but
with that, without that relationship.
You know, um, you end up
having to spend a lot of money
getting new clients repeatedly.
Right.
So has that kind of been
y'all's way of business?
Yeah, I mean, we're, we're
Jerry Mooty: very data
driven in today's time.
So we look at those numbers and I
think we, we preach to our agents,
85% of your deals will come from
your sphere, um, your immediate
sphere or referral from your sphere.
So that's how important relationships
are to, to our business.
Reese Arrington: So what are some of
the things that you encourage your
team to do to build relationships?
I try to get my team to just
go out and meet people, you
know, whatever that looks like.
I'm sure I could, you know,
prioritize hiring people
that live a social lifestyle.
Right.
But, you know, how do you, like,
what are some creative ideas that
you've had your team do to go out and
meet people and build relationships?
Jerry Mooty: So, as I'm, as I'm
sure you're aware, the real estate
business in general is very social.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so there's all kinds of
different ways to become.
Um, involved in the community,
there's networking events.
Um, I agree.
People should be, some of our agents
even go to lunch every single day and
sit by themselves so they can start
talking to people around them because
they wanna build those relationships.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and on our side, a real estate
where, where you're a real estate
agent, most of those people are pretty
confident they're, they're approachable.
Um, and, you know, that's how they do it.
And so we really promote that.
The networks getting involved in the
communities, the church or whatever
they're, they're interested in.
Mm-hmm.
For sure.
Reese Arrington: So you mentioned
a lot of soft skills in there, you
know, confidence, being able to go
talk to people sitting at a table
by yourself and meeting strangers.
Right.
It's really hard to teach those type of
things to people, at least in my short
experience in a management position.
Right.
Um, would you, you know, have you ever
had someone that's come in and you've
been like, man, this person just.
Doesn't have the social acumen, or maybe
not acumen, but desire to meet people.
Have you ever seen them turn it
around and become very competent?
T
Jerry Mooty: Absolutely.
I mean I think it's a learned skill.
Skill for most part.
Um, I do think people are born
with, with certain characteristics
that, that assist in that.
Um, but I do think it's part of
building confidence in somebody.
Um, and if you're confident in yourself,
then you're usually more outgoing.
So there is some training and
there is some stuff that we
do to help, help manage that.
Um.
I think from the businesses I've been
in, especially the law and, uh, where you
have a lot of highly intelligent people,
um, some of them are very social, but
some of them would rather sit at a desk
and write a, you know, 50 page brief,
and they're, they're like talking to a
box of rocks, you know, so they're not
the ones out generating the new business.
Uh, they're the ones behind the
scene, you know, doing the legal work.
So I think even in, in our brokerage,
you're gonna have some agents that support
agents, um, from a team perspective.
Mm-hmm.
Um, they may even be on a team together.
So you'll have the team lead, probably
you're more social, you're more outgoing,
you're more confident, and then you're,
they're mentoring the team members
as they grow their confidence level.
Mm-hmm.
So, but yeah, it's, uh, it's,
it's, it's all tied to confidence.
Reese Arrington: Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
It's so interesting to me because
I, I. It's hard for me to imagine
that some people really love doing
the things that I don't like to do.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
You know,
Reese Arrington: I assume that
everyone's like me and I think that's
an assumption that I've got to let
go of, you know, that Well, everybody
would want to go out and be social.
Everybody wants to talk to
people where it's like, no.
Some people that the best thing they
could do with their day is just to
knock out a hundred tasks and have a big
checklist of things that are done Right.
You know?
And that's just never going, I
don't, it's never gonna be me.
And it feels wrong to be like, to
expect somebody to want to do that,
but that is someone's like perfect day.
Right, right.
Was there, did, when,
did you kinda learn that?
Did you learn that early on?
Do you remember having those
thoughts of, man, how am I gonna
ask somebody to do this stuff?
Jerry Mooty: Yeah, I mean, I
think just looking back on me as a
younger, younger professional, um.
You know, I hated being a lawyer, so I was
definitely not the type that I sat at a
desk and, and liked drafting the briefs.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I liked being in the courtroom.
I liked arguing the motions.
Um, and then when I founded our law
firm in 1998 with a friend of yours.
Yeah.
Father, uh, Levi, mcc Catherine, we, um,
you know, he was the brains from, from
this perspective of running the cases and,
and knowing the law better than I did.
'cause he was more experienced.
Um, but I was the one out scheduling
the meetings with the prospective
clients and, and really being
the rainmaker for the firm.
Yeah.
So our personalities really,
uh, fit well together.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so that's, that's just kind of,
I think, I think everybody's past
different and I think the people who
enjoy being out front will always be out
front, and the ones who are comfortable
letting someone else take the credit,
then they'll, they'll be in the back.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
No, that's a good point.
Um, this might sound like a
strange question, but, um, how,
how hard does hard work have to be?
Jerry Mooty: I mean, I don't think
there's any substitute for it.
I mean, I have been driven my
whole life and done everything from
an entrepreneurial perspective.
I've only had really one boss right
outta law school in my whole life.
And then I mm-hmm.
Founded a law firm at 28
years old and then, um.
I've been, I've been driven, and people
still, till this day, as we look at the
five offices we have, um, I'm the first
one texting at five in the morning.
Mm-hmm.
I'm probably the last one,
texting at 10 or 11 at night.
Um, and so that's just how I'm built.
Yeah.
And some people can't understand it.
They're like, when do you sleep?
Um, and so that's just part of me
and, and you know, sometimes people,
uh, just aren't built that way
and I don't think that'll change.
They're either built
that way or they're not.
Yeah.
Reese Arrington: No, that's true.
Um, do you think that you operate in
your strengths more than your weaknesses?
Or, you know, what's your attitude
towards I need to sharpen my strengths
and be really good, but also I need
to maybe improve my weaknesses?
But there's probably a fine line on
how much are you gonna, how much time
are you gonna spend trying to get
good at something you're not good
at, versus getting a lot better at
the thing you're naturally gifted in.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
I think there's, there's something
that I've noticed about myself as,
I don't really look in the rear
view mirror very often on decisions.
Um, I think a lot of times business
owners and, and people in situations
really, uh, are hard on themselves
after decisions made that maybe it
was the wrong decision, but there's no
way to ever go back and change that.
You can learn from it.
And I think that's probably one of
the things I've learned since starting
the real estate company over the
last five years is, is a lot more
patience in how to deal with people.
Um, but if you, if you worry about what
decisions you made a year ago, two years
ago, then you'll drive yourself crazy.
Yeah.
And so, um, I think that's a, a
big, uh, benefit to just being.
Able to move on to the next decision.
Um, but I think back to your question, I
think you're, you're always, as a business
person or, or a human, you're always kind
of going down the path of the things that
you're strong at versus what you're not.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and I do think I've learned to
bring in people, uh, in the real estate
company for the first time that really
are good at the things I'm not good at.
And so that's really helped my business.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Yeah.
It's kind of a scary spot.
I mean, I think that we're in a
position right now in our business
where, um, my dad, he really
probably needs a personal assistant.
Right, right.
But it's like, okay.
I've gotta make less for the
hope that it'll make me more.
Did you ever bring on a
personal assistant at any point?
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
Um, so I built out a team of
agents underneath my brokerage
called the Moody Luxury Group.
Mm-hmm.
So I have me and three other
agents, and one of 'em is
kind of my personal assistant.
Okay.
And it's the first time in
probably 10 years since the
law firm, which I left in 2012.
Mm-hmm.
So going on 11 years,
uh, or 12, um, or 13.
13, uh, 13 years.
The times moving fasting.
Yeah.
It's, it's clicking as we're talking.
Um, so I had a really good assistant
as a law firm 'cause legal secretary
and paralegals serve as your assistant.
Sure.
Um, but over the last couple
years, the first time in 13,
14 years I've had an assistant.
Wow.
So love it.
How
Reese Arrington: has that affected
your output and productivity?
Jerry Mooty: Uh, probably tripled Really.
Um, yeah.
It's, um, you know.
In our business, there's a lot of
paperwork from contracts to, you
know, onboarding of clients to
working with media companies and
marketing teams to help push out
our listings and stuff like that.
And so from the minute that has taken,
um, taken me outta the equation for
the most part, I still try to make as
many decisions through that process.
'cause I feel like I'm pretty good at it.
Um, but it's just freed
me up to do other stuff.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Gosh.
Yeah.
I've heard similar anecdotes about that.
Yeah.
It's like, yeah, you risk, you know,
you're paying part your salary out of it.
Exactly.
But man, you can do a lot more, especially
if you're, you're in the business of
meeting people and closing deals, right?
You can keep, you know, put gas in the
tank and people can keep, you know.
Turning that and, and
making the business run.
Um, so I want to, you know, I know
we've kind of just been chatting about
you and kind of dancing around some of
the stuff you've done in your career,
but you do have, you've done a lot.
And I know this could take, we
could be here for probably a
long time talking about Sure.
All the endeavors that you've done.
Um, but, you know, I, I'm, I'm
curious, you know, you started, uh,
MCC Moody, and at the time it was
one of the fastest growing law firms.
Yep.
You were a young man.
What was that like dealing with the
success, the hard work, and then.
Um, getting out of that and exiting.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
So, you know, at, at that stage
in life, I was 26 or seven when we
started talking about, I'd just gotten
outta law school and was working
for a large law firm here in, in
Dallas of about three or 400 lawyers.
Mm-hmm.
Um, that's when I realized I
didn't really love practicing law.
So I was like, I got two choices.
I can go an entire new path and create
another, um, profession, or I can find
some guys, uh, that want, who love the law
and who love, love practicing law, and I
can take them and, uh, create a law firm.
And so that's what we did.
So for first three or four or
five years of the law firm, I was
carrying a caseload and trying cases
and doing things like a lawyer.
But as we grew and, and as you
mentioned, we were one of the
fastest growing law firms in, in DFW.
Um.
I started doing more
deals for the partnership.
So it took me out of practicing
law every day to doing kind
of more entrepreneurial stuff.
So I started a real estate
development company.
I had a litigation support company.
Um, the real estate development
company kind of led me down the
path of building some homes.
I had a home building division,
a commercial division.
And so the good news was I
learned what I was doing.
Bad news was I started it in 20 2005.
So by 2009 in the recession, it
was a, it was a bad time to be in
home building and anything kind of
real estate or mortgage related.
So that was kind of the reason I, I
came to, uh, pivot in life and had
to either go back to practicing law
full-time or exit the law firm and sell my
ownership interest back to the partners.
Mm-hmm.
So that's what catapulted me kind of
into my next phase, which was Blue
Star Payments and Blue Star Sports.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
So Blue Star, um.
So it, it was a, it's POS systems.
Point of sale systems.
Yeah.
Am I getting
Jerry Mooty: that right?
So that came about, I was at Cowboys
training camp and looking at the
sponsorship banners around the
practice field, and I said, well,
there's no credit card processing.
Mm-hmm.
Um, sponsorship.
So I was talking to the Jones family,
um, and they said, well, we have a
relationship with Bank of America,
and inside that sponsorship agreement
is the credit card processing.
Uh, so brought them the idea of how could
we carve that out of that relationship
and create what's called, um, an iso,
an independent sales organization.
Mm-hmm.
So.
Basically, bank of America was the backend
who would run the credit card processing.
But I built out a team of salespeople
to go meet with merchants, restaurants
hot, you know, anybody who's accepting
credit cards, um, and leverage the
Cowboys relationship to move their
processing over to our platform.
Gotcha.
And so that's what kind
of got the idea rolling.
Wow.
Um, as soon as we kind of
started hitting our stride, we
got approached, um, by a group.
Um, and the, the CEO was a
fantastic processing, um, expert.
And he had, he had built out
these ISOs and sold him back
to Worldpay several times.
Um, and they had basically
got tired of paying him, so
they put in him a non-compete.
Um, but he had this idea to go after
youth sports technology companies,
which has a payment piece at the end.
So if you sign your kid up for
soccer or cheerleading, you fill
out the form, but at the end there's
always a request for payment.
Right.
Um.
So he brought that to us and said,
look, I love the Blue Star brand.
Let's merge my tech idea
with your processing idea.
We got the Jones book Blessing, and
then that brought with it Bain Capital,
Worldpay, Genstar Partners and all that.
So that was a fun time, um, but a
totally different pivot than I became
the Chief Business and legal officer.
So I did due diligence on about
250 companies in the tech space.
Wow.
Analyzing how they built the
tech and started, um, educating
myself about technology.
Um, and then we acquired about 25
of those companies over the course
of three or four or five years.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Wow.
So the partnership with Cowboys, you know,
I, I guess you would assume that people
would build their business and then.
Go try to land a massive
whale of a client.
Right.
Seems like you kind of did it backwards.
You got the Joneses, you got the
Cowboys, and then you use that
to leverage other partnerships.
Yeah.
Does that, do you intend
to do it that way?
Did you just kind of see a market gap and
fill it and then you went, man, here I am.
I mean, I mean
Jerry Mooty: it's, it's, it's out here in
the public if you, if you Google me, but
I'm Jerry Jones's nephew, so that's Okay.
That's always allowed me to have
a kind of an ancillary Gotcha.
Relationship with the organization.
Uh, my mom and Jerry are brother
and sister, so Oh man, I miss that.
So.
The good news, the blessing for
me is, is I've got to leverage
that relationship and mm-hmm.
Throughout my career, um, which has opened
a lot of doors and allowed me to get the
meeting set up that I may have had trouble
if that relationship wasn't in place.
Um, but the Blue Star Payments was
the first time I'd ever gone and
run a company for the Jones family.
Mm-hmm.
So it was my concept along with
another, uh, guy in the space, but the
Joneses liked it, so they funded it
and kind of ran point from a financial
perspective for that seven or eight
years until we sold Blue Star sports.
Reese Arrington: Wow.
Wow.
That's awesome.
Um.
So you worked with these
massive private equity firms.
Um, that's something that a lot of
people have no idea what that looks like.
I personally don't, I've never had to deal
with people moving that kind of money.
How do you position a business to
look attractive to those people?
I mean, you've gotta have
really great data, right?
Right.
And you've, and it's gotta be
reflected in really accurate reporting.
Um, is that kind of all it comes down to?
You know, your, your, your, uh.
E ebit, O whatever,
Jerry Mooty: right.
Or ebitda.
Um, yes.
And it was, the life lesson in that period
of time was you have people with a lot
of money, like venture capital's company.
Mm-hmm.
And they are analyzing a company and they
remove all emotion from the equation.
They're not looking at names
on a spreadsheet, they're not
looking at who's running it.
They're looking at how can we acquire
this company and how can we merge
it with another company, and how
can we ex, you know, ultimately
put all that together and sell it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I mean, there's no, there's
no companies that they acquire
that they don't have an, um, an
exit in mind for the most part.
Right.
Um, so that was really kind of a
life lesson because we were, we were
doing due diligence on family owned
businesses where they had spent
their whole life building this tech.
Mm-hmm.
And literally, once we
would acquire 'em, then.
They were merged with our technology
and there they became sort of obsolete.
Now, did they get a cash event?
They got a cash event.
So they're usually pretty happy.
Yeah.
But the emotion was taken out of
the equation and then ultimately
we ended up selling all those
company in one big, um, package.
Yeah.
Reese Arrington: Wow.
So you, so from law to technology,
um, and then, I mean, you said you
were really looking at lots of tech
companies and analyzing them to try
to put 'em into a portfolio Right.
Essentially.
So, um, was that something that
you ever saw yourself doing?
I mean, is that, was
that in your wheelhouse?
Was that more of just a learning
opportunity to go, Hey, this
is something I can Yeah.
Experiment with?
Jerry Mooty: Yeah, it was, it
was just a learning opportunity.
The door opened and I was kind of
pushed through the door to learn it.
Mm-hmm.
Um.
And so it was, you know, I think
what we're seeing right now with
AI and, and I have two children.
One of 'em just graduated from
University of Texas and the other
one's still a senior there in the last
couple years of them being in school,
a lot of their past and their classes
have all changed because of what's
coming down the pipeline with ai.
Yeah.
So I kind of equate it to back
then technology in the early two
thousands and, and early 2010s.
You know, that was really where,
where people were focused on growth.
Um, and so I just think you
have to adjust to some degree.
Yeah.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
AI is kind of scary right now.
I mean, it's exciting,
but it's also scary.
You know, we're in the roofing business
and that's one security is that I don't
think a AI is gonna be putting roofs on.
Yeah.
Anytime soon.
Um.
How has that affected the, the
real estate market, if at all?
And I know social media with
just your marketing, right?
You've gotta be on Instagram,
TikTok if you're gonna be
a real estate agent, right?
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
All I think from, from real estate
agents, because it's a service
industry similar to roofing.
I mean, you need somebody who, who's gonna
help you drive that transaction, where
that goes in five years and how, how, um,
advanced it gets, worries me a little bit.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but I do think it's a relationship
situation and buying a home is such
an intimate part of, of someone's
family and, and a decision that they
may have a hard time relying on,
you know, artificial intelligence.
But where it has come in and
it's, it's really, um, made the
agent's job more efficient from.
Uh, dictating into chat GBTA description
of a home that might go on MLS and
chat GBT spits out the description
or, you know, there's so much going
on with photographs and stuff.
You can basically take a photograph of
an empty house and then ask chat GBT to
place furniture in it for your furniture.
So one, you're not having to pay
for staging to give, to give a
prospect the, um, visual of what
it looks like with furniture in it.
Sure.
So there's things that
are really helping us.
Mm-hmm.
Um, one of the reasons I bought the at
properties, um, franchise from the Chicago
group that ultimately became the Chicago
was because they had been building a
technology since 2003, um, and kind of.
Leaning on my eight or nine years in,
in tech, when I became a real estate
agent, I was like, there's no technology
in our space other than Compass.
And, um, compass was already so big.
I knew I wasn't gonna have any kind
of ownership or equity position.
So once I got familiar with the App
Properties technology was one of
the reasons I brought it to Texas.
Okay.
And so ultimately after we launched
is at Properties, the announcement
came out that at Properties had
bought Christie's International
Real Estate Affiliate Network.
So that's when we started
carrying the Christie's brand.
Okay.
But underneath that umbrella is
now probably the best technology
in our, in the residential space.
Mm-hmm.
So when our agents log in to do their
job every day, they've got one login
and everything they need to do from
a productive standpoint is in there.
Their CRM, their document management
system, their marketing, uh, creation
and posting and their client gifts
we're, we're all just one click away.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
No, it's.
That is really cool.
I mean, I, I've dealt with some realtors
and it seems like that technology is.
It is moving pretty quickly.
Yeah.
Um, but, and I like what you said about,
hey, these are tools, AI are tools
that can help us do our jobs a little
bit easier, a little bit smoother,
and it shouldn't be so daunting.
You know, we see AI
used to the nth degree.
I mean, now they're making, you
know, almost movies with Right.
With this technology.
But yeah, to do your everyday tasks,
you know, to, to put furniture
in a house, to, you know, say,
Hey, I've got these questions.
I'm gonna ask a podcast guest.
Can you clean 'em up for me a little bit?
Right.
You know, whatever it might be.
But, um, yeah.
You know, so people listening out
there, they should know like, hey, um,
doesn't have to be real intimidating.
Just, you know, put something in
the chat, GPT, ask it a question.
It's like, you know, we all
learned how to use Google.
Hopefully.
Right, right.
Yeah.
I mean, I'm, same deal.
Jerry Mooty: I've got a good history
and could probably sit down and write
a business plan for a new business.
It might take me two or three months
to pull all that data, but now I
can probably do it in a few hours.
Yeah, yeah.
So it's
Reese Arrington: very,
very efficient, actually.
Crazy.
Uh, so you, any entrepreneur
has to be comfortable taking
some level of risk, right?
Where were the big moments in your
life where you had to look out and
go, I'm gonna do this thing and it
could blow up in my face, it could
fail, but I'm gonna do it anyways.
Where'd you get that grit And what
was that experience like Diving in?
Jerry Mooty: So I think, I think
the grit probably comes from my
grandfather that I spoke about earlier.
And then obviously my uncle Jerry Jones
is, has been taking risk in front of me
my whole life as, as a, as his nephew.
Um, for me personally, when I started
the real estate development company,
when I was still running the law
firm, was probably the first time I
really bit off more than I could chew.
Um, I was on a lot of personally
guaranteed debt and, um,
when the economy changed, um.
Some banks were willing to work
those problems because they, I wasn't
the only one in that situation,
um, but some of the banks weren't.
So I went through a real tough period
of, uh, you know, readjusting and ended
up having to declare personal bankruptcy
even, um, to, to pivot out of the, the
law firm and out of the real estate.
So it was very, very
hard learning experience.
Yeah.
It'll, um, it'll, it'll change you
from a, from a risk standpoint.
So I would say, uh, I would say after
that, when I got into the tech business
and running the Jones Company, you
know, I was getting a salary with, with,
you know, ownership in the company.
So, so the risk was less for a period
of time till I'm mentally readjusted.
Sure.
Um, and then when I kind of got
back on my feet, mentally, probably
more so than financially mm-hmm.
Um, was when I wanted to go do something
else, which is the real estate business.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Wow.
Um, yeah.
So that's a lot of adversity
you had to get through.
Um.
What was that mental shift like
over the course of those years?
Working on the, the
financial side of things.
Jerry Mooty: I mean, if you haven't
had financial stress, it's probably the
worst you could probably ever go through.
Mm-hmm.
Worse than, uh, a relationship stress
or, or family stress, just because
there's no, there's no quick fix.
Right.
You know, usually if you're in a, in a
relationship and there's stress related
to it, you can have counseling or you can,
uh, talk to the person you're having a
conflict with or work with your family.
But financial stress, if you're, if
you're at rock bottom, there's, there's
no way to push a button and create money.
So I would say that was, uh, that
was the first time I was probably
pushing 40 years old, 39 40.
Mm-hmm.
Um, where I really felt like I had
messed up based on all the career and,
and schooling and everything I had done.
Um, so it was, it was tough.
I'll say that.
Um, and it'll, it'll still creep in
my mind if I'm making a heavy duty
financial decision till this day.
Right.
Reese Arrington: Do you think that's,
uh, does that lend itself to benefit
you or do you think sometimes you have
to kinda kill that side of yourself?
That goes, well, Jerry,
you messed up before.
Don't do it again.
You kind of gotta go, no, you know what,
I've got this, you know, I've learned.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
I mean, I think, I think anytime you're
an entrepreneur, you look at things
and some, some, some entrepreneurs
really dive in and do a full, um.
You know, due diligence,
balance on risk versus reward.
Um, and I think I've gotten closer to
that than I was probably 15 years ago.
Mm. Um, where I would see something,
think it was gonna work out based on
my drive and based on my optimism,
and then I would make a decision.
And so now I'm a little more frugal
with, with my decision making.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Man, that hit, that hits home, man.
I mean, I've been blessed, uh, very
blessed to be in the position I'm in and
my dad has given me opportunities to make
mistakes and to make some bad decisions.
Whether that's hiring a marketing
company that really didn't do
that great forest and we end up
kinda losing in the long run.
Right.
Um, you know, or personnel,
whatever it might be.
Um.
But the ability to make those decisions
helps me learn and come to that conclusion
that, Hey, I've got to do more of a,
a, a, you know, risk analysis on this.
Right.
I've gotta see, hey, what do the
numbers say if it cost me this much?
But, you know, really, how many deals
do I need to get out of this if I'm
doing a marketing endeavor and it's
gonna cost me 10,000 bucks a month?
You know, well, we've gotta, we've
got a net, you know, half a million, a
million dollars for this to be worth it.
Right.
You know, if not more So, um, switching
that from the optimism, like you said,
which is, oh man, you know, they're saying
that all this is gonna happen, you know?
Right.
And, and you, you kind of gotta start to,
to realize people might not be willingly
lying to you, but that, uh, you know, the
truth is really in the, in the results.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
And I mean, if you look at
the history of people who have
made, uh, a great decision.
And are wealthy or have
knocked it outta the ballpark.
If you study their past,
they've made 10 bad ones too.
Yeah.
So once you, as you get older,
um, and I'll be 56 here in a few
weeks, so as these last 10 years
of my life, I've started realizing
that you still have to take risks.
You might miss on two or three,
but you're wanting to hit
on that fourth or fifth one.
Yeah.
Um, and I learned a lot of that from
the VC firms as well because they'll,
they'll pick 10 companies and nine
of them will lose, and one of them
will be a billion dollar company.
Right.
And so they just weigh the upside.
Um, but they're able to take
those, those risks after studying.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, the companies.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Um, so I can kinda relate a little bit.
You know, you're Jerry Jones' nephew.
I, my uncle, my dad's brother,
uh, real successful guy in
oil and gas out in West Texas.
Um, and then my dad's also an
entrepreneur, but you know, growing up.
Around these really successful men has
been awesome to see the potential and
possibility that, you know, hard work and
working in your strengths and, you know,
taking these risks can get you, but at
the same time it, it kind of can breed
a little bit of dissatisfaction with
maybe where you are, where you could be.
Have, I mean, have you had to
deal with any of that, with
this being part of the family?
Jerry Mooty: Of course.
I mean, of course.
Yeah.
It's, um, I mean, when you talk, when
you look at what Jerry has done mm-hmm.
From the standpoint of, um, I don't
know if you saw the Netflix series
about the gambler and his team.
Yeah, I saw, saw half of it.
Yeah.
But I've learned, I learned some things
through that, that, uh, Netflix series
about him back when he was in his thirties
and forties on some risks he took that
I didn't have clear, um, in my mind.
But, you know, part of when you,
when you're rubbing elbows was with
a family like that, so to speak, uh,
based on the relationship, you know.
I do wake up sometimes going, how did I,
how am I not further along in my career?
How am I not, you know, having
a house in Aspen or something
that, that I aspire to do?
So yeah, it's, it's, there's
a lot of pressure there.
Yeah.
Um, and sometimes I think
that's a great thing.
Um, but it also adds a
little bit of stress too.
Yeah.
Little pressure.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So how, I mean, that comes down to
values and priorities, you know,
I mean, I hear nothing but great
things about the Jones family.
Right.
But, um, you know, for me at least
when it comes down to the, the personal
values, I know that who I spend my
time with and the relationships that I
build in this life are the only thing
that I could take into the next one.
Right.
Yeah.
And so, you know, you know, how, what,
what's your perspective on, you know,
on life and business and family and
relationships and how to keep yourself
centered and to keep things in perspective
when you're in an environment that.
All it wants to do is make you more
productive in a business sense.
Jerry Mooty: Right, right.
Well, I do think, um, how my uncle has
decided to run the Cowboys organization
and all his endeavors by bringing in all
the family members and even their kids are
now starting to work for the organization.
And I see how that, um, interaction
and how the, how that family
environment looks and feels.
I love that.
Mm-hmm.
So with my two sons, you know, one
of the things I wanted to get to when
I bought the Christie's affiliate
was how do I present myself in
five or six years looking at what
they want to do in life, um, to get
experience because I, I kind of think.
There's two ways you can go work
for your parents right outta school,
or you can go do a few things
and learn some other skill sets.
Mm-hmm.
Um, obviously my older son who went
to McComb School of Business and
is now in New York doing finance,
that's a skill set I don't have.
So I wanted him to go pursue that
for a period of time and learn how
to do due diligence on companies.
And then my younger son, who, like we
spoke about earlier, is in radio, tv,
film, and, and he's wanting to go work
on, uh, production sets and even act.
Um, so he, I think will be more of a,
a, a cog in the wheel that will bring
another set of skill sets if they ever
decide to come help me run the business.
Mm-hmm.
Reese Arrington: Is that
something that you see
Jerry Mooty: happening?
I would love, love that to happen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we talk about that, like that
is gonna happen, but mm-hmm.
We all pivot and we don't know.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So, uh, yeah.
We talked about earlier how
your son's doing the, the
radio, television film, and.
When he told you he wanted to
major in that department, what
was your initial reaction?
Uh, because I have a degree in acting.
Yeah.
And my parents were like,
okay, um, you know what?
He'll, he'll get really good at
public speaking and talking to people
and we can use that in business.
I mean, was there any part of you
that was like, man, I go get your
law degree or go study something?
Or were you just like, great son, you
Jerry Mooty: know, you know, I think,
I think part of, and I'm sure your dad
would say the same thing, I'm blessed.
Two wonderful kids when you're
around them and see what they like.
Growing up, the older one loved
lacrosse and football mm-hmm.
And the sports.
And he, he was, uh, playing the guitar at
a young age, so his path was that, but he
was also very high intelligent grades and,
and AP courses at ESD and went to McCombs.
So you kind of knew that at an early,
you know, probably middle school age,
that that was the direction he was going.
And then my younger son, uh, wasn't
as, wasn't a big lacrosse player.
He was on the team, but it wasn't
what he was Dr. Driven to do.
Um, he got into being the school
musical and lead, lead of the musical.
So, um, when I didn't really
have an expectation for him to do
something other than what he's doing.
Right.
If that makes sense.
Mm-hmm.
So that's a long way to answer it, but
do I want him to go out and, uh, do
what he's, what he enjoys to do for a
period of time, and then evaluate, would
he go get a postgraduate degree or do
something else that can help elevate that?
Mm-hmm.
So, yeah.
Reese Arrington: Well, you know, I
don't have any kids, but you know,
I think supporting your children
and not forcing 'em to do something
they don't want to do, I think
that's probably the best way to go.
Um, you, so you've transitioned quite a
few times from businesses to businesses.
Um, was that out of necessity or do
you kinda look, are you just kind of
having your eyes open for opportunity
and you just jump on it when you can?
How do you know when it is time to shift?
So,
Jerry Mooty: I think I'm just
built like an entrepreneur 'cause
I'm still constantly looking.
I'm working on another concept
right now in the, in the beverage
space with some guys who, who
came from Panera Bread and, um.
Uh, Jimmy John's sandwiches who've, you
know, run franchises before, so mm-hmm.
We're working on a beverage
concept called Rolling Joe's.
Uh, about to roll that out.
Um, so I'm always looking mm-hmm.
Always looking.
I wanna start more of a investment
fund for the real estate side.
'cause we see so many deals.
Um, we get approached all the time
about raising money for developments.
So there's another piece on the investment
side that kind of brings in the vc, um,
experience that, that kind of excites me.
So I don't think I'll, I'll
stay in one lane, so to speak.
Right.
Very long.
Reese Arrington: Mm-hmm.
So what, you know, behind that
entrepreneurial spark, I mean, is
there, other than it's just fun, right?
'cause I'm sure you're
doing what you enjoy to do.
Right?
You know, what is your, what
is the why, you know, what is
the purpose behind all of this?
Jerry Mooty: Yeah, I think, I think
there was a period of time where I
had a hard time getting out of bed
'cause I didn't love what I was doing.
Mm-hmm.
And I would say the last five to 10
years, I've loved what I'm doing.
And it's, that's the important part I
think as you get older, especially now
that I'm an empty nester and there's no
kids, there's no lacrosse games to go to,
there's no nothing filling up my time.
So I think the why is, is and,
and it's just a maturity deal.
Some people may mature at 30, but I
think I didn't mature until I was 50.
Um, so now I really
focus on what I wanna do.
Mm-hmm.
And I think that's, that's the
why is, is to make myself happy.
Yeah.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
That's good.
Um, I think a lot of times we distract
ourselves with things we don't really
like doing and that prevents us
from finding the things that really,
you know, bring us a lot of joy.
I know I've spent too much of my time
goofing off in my twenties when I probably
didn't want to, I didn't wanna be there,
I didn't wanna be in those settings.
And now I'm going, okay, I'm
getting to know myself again.
And you're going, what do I really
want to spend my time doing?
And to come and to figure that out,
you have to have some negative space.
Right?
Right.
It's like you've gotta allow
yourself to be a little bored.
And in this environment, in this
world, it's so hard to, to put
yourself in a position of boredom
'cause there's so much going on.
Right.
So impossible.
Yeah.
Did you have to kind of go through
a time where you're like, once
your kids are gone, you're going.
I've got more time than I've ever
had in the past 20, 25 years.
Yeah.
What do you do with it?
I mean, there's
Jerry Mooty: definitely, it's a whole
different, um, highway that you're on.
I mean, I think, I think I'm
blessed in some degree because I
started, uh, this brokerage real
estate brokerage five years ago.
Mm-hmm.
Right when my oldest son went
to s or went to ut and then
the younger one followed him.
So the growth of our company
has kind of been what's filled
the, filled the gap for me.
So, um, I mean, kind of the history
is we had 10 agents at the end
of the first year, 30 agents and
at the second year, 70 agents.
Wow.
And then now we're just, we're
pushing 300 agents with five offices.
So just based on the
business taking off mm-hmm.
There hasn't been a whole lot of
downtime for me to be bored, that's
Reese Arrington: for sure.
Yeah.
So that seems like a
massive success, right?
I mean, going from five
to, what'd you say?
7,300? Yeah.
We're about 300 now.
300. Wow.
Um, in, in five years.
Yep.
So would you say this is, out of all
your, uh, business ventures, has this
been the one that had the fastest rise.
Over a time span,
Jerry Mooty: probably on growth from
a, from a headcount perspective.
Mm-hmm.
No doubt.
From a financial perspective, the law firm
first five years was more really fruitful,
um, and, uh, financially beneficial.
Um, but this has been more fun
than anything I've ever done.
Just really 'cause the people involved.
Um, I love the agent mentality.
Um, when you think about our business,
all our agents are 10 99 employees,
so they're, they eat what they kill.
Mm-hmm.
So the ones that work for us
are in the office and they're
grinding, they're working on
their, their marketing materials.
They're looking on, they're
working on their presence.
Um, and so I get to see all these people
who, if they don't sell a deal, they don't
make any money, but they're still driven.
So they kind of, it's kind of pulled my
mentality into, into the right mm-hmm.
Um, situation so that I'm
happy every time I go to work.
Right.
And so that's, that's, that's the
financial piece hasn't gotten there yet
because one, we're going through kind of
a down downturn in the h housing market.
Um, but we've been a, we've been able
to grow through the downturn, so it's
actually made us profitable, um, because
we've been able to add agents mm-hmm.
Through the downturn.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
That's great.
And I mean, you know, if they're 10
99, you don't have as much overhead
as maybe you would otherwise.
Right.
Jerry Mooty: Um, but we, we have,
you know, your typical, uh, rent and
salaried employees, marketing teams
and directors of agents and stuff.
So, you know, we're running, we should
do close to a billion dollars in gross
production this year, um, which is
up from about 350 to 400 last year.
Okay.
So even in a down year, we've almost,
we've over doubled our gross production
because we've added the right agents.
Reese Arrington: Mm-hmm.
So how do you.
Plan for that.
Do you, um, build infrastructure
as your sales team grows or So,
so lemme ask this a different way.
Um, do you build the infrastructure and
then go get the sales team, or do you go
get the sales team and then you build the
infrastructure for what they can bring in?
So
Jerry Mooty: two different things
have happened in the four years.
Initially we built the
infrastructure mm-hmm.
You know, the salaried staff
and the marketing support, and
then we went to recruit agents.
Um, and then in the last 12 to 24 months,
it's kind of flipped to where we have
pockets, um, that we want to have a,
um, a presence in like South Lake and.
That's been driven by agents wanting
to join the Christie's brand.
So then we go put in the infrastructure.
Mm-hmm.
So it's kind of been a little of both.
Yeah.
Um, Austin, we ended up bringing over
the guy who ran Compass for All, for
all of Texas, who was from Austin.
And so when we launched there, we launched
with, you know, five or six agents
that were committed, uh, had temporary
space, and then in, we just had our
two year anniversary and we're at 120
agents and probably we're winning all
the awards, best places to work, fastest
growing real estate, um, in Dallas,
where Dallas Business Journal fast 50.
Hmm.
And then we, we made the SMU Cox,
uh, top 102 years in a row as
fastest as privately owned company.
So we're doing some good things.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Yeah.
So I want to, I wanna
hear more about that.
Um, this is a new venture for you.
I mean, you've been doing this
for five years now and know we
talked about culture before.
So.
What part does that culture
play in this growth?
Obviously you've gotta have good
strategy and good infrastructure
and systems, but how is the
culture of service of love right.
You know, how has that affected
your bottom line and growth in
Jerry Mooty: general?
So I think one of the things that
I came out of running the law firm
for 17 years, because we founded it
when we were 28 years old, was we
didn't have older attorneys wanting to
come work for some 28-year-old kids.
So we ended up hiring younger
attorneys because those were the only
ones that would come work for us.
Mm-hmm.
So we ended up having a law firm of, uh,
of very vibrant, outgoing, fun lawyers.
And so what I witnessed over that
17 years was we were having fun
practicing law, whereas most,
most other competitors were not.
And so if you fast forward
into the real estate.
You know, I've always believed, and I hear
this a lot from, uh, our, uh, leader in
Austin is culture eats strategy for lunch.
Um, and so I really think culture
builds success because if you have the
right people working together in a team
environment, a collaborative environment,
then you're gonna grow your business.
Um, so we've actually had agents
who want to join and, and after
we've interviewed them, we may
not feel like it's a good fit.
Um, we'll do some reference calls
and then we'll just decide to walk
away from making money on 'em.
Um, because like you said, the
10 99 portion is they can work
for me basically for free, and if
they do a deal, then I make money.
Right.
But if they're the wrong culture fit, then
I don't bring them on to the equation.
Reese Arrington: Mm-hmm.
And that takes a lot of discipline
because they could be someone who.
It does a lot of business.
Correct.
And you still have to pass on 'em.
Correct.
Jerry Mooty: And I mean, you're
not a hundred percent right.
All the time.
We brought people in and after six
months, you're, they're the wrong culture
Reese Arrington: field.
Yeah.
So what kinda questions do you ask
people, uh, to figure that out?
Or is it a vibe thing?
I mean, I've, that's what I want to do.
I want hire people that match our culture.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
So two things I always look
at, one of them is what time
do you wake up in the morning?
Mm-hmm.
That's one of my favorite questions,
really in an interview process, because
if someone says they wake up at 10
or 11, they're not driven like I am.
Yeah.
Right.
And that will, that,
that will irritate me.
Um, the other one I, I look at is.
I try to get to know what they
do to try to stay healthy.
Do they exercise?
Do they read, do they walk?
Do they run?
Um, and what are their hobbies?
Because I think life balance
is huge, is really important.
Yeah.
Um, and so usually those two things
will give you a really good picture
of a person outside of their skillset
of whatever they're gonna do for you
as a employee or as a con contractor.
So I really, really, really
focus on those things.
Reese Arrington: Hmm.
That's good.
So how early do you
wake up in the morning?
Jerry Mooty: Uh, this morning was 4 45.
Reese Arrington: 4 45, man, you
got me beat by hour and 15 minutes.
I'm usually,
Jerry Mooty: I'm usually
at my desk by seven.
Yeah.
And I, and again, that's back
to being an empty nester.
I, I gotta do something.
Mm-hmm.
Um, my wife's a middle school
counselor at Highland Park, so
she's out the door pretty early.
Yeah.
Um, so that's just kind of our sequence.
Reese Arrington: Mm-hmm.
So I, I don't know how much you're
on social media and, and what you
see, but there are some pretty
ridiculous morning routines.
I've seen probably all of them.
You've seen some of them.
Yeah.
Have you seen the, the lemon and the
ice and then the cold ice face bath?
You've, and I mean, it's like crazy, but,
um, I bet there's some merit to all these.
Do you have a morning
routine that you swear by?
Jerry Mooty: So the cold plunge,
I believe in wholeheartedly.
Okay.
So, ended up buying a little
machine that sits by the tub.
It's on a timer so it can start
cooling the water, you know, at.
Five 30 and it'll be 49
degrees by 5, 6 30 or so.
Mm-hmm.
I have a house gym that's kind of
peloton and dumbbell weights and
stretching stuff, so nothing serious.
Um, but three or four times
a week I'll try to hit that.
And then the cold plunge I love.
Yeah.
I think it's the greatest thing ever.
Reese Arrington: Okay.
So the cold plunge just,
it, it use your bathtub,
Jerry Mooty: you can use your
bathtub or you can buy one.
They're, they're all over, yeah.
Instagram and they're not
that expensive anymore.
Mm-hmm.
Um, they can be a blow up tub
with a cover right outside that
has the engine as part of it.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but I kind of got hooked on
it from my older son who was,
who was preaching about it.
Um, the one who lives in New York and
he runs marathons and does a lot of.
You know, exercise.
Um, and he kind of had a hurt back
all the way back from the lacrosse
days, and he started doing these coal
plunges, and it was, it was a no brainer.
And then in the summer we, we do a
vacation in the Colorado Mountains, so we,
he got me in the habit of waking up early
and going down to the, the actual river.
And sitting in the river, which is the
snow that's melted in the last 12 hours.
So you're sitting there in
the river running over you.
So that's how I got broken
into the coal pudge.
Chase: That's cold.
Yeah.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
Reese Arrington: That's cold.
Wait, so you're saying your son was
able to add it to your discipline?
Absolutely.
That must have made you really proud.
Oh, right.
Oh
Jerry Mooty: yeah.
He's, uh, they're, they're driven.
So, uh, it was, it was great.
That's awesome.
Yeah.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
I mean, yeah, my dad has
been very disciplined.
I mean, um, now I race,
I race him to the office.
I try to beat him here.
Oh yeah.
You know, he is like,
dang it, you beat me.
That's, it's always competitive.
We have a lot of fun doing that.
Um.
That's cool.
Um, yeah.
So tell me about, you know, your, your
sons, I mean, what, I know you, you build
a business, but how do you treat them?
Do you mean do you treat them kind of
the same way you would treat an employee?
I mean, how do you parent what's,
what's your home at home life like?
I mean, before they went for college,
Jerry Mooty: I mean, I, I, I know how I
grew up and I was in trouble all the time.
I was, and ironically, my son's
never got in trouble and so I
was like, something's wrong.
Yeah.
Um, but, you know, times are different.
I grew up in a small town.
There was less to, to fill the time.
Um, but I've always parented where we do
family vacations, we, um, we try to spend
as much time possible, um, on the phone.
Now that they're in different
cities, we do FaceTime calls.
Um, and I always think I gave
them a lot of space to, um, kind
of do what they wanted to do.
But for the older one, I was pretty
hard on, on driving him to do.
Things.
'cause he, he, maybe he was a really
good lacrosse player, probably could have
played division one, but he, he was like,
dad, I hate being on the select teams.
I hate traveling around all summer.
So I was a little different with
him than I was Luke, because his,
his interests were different.
Mm-hmm.
So I think what's happened is it's
balanced out and it's created a, a really,
a friendship between me and my sons.
I think I consider him not only
my sons, but we're friends.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
No, that it's really cool that you,
you do those type of, uh, character
building exercises with your
children, especially the cold punch.
I mean that, that your older son
wanted to bring you along for that.
That's, uh, that's just
really cool experience.
Yeah.
You guys grow that way together.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
Reese Arrington: Um, yeah.
And I'm sure they, they've seen,
learned a lot of that from you as well.
Jerry Mooty: Hope so.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So, um, you know, we talked about.
Raising capital.
Right.
Uh, there's a lot of young op
entrepreneurs out there that are
in the, in that game right now.
They're trying to find
a way to raise capital.
What advice would you give
a young entrepreneur on how
to get big league money?
So,
Jerry Mooty: raising capital is
the hardest thing I've ever done.
Mm-hmm.
I just think because the people
who you're asking money from are
usually pretty highly intelligent.
Um, so probably the biggest advice I've
had, and I've learned this many times,
is if you have an idea or you have
a company and you wanna raise money
to help support that, um, you really
have to present it in the right way.
So you have to do a really, even
if you have to hire someone to help
you, put together an investment deck
that shows the ROIs and the, and the
financial side of your business, but
also the vision, because depending on
the size, like if you're a startup.
Somebody's gonna give you money because
they believe in you more so than
they're gonna believe in the idea.
I had a, I had a friend tell me that.
He goes, I've always invested in
people I believe in regardless
of what they're presenting to me.
Um, so when you're a smaller startup
type entrepreneur, I think people are
gonna invest in you because of you.
But I still think you need to be
organized and present your vision,
um, and really be transparent.
And even if things go off track after
you've raised the money and you're
going down the path and you might need
more money, I think people look at
your drive and your, you as a person
more so than they do the business.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So you said the word vision a few
times, and I think that as a leader,
that's really important to know
exactly where you're going to paint
a picture for the team and to bring
them along with you on that journey.
How do you get the.
People on your team to buy into the
vision and to, and to present the
vision in a way that includes them.
It doesn't make it just all about the
company or all about you as the boss.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah, I think, so the way
I run the real estate brokerage is every
Monday morning, uh, nine o'clock, we do
a, a, a zoom call with all our agents
and our leadership called Monday Mindset.
Mm-hmm.
And so I'm usually hosting it,
or my, my managing broker out
of Boston handles most of them.
Um, but it's bringing everybody
into the right mindset for the week.
And then that feeds right into
the nine 30 leadership call.
So all the leaders from all the
offices go into a Zoom call at nine 30.
We let marketing speak for 30 minutes.
'cause that's the majority of our, what
we're trying to do is present our company
from a marketing perspective and support
agents and then that rolls into where
a few of those people fall off the call
and then we're talking to a county and
we're talking to our directors and,
and our trainers and stuff like that.
Mm-hmm.
So I think.
Back to your question, having them
involved in everything that we do
as a company and not silo someone.
Uh.
In an area.
So marketing knows what,
what operations is doing.
Operations knows what accounting's doing.
I think that that kind of environment
or or business structure really creates
loyalty and people are very, um, drawn
to transparency in business, I think.
Yeah.
Reese Arrington: Pulling
back the curtain, right?
Letting 'em see what's
going on and I like that.
Um, so real estate in Dallas.
I know we've talked a lot about all
the other things you've done and
we've touched on some real estate,
but man, I mean Dallas is growing.
It's just insane.
We've got park over by the zoo going up.
We've got a park right
down the street here.
Yeah.
It's gonna be the largest park
in the city of Dallas, which I
didn't know that until recently.
Yeah.
Isn't that great?
Um, yeah.
And all these shared community
spaces obviously are gonna be
great for property value right.
In these areas.
Um, where do you see on the
residential side, and I know your team.
Specializes in luxury real estate.
Um, where's the biggest
opportunity right now?
Jerry Mooty: So, just to make sure
the listeners know, we, we say luxury
at every price point, so, okay, good.
So we do, we do everything from a
$200,000 lot up to, I'm listing a
$25 million house in Southlake, so
we'll do anything that has to do with
making a real estate transaction.
But where is Dallas currently
and where is it going?
Obviously we're blessed based
on, on logistics with all
the companies moving here.
Um.
You know, the, the inflow of, of
people moving to Dallas has been
really what's kept pricing pretty
steady, even increased in a downturn.
The transaction count's been down because
of the interest rates have been high.
Mm-hmm.
So the way we've categorized thing is
2 million and below is, uh, has been
very stagnant for the last couple
months, or I mean couple years.
Um, 2 million and above, you're usually
dealing with higher net worth people who,
who work around the interest rate problem.
So that, that area has
really still flourished.
Um, so then it boils down to supply
and demand and, and the supply is
still low compared to other cities.
So pricing stayed the same,
even had a little bump.
Um, your pockets around Dallas, where
you see a lot of growth is obviously
up north in Frisco and Salina,
um, is more your, your middle, um.
Price point, you know, that 1
million to probably 3 million.
Mm-hmm.
Fort Worth, ironically.
And, and the surrounding areas of
Fort Worth is actually growing faster
than anything on the Dallas side.
Um, which is kind of the
first time that's, that's
happened in the last 25 years.
And then you obviously have your
higher end pockets, like South
Lake and Westlake, that, that
carry a higher, higher price point.
Um, and people are driven to get
to the school district, so, mm-hmm.
You're, we're really
blessed here in North Texas.
Austin is having a little different
rebound from, from, you know, the
spike in pricing back in, uh, CO
Um, they've basically had a price
reset, um, of probably 20, 25%.
Um, but now that that's set there
for about 24 months, then the
properties are starting to move.
Yeah.
You got, you know, the Elon
Musk, um, supporting Trump.
Situation down there has helped, helped,
you know, companies wanna move there.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, he's growing his companies
and building a city down there.
I don't know if you know about that.
I heard
Reese Arrington: about that.
Jerry Mooty: So it's, uh, it's wild.
There's a lot of people coming back to
the Austin area that, that kind of stayed
on the sideline for the last two years.
So I think we're in great shape
from a real estate, residential
real estate perspective over
the next two, three years.
Good.
Good for you, roofie.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
Oh my gosh.
I know.
Um, are y'all seeing a little bump yet?
Well, this year has been a little bit
slower, but we've also reorganized
a good part of the business with,
you know, making things more
streamlined, process and scalable.
Right.
Um, because, you know, my dad started
this business with, uh, by himself in
83 and he built it just on building
really good relationships with people
and being a trustworthy, ethical guy.
Right.
And over time, he just couldn't handle
all the business that was coming his way.
So we had to build a team.
And it's a scary step going from,
you know, I can see everything, you
know, I'm not doing everything, but
I can see everything that's going on.
I know who's where.
I got three techs and
they're doing this thing.
Then you get to a capacity
where there's no way, right.
You can see everything that's going on.
And that's kind of where we're at now.
And that's a scary step because if you
don't have the right middle management
to be able to keep eyes on things and
keep your standards up and consistent,
then things can really get away from you.
So a hundred percent, that's
where we're at right now.
Uh, it's exciting time, but
yeah, it's a lot of change.
Jerry Mooty: That's good.
Reese Arrington: Bringing some
Jerry Mooty: young family into
the equation probably helps.
Mm-hmm.
Some new techniques and some
new thought processes too.
Reese Arrington: Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, um, my dad is not the most
technological savvy person and he
would have no problem with me saying
that He totally understands it.
Um, he is like.
He's like, well, how would
I know that's a button?
What's telling me that's a button?
It's just dots on a screen.
I'm like that.
Hey, it's a language.
I grew up with it.
I don't know how to describe it to you.
Um, you know, just learn
to use Google better.
Jerry Mooty: I was smiling when
I walked in and he was looking to
get the, the toll tag on the truck.
Yeah, that's, uh, I
mean, I kind of got it.
I kind of
Reese Arrington: got
it, but, uh, great guy.
I mean, the most trustworthy
guy you could ever meet.
He is just, he is, he is.
Aw.
He's so honest and he's so trusting.
Almost to a fault.
I mean, he just believes
the very best in people.
Yeah.
And, and it, and it's, uh, I'm sure
as a lawyer you've, you know, I, your
past careers, you've had to learn.
People sometimes have bad intentions.
Oh, there's no doubt.
And that was just, that's a big shock
for my dad, even at 68 years old.
Yeah.
To go.
I just, I just think
everybody wants to be good.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
Yeah.
It's a, it's amazing.
That is a, that is a true
fact, and that is something
that still raises my eyebrows.
I'll recruit an agent that I'm.
Genuinely trying to bring to our company.
And obviously there's sensitivity
'cause they're at another brokerage.
And the thing that drives me the
most insane is, is an agent who, who
doesn't just say thanks, but I'm happy.
But they go tell on you.
And then the broker calls you and said,
Hey, I heard you're recruiting my agents.
Like what benefit does
that do for that agent?
Uh, one, it soured me on the agent.
And two, it, it created a rift
between me and the broker.
And there's really no benefit
from any anybody's side.
We're just, we're trying
to grow our business.
If you're interested in having a
meeting, we'll have the meeting.
If you're not, just say you're happy.
Mm-hmm.
But there's, there's that type of
person in every industry for sure.
Yeah.
Reese Arrington: No, that's tough.
That's tough.
Um, so as Dallas is growing, uh,
I had an interesting conversation
with the city congressman a
few months ago, Chad West and.
What
Chase: councilman?
Sorry, just what, what did I say
Congressman, did I say city Congressman
Reese Arrington: Councilman?
Yeah.
I dunno if that matters.
Whoops.
It does, I guess.
Um, no.
Yeah, a city councilman.
Uh, yeah, I had a conversation with City
Councilman Chad West, and he was talking
about the developments of freeways.
You know, you mentioned.
North is growing.
Right?
Right.
And there's been this history of
people that travel from Dallas,
the city of Dallas for work.
They come down to the city of Dallas
for work and they buy a property in
Addison, maybe now Plano or Frisco.
What do you see, how do you see
the landscape of Dallas changing?
Do you imagine pockets really starting
to form, kind of like how are your
uncles done in, in Frisco with they've,
they're self-sustaining, right?
You don't have to leave Frisco
to come to Dallas anymore.
It's got its own thing going on.
Uh, do you think that's gonna be more
of the trend or do you still see this,
you know, hey, we're gonna build a
highway right through downtown Dallas
to connect you, to connect, connect
you to Red Oak or whatever it might be.
Waxahatchee.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
I think that's the other blessing
of being in Texas is we have land.
To continue to develop and, and studying
how Dallas has grown North for the last
40 years has kind of been interesting.
Mm-hmm.
But it's driven by, they put in
the Dallas North Toll Road, right?
Yeah.
So, uh, they put in a highway
to drive, drive people north.
Um, I personally think where
there's really gonna see some
growth is, is East Dallas and then
southeast and southwest Dallas.
So all these communities down, Oak
Cliff included, and, and kind of south
of there, uh, because there's land and
the proximity to a downtown, you know.
Top five city in the country.
Yeah.
Um, so I think we're
gonna benefit off that.
And I think the data shows by, by 2050
we'll be the largest city in the country.
Reese Arrington: Really?
Whoa.
Dallas?
Dallas.
Dallas.
Proper or like DF dfw.
Jerry Mooty: Okay.
DFW.
Wow.
And Austin's supposed to be number two.
So that just goes to show you
the growth of of, of where the
world's going in the next 25 years.
Which you guys will benefit from all that.
Yeah.
I might be still alive.
We'll see.
Um, but yeah.
But it's coming and the people are
coming and it's because we have land.
Mm-hmm.
That's, if you think about Florida
and other communities that are showing
growth, they can't build out in the ocean.
So That's true.
They're gonna be landlocked.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So, um, we've got.
South of Dallas.
Right.
And that seems like the next place people
might do bigger investments, you know?
Yep.
People with a lot of money
revamping up these neighborhoods.
Um, let's say you wanted to live
close to downtown and you were
young in your twenties, you know,
where would you go buy that?
$200,000. Lot to hold on to go.
I can live here for a while, I
can hold onto it and hopefully
this is gonna appreciate a lot
in the next five to 10 years.
Jerry Mooty: One of my favorite
communities is in this area, the Bishop
Arts and the, and the Oak Cliff area.
I think that is really gonna,
is gonna change over the next
probably five to 10 years.
I also like a little community
out east of town called Sunnyvale.
Okay.
Um, and then you got Forney and you
got some, some pockets out there
that are really close to Dallas that
people don't realize that you can
be downtown in 10 or 15 minutes.
Um, there's a lot of money
going in into those communities
from developers perspective.
Waxahatchee is another really big one
where there's some big developments.
The Joneses are actually
doing a big development there.
So I think there's money.
I mean, you kind of follow the money.
Yeah.
Somebody's gonna put the infrastructure
in and put the lots in and, and the
infrastructure, utilities and all that.
Then people are gonna buy those.
Houses,
Reese Arrington: is there anything
in public records that you can
find out where this money is going?
Or is it all just kind of un hush hush?
Jerry Mooty: No, usually there's,
there's plats that are filed with the
county to get approval and things like
that, so you can kind of hear about it.
Um, the, you know, Dallas Business
Journal is usually the first one
that are announcing it because those
developers are, are kind of tied to the,
to the pr, um, of those publications.
So, you know, a lot of my knowledge
doesn't necessarily come from doing
research, it's more just staying on
top of what's being presented to the
community through these publications.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So there's a lot of young people that
are com, like I'll just say they complain
about not having the same home ownership
opportunities, maybe their parents did
back in the late eighties, nineties.
Right.
What would you say to the
disenfranchised homeowner or want
to be homeowner and encourage them
to get into the real estate market?
Jerry Mooty: So.
Historically, the interest
rates go up and down.
And I mean, right now we're,
we're thinking six, six and a
quarters, a high interest rate.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I think the strategy I would present
is find a house that you like and
buy it now, and then as the interest
rates come down, just refinance.
Mm-hmm.
Um, we had a huge refinancing,
um, push during COVID because
interest rates dropped so, so low.
So that's 90% of the reason why
people aren't selling right now.
We have a, we have a huge miss missing
gap in move up buyers because people who
bought four or five years ago during COVID
to move up in size or level of house,
their, their payments don't just double.
They sometimes triple or quadruple
because interest rates are so different.
Chase: Right.
Jerry Mooty: So no one's moving up.
So that, that prevents a little
bit of the move in buyer.
First time buyer.
I think, um, I don't want to come
across as political 'cause I'm not,
but I do think what Trump's trying to
do and put pressure on the Fed, um,
to lower interest rates is gonna work.
Um, he's definitely gonna put
a new person in, in January.
He's gonna probably lower interest
rates because he's Trump's guy.
Um, and then I think you're gonna
see kind of, we, we, we project
2026 is gonna be a huge year.
Reese Arrington: Okay.
So, you know, transactions
or dollars or both?
Jerry Mooty: Well, transactions
multiplied by the price.
You're gonna have more dollars too.
But I think, you know, back to the,
kind of, the strategy is if you can
get into a house that as a young,
professional or young person mm-hmm.
You're building equity in that because
the pricing in, in Dallas General
for 50 years continues to go up.
It's never gone backwards.
And even these neighborhoods that
you might have to spend a little
bit more to get into, and you stay
there five years or 10 years mm-hmm.
When you go to sell, you're gonna
probably make money on the cell and then
you're gonna be able to upgrade your.
Level of home.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So, um, when you look at real estate as
in investment, you know, let's say midterm
investment, do you recommend that over,
hey, open up a, you know, an IRA or, you
know, um, just invest vestment in the s
and p, you know, like is, unless you're
going to get into a large portfolio
of houses and have that cash flow on
a consistent basis, is just buying a
home and saying, this is my retirement.
Is that really the best way to
go about spending your money?
Or would you say, Hey, just
invest it into the stock market?
Jerry Mooty: Well, I mean.
I personally have not had the greatest
luck, and I'm 55 in the stock market.
Right.
I've put money in IRAs and
4 0 1 ks my whole life.
And where I've seen the, the most
bang for my buck is buying a house
and living in it for a period of time.
And it's been my, my personal residence.
And then when I go to sell, just the,
the inflation and the increase in
property values has gone up enough
to where I'll cash out mm-hmm.
Be able to upgrade my house.
Um, I think it also boils down to
the mentality of when you pay rent
for a rental house or an apartment.
You're just giving someone else
all that money, at least if you're
buying something, even if you
think you're overpaying mm-hmm.
Uh, based on interest rate, you're
building equity in that house.
So that house is gonna,
you're paying down the debt.
Right?
Yeah.
And if it's something you stay in 10
years or more than you've, you've paid
down quite a bit of the debt, at least
a third on a 30, 30 year mortgage.
And then when you go to sell it,
you're gonna have not only the
equity that you paid that would've
just gone to a, a landlord.
Mm-hmm.
If you're renting, um, I, I
still think that's the best.
Yeah.
If you look at the real wealthy
people in, in our world, in the US in
particular, if you go dive into how
they made all their money, probably
80 to 90% of them are real estate.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
And you look at what other countries
are doing, they're buying American soil.
Right.
You know, so, so I mean, there's,
there is, uh, people wouldn't do
it if there wasn't money in it.
That's absolutely true.
Um, okay, a couple more questions.
I know we're, we've kind of
gone a little bit over, but, um,
I'm enjoying the conversation.
Um, what is, what is a mistake?
You know, you've done so many
entrepreneurial endeavors.
What is a mistake you see young
entrepreneurs do early on that
sets 'em up for potential failure?
Jerry Mooty: Um, taking on
too much responsibility?
Hmm.
Um, there's very few entrepreneurial ideas
that one person can do by themselves.
So what I've seen happen a lot is they
go raise money to start this endeavor.
And they under, they're under
capitalized to, to really, um,
accomplish their goal and their vision.
Um, so raising too little
money is probably the number
one thing I've seen done.
Um, and if you, if the people who
are giving you money, if they're told
that's the reason you're, you're,
you're asking for twice as much.
Let's say you're raising a million
dollars, but you think you should,
you'd to protect their investment.
I'd rather raise two just to have
some, you know, powder in the bank.
So that's how I've always set
my deal up, is I give a cushion
in the amount I'm raising.
And obviously if that cash isn't
used, then it can be used in some
sort of distribution, uh, back to
the investors at a quicker rate.
There you go.
Um, but I think that's probably
the number one thing is, is just
not asking for enough money.
Wow.
Yeah.
Sounds easy, but it's true.
Chase: It's a mind, that's it.
Messes with your mind, but you
go, yeah, that makes sense.
Well,
Jerry Mooty: let's just say it's a small
amount, like $10,000 and I'm gonna,
and that might be a lot to some people.
And if you say, well, that $10,000
times, tens, a hundred thousand, here's,
here's what that does to my p and l
and my, my, you know, balance sheet.
If I raise $200,000, so instead of
you giving me 2010, you gimme 20, then
your, your investment is more protected.
Yeah.
And so I just think that's a, a way to
look at it and present it to your, to your
Reese Arrington: investors and have
that transparency with them Correct.
To say, Hey, this is what I'm doing and
here's where the funds are allocated.
And this part of this
is kind of a safety net.
Right.
You know?
Right.
Yeah.
And they, and you think that, you
know, the investors, um, the venture
capital investors, they're going to
see that as wisdom coming from a young
Jerry Mooty: entrepreneur.
Absolutely.
Because the, they're gonna see the money,
they're gonna see where the money goes.
And as an, as an entrepreneur
business owner, you're gonna give them
quarterly reports and you're gonna
give them some sort of transparency
into how the business is doing.
'cause that's what an
investor wants to see.
So, um, if you trust the person
you're giving the money to mm-hmm.
Then there's not gonna be any proprietary
or improprieties that are done.
And so there, there should be a cash
balance sitting in that account as,
as the thing starts to take off.
And then you use that cash,
um, for whatever way you want
paying back the investors.
Or, um, a lot of times the business
might have an opportunity that
it didn't have in the beginning.
Then you have cash sitting there
and you can pursue that opportunity.
Right.
Um, so yeah, that's, hopefully
Reese Arrington: that makes sense.
No, it makes sense.
That makes a, that makes a lot of sense.
A lot.
And, and, you know, you mentioned.
You mentioned earlier on that
these investors are really
looking at who you are.
Correct.
And you might have a great idea or
a business plan, which is, you know,
what they're ultimately there for.
They wanna see the plan work, but if
they're not the kind of person that,
that, that the investors believe in,
there's probably not a shot that they're
gonna get any money from somebody.
Jerry Mooty: Not usually.
Mm-hmm.
Not usually.
And, um, you know, the, the investor
would, they'd like the person,
but they also wanna make sure
that, I hear this all the time.
What are you gonna do
if you run outta money?
Right.
What are you gonna do?
Well, the documents say, I'm gonna
go back to the investors and do a
capital call, so I'm gonna have to, I'm
gonna have to ask you for more money.
So.
It's either on the front end or if
things don't go the way they're planned.
And I, I just think it, it shows
a little more transparency and
protection of the investment.
If you're not having to
do it on the back end.
One, you're not guaranteeing yourself
that all the investors are gonna,
are gonna recapitalize because they
may have gotten cold feet 'cause
it didn't work the first time.
And so you're going back to your
investor saying, Hey, I need another
couple hundred thousand dollars even
though my business plan didn't work.
Right.
So it's, it's something that I think,
you know, you really gotta understand.
Reese Arrington: It's part
of your business plan.
Right, right, right.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Okay.
Uh, so looking ahead, you know, into
Christie's at Properties, the next
chapter of your life, and then leaving
your legacy, what does that look like
in the coming few five years and then.
For the rest of your, your tenure there?
Jerry Mooty: Well, I mean, everybody
in my family's worked into their
eighties, so I don't think I'll retire.
I think I'll want something
that I enjoy doing.
So I don't really see an end to, um,
to Christie's and me being involved
unless I get, unless I sell it Right.
Which I have no plans on doing now.
Um, the vision is, right now we're the
only Christie's affiliate in all of Texas.
There was one in Houston that
was terminated in January.
Um, and so our, our territory
could be all of Texas.
And so that's, mentally
that's where I want to go.
Wow.
Um, we just, our op in the process
of opening, opening our fourth
office here in DFW in South Lake, um,
we've got about 12 agents committed.
Um, and we hope to get
to about 20 by Christmas.
Um, but we've signed a lease and
we're doing the ti and doing that.
Um, and then we'll probably
grow into San Antonio next.
Oh, wow.
And so we'll kind of have the whole.
35 corridor all the
way down to the border.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So big, big things in the horizon.
Yeah.
Jerry Mooty: Yeah.
Yes.
So legacy.
Um, you know, we get a lot of
awards for best places to work
and our agents get accolades
for, for production and all that.
But, but so far the ones that mean the
most to me are kind of the SMU top 100.
Mm-hmm.
Um, and the DBJ Fast 50 that
are showing that we're growing a
company regardless of industry.
And so far on the SMU 100, both years,
we were the only real estate brokerage
like ourselves, and we were the only,
um, real estate brokerage on the Fast 50.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
So, you know, what, what is, if you had to
say one thing, what is your secret sauce
for getting this thing off the ground and
moving at the rate that it's going people.
Jerry Mooty: Always people.
I think I hired the
right people to start it.
Um, from a director of agents who I've
known 35 years, um, she'll tell the story.
I texted her at three in the morning,
Hey, I'm looking for this person.
And I listed it out knowing it was her.
And she, she goes, she was a trainer
for, um, Daisy Brands and um.
And, uh, she, the text, she didn't have
her phone turned off and so it woke her
up at three and she said she laid in bed
from three till seven knowing it was her.
Um, and so at 7 0 5 she called
and she goes, you know, you're
talking about me, don't you?
And I go, yep.
I said, she goes, I've been at four
hours, and I go, let's, let's go to lunch.
Um, and so I specifically chose her.
I'd been trying to hire at the law firm
and Blue Star Sports and everything
along the way just 'cause I believed
in her as a, as and her work ethic.
Um, and then we just really
were, were strategic in who we
placed around her and I to grow.
So, I mean, we had a marketing
coordinator, uh, then we had
added just the right people.
And I think when you're supporting in
a service industry, like, like real
estate and your, your, the agents
are your client technically, right?
Um, they gotta love coming to work
and they gotta feel supported.
So I feel like we've done
a really good job there.
Reese Arrington: That's awesome.
Okay, well, um, is there anything
you wanna leave people with?
Jerry Mooty: No, this has been great.
Yeah.
Really appreciate it.
I'm glad to get to know you
guys and your business and Yeah.
How we can help you is obviously we have a
lot of agents, we can create some sort of
preferred vendor relationship Absolutely.
And push this out to all these
people buying new homes and Yeah.
Um, it's all about
networking and relationships.
Reese Arrington: Yeah.
And there is one thing that I
don't know if you've heard of,
it's called Fortified Roofing.
Mm-hmm.
So, um, you know, with all the
insurance claims that come through
North Texas, you know, we're the
number one area for hail right.
In the country.
What costs insurance companies the
most money is interior water damage.
Wow.
So, yeah, the roof can, you know, they're
spending tons of money replacing roofs,
but if a, you know, leaks into there.
$40,000 remodeled kitchen, then
it ruins everything in there.
Now they've got a lot of problems if
it gets into electrical, huge problems.
So Florida, Miami-Dade County,
they have some of the strictest
building codes in the country.
'cause they get all
those hurricanes, right?
And so the fortified program it.
Makes your roof really watertight.
So if you've seen them seen people
build a home, you've built homes in the
past and they put the seam tape mm-hmm.
On all the exterior walls,
they do that on the roof too.
Okay.
So you're taping off all the seams
on the roof, you have to put more
screws in the deck, and all the
perimeter of the roof is reinforced.
So it's, it prevents wind from, you know,
driving rain into the structure into
the house and leaking on the interior.
The roof itself could blow off.
Right.
But as long as the water doesn't
get inside, then the insurance
company saves a lot of money.
So where it used to be that impact
resistant shingles would save
people money on their premiums.
Now it's gonna, it's going to,
it's not quite there yet, but
it's going to be fortified.
Got it.
Because they've noticed these
impact resistant shingles.
They're still asphalt based products.
We've been given discounts
on 'em and it really doesn't.
Work that well.
Right.
You know, it doesn't work that well.
But now we have synthetic products and
then the fortified, which is you're
gonna keep water outta the house, it
will actually save the insurance money.
So for homeowners, you know, I had
one client call come up to me at an
event this past weekend and said, I'm
saving $4,000 a year in perpetuity
on my home in homeowner's insurance
because of this roof you guys put on.
That's great.
Because it's a class
four synthetic product.
So these are things that we
love to tell your agents about.
Yeah.
Um, you know, I know it can be kind
of scary to, for sellers especially,
to go, yeah, I wanna find out all the
problems that I have on this property,
that I'm gonna bet it put on the market.
Right.
You know, but, but y you know,
insurance companies are gonna
be so much more thorough.
It's gonna be hard to get away
with all these roofing issues.
Yeah.
Jerry Mooty: Insurance is outta control.
It's actually preventing some people
from buying houses, so, mm-hmm.
We are working through that, so
I'd love to learn more about that.
Yeah.
I do have a question on the metal
roof versus the synthetic roof.
Did metal roofs get hail damage
or are they hail preventative?
Reese Arrington: So they are class four.
Okay.
The, the thing to know about hail
on metal roofs is a lot of times
they'll have a cosmetic disclaimer.
So if the hail damages the aesthetic and
has these little dents in the roof, right.
But it's not enough to actually damage the
integrity of the structure of the metal.
Right.
They might say, Hey, we've got this
claws in here, you're not covered.
Got it.
You know, if there's hail.
Got it.
So it's just the aesthetics though.
It's just the aesthetics, you know.
You can get a third party involved.
And the argument there is that if
there's any type of cupping on a metal
roof, it can hold a little bit of water.
And if that paint layer on the outside
is compromised, it can begin to rust.
So there's always, there's
always an argument to be made.
And we've, we've done that before
on properties and, um, and we'll
get a third party public adjuster
to come handle that for us.
'cause we're roofers, right?
We're not allowed to talk
about all that stuff.
Um, but we can get a third party in there
on those in instances and usually they
can come to some sort of an agreement.
Cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Cool.
Alright, well, uh, thank,
thank you everybody for
tuning in to building Dallas.
Uh, thank you Jerry
for coming on the show.
We'll see you next time.
Chase: Great.
Love it.
Reese Arrington: Okay.
Good.
Yeah.
Cool.
Chase: Yeah, I mean, wow, you have Great.
Love it.
Reese Arrington: Okay.
Good.
Yeah.
Cool.
Chase: Yeah, I mean, wow, you
have amazing advice and insight.
That was, I mean, I feel like, uh.
There was a few moments where I
was like, okay, that's gonna clip.
Well, that's