Ep #6: Blake Andrews: Give Back Homes

Blake Andrews explains how Give Back Homes works as a $50/month membership that lets real estate and mortgage professionals brand themselves as 'social good' practitioners by donating any amount per transaction to build homes for families in need. The episode covers the business case for cause marketing, the turnkey marketing materials included, and a real case study of a Manhattan Beach agent who became a top-7 producer by leading with this cause. LOs looking for a differentiation angle beyond rate and service should listen.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Go to givebackhomes.com and sign up for the $50/month membership — you get a member profile page, listing pages designed for you, monthly social media content kits (pre-written tweets and posts), open house kits, door hangers, and client thank-you letters sent on your behalf.
• Add the Give Back Homes logo to your email signature, business cards, and loan presentations this week. When prospects ask what it is, you have a differentiation story no competing LO is likely telling.
• Pick a donation structure you can sustain — Blake's suggested model: one donation per 10 closed loans, then trigger 10 client thank-you letters from Give Back Homes to all 10 borrowers simultaneously, generating 10 advocates talking about you at their next dinner party.
• At your next agent class or open house event, introduce Give Back Homes to the agents in the room and offer to co-brand the cause together — one LO attendee at a Give Back Homes networking event in Orange County closed two deals with two agents she met there.
• Use Give Back Homes build-progress updates (funded percentage visible on the site) as a drip touchpoint: share project funding milestones and home-completion photos on social media and in your database email, tagging or mentioning the clients whose transactions contributed.
• If you want a group rate, bring Give Back Homes to your branch or team — brokerages get the membership at $25/member instead of $50. Spearheading it internally positions you as a leader and locks in the cause affiliation for your whole office before a competitor does.

The playbook

1. 1. Join givebackhomes.com at $50/month (or $25/member if you bring in your whole branch).
2. 2. Update all brand touchpoints immediately: email signature, business cards, listing presentations, loan presentations — include the Give Back Homes logo.
3. 3. Decide your donation cadence: per transaction, every 10 transactions, or any amount at any time — no minimum is required.
4. 4. When a donation is made, submit it in the client's name; Give Back Homes sends the client a thank-you letter on your behalf.
5. 5. Share build-progress updates and completion photos with your database and on social media to stay top of mind and reinforce the story.
6. 6. Host or attend a Give Back Homes-themed networking event or agent class to convert the cause into new referral relationships.

Worth quoting

“If you do what you always did, you're going to get what you always got.”

“Worst case scenario on this deal is it grows your business and makes you a better human being.”

Best for

LOs who feel commoditized and want a genuine, low-cost differentiation story that creates word-of-mouth referrals from past clients without adding significant time or expense.